Introduction
The novel by Harper Lee and was made into a movie by Robert Mulligan defines justice in terms of two cases; Atticus Finch’s defense for a suspected black rapist against the town of Maycomb. The defense lawyer was battling with the case when the suspect tried to escape and was killed in trying. The rape victim’s father, who was a white, became vengeful because the case of his daughter was not given any justice thereby plotting to kill Finch’s daughter and son. When he was pursuing his plot to kill the two, Boo Radley, the children’s friend and the town’s mental case, fought against him to save the children and thus killing him in response.

In this concept, the movie adaptation shows the distinct concept of the generation about breaking the racial barrier in the society. The film, which is highly socio-political and opened a lot of issues that permeates the American society, provides the indication that the new cinema has been keen on using fiction to reflect the real society, its issues, and the concerns that are evident within the society. Moreover, the movie’s plot is not skewed and proved true to the novel where it was adapted, showing fearless production in creating a film that defines not only the social issues in America but also the segregated issue of social justice among the African Americans, especially in the case of Boo Radley.

Major Themes of Race
Boo Radley – The Intellectual Minority
The death of a person incurred by a mentally disabled person, Boo Radley, to Bob Ewell, is a strong implication of the film’s definition of how race divides the American society. Evidently, Bob attacks Atticus’ children because he declared his lack of credibility as a father to Mayell Ewell, the alleged rape victim. Since there was evidence that the death is an effect of defense from the one who died, the case was then dismissed. The case of the black alleged rapist was dismissed, since the suspect was killed, which caused the ire of the victim’s father resulted in the plot to kill the defending lawyer’s children but instead was killed by the children’s mentally challenged friend, which then the sheriff dismissed the murder as a case. Since the murder was either accidental just to defend the ‘victims’ and there are enough evidences to support this fact, the sheriff dismissed the case against the mentally challenged suspect.

Moreover, Sheriff Tate’s identification of Boo’s defense against Bob’s attack is a definition that the movie production was not afraid to point out the drastic effects of the prejudiced white American society to the minorities – including those with mental illnesses. According to Atticus and to Sheriff Tate, putting Boo into the spotlight in their society will only cause more harm to the shy and obviously introvert Boo. Thus, they made it appear that Bob Ewell fell into his knife as a result of the attack, and ended his life.

It is also observed that the camera angle with Boo Radley is often done in midshot and longshot – proving that the production understands his value as a human individual and as an equal to Atticus, Jem, Bob Ewell, and to Sheriff Tate. It shows the director’s strong implication about the equality of man in the eyes of the visual representation of the film, as it was depicted in Harper Lee’s novel.

Derek McGovern (2014) asserted that Boo Radley and the alleged black rapist, Tom Robinson, are direct implications that the film disqualifies the white American prejudice (89). The innocence and the shyness of Boo Radley is a direct contradiction of his actions in attacking Bob Ewell and killing him in defense. It can be a symbolic assertion from the film’s production of the type of justice that is provided to those who do not give to proper social justice, much less to the real definition of equality and justice.

Tom Robinson – The Rule of the Law
The plot circles around the rule of the law in which a black suspect is given ill-treatment and lack of hope even if he was an alleged suspect, especially when the assaulted is a white person. This is an even issue of racial discrimination in the form of the suspended law, in which the jury would not hear of the key evidences instead go with their intuition and their patriotism that any suspected black person is indeed guilty of a crime that he was suspected to have committed. Deborah Vriend Van Duinen and Audra Bolhuis (2016) stated that in their study, they were able to explore the way that students and their communities used the reading of the novel together with the understanding of the movie to further identify the problems depicted in the story about the Southern America in the 1930s, and how it affected the whole context of the narrative (84). In this relation, the theme which Tom Robinson depicts the deep prejudice the white American south has against the blacks. It becomes an apparent suggestion that the film also explores this concept through the way it depicted Tom Robinson – a black man, whose camera angles often show him in the low angle giving him the connotation to be empathized rather than judged.

