To Kill a Mockingbird (film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The estate of Harper Lee is suing the creators of the forthcoming play adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird for messing up Atticus Finch. In the original book