The presentation of his death is another significant theme in the movie and it portrays the fearless concept of judging the south about the prejudices and the crimes they have done against the black Americans in the 1930s. It penetrated the idea that the society is ready to understand that the inequality in America provides the distinct effects that are horrendous to the victims, which are the black Americans. Furthermore, the use of camera angles for Tom Robinson also defines a strong implication that he is innocent and that the all-white jury just took the side of the Ewells because they are white.

Atticus Finch – The Modern American Society
Atticus Finch is the direct representation of the new American society – the society which attributes equality as an important factor in understanding and applying the legal precepts of the law. In the dialogues, Bob Ewell often notes that Atticus is a black-lover; that is, he gives importance to the black Americans rather than to the whites whom are his community. It provides a deep explanation of the difference between Bob Ewell and Atticus Finch. Atticus is an educated and intellectual lawyer, while Bob is a violent and obstinate common worker. The difference is highly symbolic; it seems that Atticus represents the new American society whose ideologies are more modern and caters to the understanding of equality. On the other hand, Bob Ewell is the traditional all white American society who is prejudiced and lack of the intellectual knowledge about the law which makes them more prejudiced (Jay 12).

It is also noted that Atticus is often portrayed in the worm’s eye view of the camera. His movements and gestures are also presented by camera panning, often spanning throughout his entire movement. It gives him the implication that he is the strongest character in the film, and that his worldviews are the most appropriate and correct. It further connotes his powers over the plot of the film and defines his just appropriation of the law by representing Tom Robinson. In the scene where he defends Tom, it is evident that the camera follows his every movement and the angle gives him the superiority, making it apparent that he is the protagonist of the film. And that his idealisms are the new and modern concept of the society and of the law, that nobody is below the law.

Bob Ewell – The Menacing and Prejudicial Society
Bob Ewell’s existence in the film is significantly similar to how he was portrayed in the novel. He is prejudiced, he is not intellectual, he is ruthless, and he is violent. He uses slurs to justify the ethnocentricity of the whites against blacks. He believes that the white have the privilege to live accordingly against the blacks. For him, the blacks are slaves, are criminals, and should be jailed for the things they do if they are caught without any form of legal procedures. Bob Ewell is the representation of the old America; he is the cancer of the society (Harris 68).

It is evident that the film depicted him in the most deplorable conditions imaginable. The camera angles are only done in mid- and long-shot, and his movements are observed through long pans of the camera. This makes him an evident suspect for the crime against Mayella Ewell, rather than Tom Robinson. It is also apparent that he is often shown in the film as a menacing character, who has low understanding of equality and the society, as well as the need for a new definition of the black American society.

In the scene where he attacks Jem and Scout, it is apparent that the production team made him look like the wild person that he really is. The menacing face and the struggling movements between him and Jem prove that there is something sinister in his character. His death scene also puts a strong reaction to the audience, wherein it was not directly implied that Boo Radley stabbed him. The filmmaking element of camera angles and movements enabled the audience to realize that Bob Ewell is the real antagonist of the film, rather than the society he portrays.

Jem Finch – Bildungsroman
Racism through the child’s eyes and making him mature by having an on-hand experience of it is the major element that makes Jem Finch an important character to hold the theme of racism in the film. Trying to look at the events through Boo Radley’s perspective, Jem at the ending of the film gives precise explanation of how racism has become a problem to the American society, and how it becomes the evident problem that divides the American society. From the point of view of the child, whose experience becomes his point of ‘growing up’ or of ‘coming of age’, Jem made significant addition to the explanation of racism as a theme in the movie.

The camera angles and shots used for Jem is the same with Boo Radley – in mid shot and long shot, as well as using his perspective to make the audience ‘view’ the events according to his narration. It is evident that the production crew used the film as a coming of age movie and also as a means to introduce racism as the major problem of the American society. Maria Lydevik (2014) asserted that the close reading of the novel can provide the ability for people to understand the importance of racial segregation and racial discrimination as important national racial issues in America (16). Using Jem’s perspective, the movie enables the audience to understand racism according to the child’s perspective of the issue; that it does not provide any form of justifiable explanation on why discrimination has to happen, and what it constitutes to make a strong implication on the society.

The coming of age perspective that Jem has with the issue of racism is a theme that establishes the movie as a very important part of American cinema not only for its cinematic and filmmaking contributions but also the way that it disseminated information about the truth of racism in the American society. Jem is without the prejudice of the white society such as the all-white jury against Tom Robinson, or the menacing and blameful Bob Ewell. He is just like Boo Radley in his perspective of things; only that he has the ability to grow and have a full understanding of the situation – just like what the film implies to the audience: That they have the ability to grow from understanding the concepts of the film’s story.

The Film and its Implications about America
The movie was released in the theaters on 1962 – the time when Martin Luther King, Jr. and his group of social activists and demonstrators were trying to fight for the Negro plight and for the desire for social equality and social justice. The movie’s release is one of the strongest implication that film and filmmaking has the ability to move the society to understand the important issues that surrounds them – that they need to observe what they are watching, that they need to observe the media.

For instance, the character of Atticus Finch portrayed by Gregory Peck is presented as a strong, highly masculine and fatherly-type who seems to know everything about the world and has a strong definition of integrity and principles. Peck was used to portray Atticus to make him a role model among the audience, to make them understand that Atticus and his principles is the most ethical and most intellectual character among all the characters in the movie (Gladding and Villalba 120). It also defines the need for a strong character to adjust to the burdens of social prejudice as evident as what the film portrayed about the American south. It is through this embodiment that the concept of using powerful actors becomes an evident filmmaking strategy to promote the message of the movie, and to make it a strong symbolism of the point that the story wants to distribute to the audience.

It is also evident that the director and the production crew used the story as a strong and symbolic definition of the modern American society’s identification of the issue against racial discrimination and the American prejudice against the African Americans. It is evident that they are taking the side of the African Americans and supported their cause. Through the subtle implications in the movie, it becomes evident that the film represents the modern America’s view of racism as a national issue.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the film “To Kill a Mockingbird” is an adaptation of the novel with the eponymous name and also provided what the narrative implies. It is also evident that the lead male characters in the film were used as a representation of the different themes exhibited in the film. Through this use of characters, the film was able to provide the audience the distinct presentation of the American society in the midst of the Sixties’ liberation and social identification for equal rights and social justice.

Atticus Finch as the protagonist serves as the role model that the audience needs in order to identify which side they should take. Jem acts as the audience, whose perspectives are viewed according to the events happening around him. Tom Robinson acts as the victimized African American society, who evidently is not given equal social justice. And lastly, Bob Ewell, who was killed in the end, is the prejudicial white American society, who is implied to not become a part of modern America ever again.

Works Cited
Gladding, Samuel T., and Villalba, Jose. “Imitation, Impersonation, and Transformation: Using Male Role Models in Films to Promote Maturity.” Journal of Counseling & Development, 92.1 (2014): 114-121. doi: 10.1002/j.1556-6676.2014.00137.x.
Harris, Samuel N. “American Dreams and Dystopias: Examining Dystopian Parallels in The Great Gatsby and To Kill a Mockingbird.” Dissertation. Liberty University, 2015. http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1372&context=masters. 6 Dec. 2016.
Jay, Gregory. “Queer Children and Representative Men: Harper Lee, Racial Liberalism, and the Dilemma of To Kill a Mockingbird.” American Literature History, (2015). doi: 10.1093/alhi/ajv023.
Lydevik, Maria. “Racism Through a Child’s Eyes: A Postcolonial and Didactic Analysis of The Bluest Eye and To Kill a Mockingbird.” Dissertation. Halmstad University, 2014. 1-27.
McGovern, Derek. “Themes and Narrative Perspective in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird:’ A Comparison Between the Novel and the Film.” Dissertation. Pukyong National University, 2014.
Van Duinen, Deborah Viend, and Blhuis, Audra. “Reading To Kill a Mockingbird in Community: Relationships and Renewal.” English Journal High School Edition, 105.3 (2016): 81-87.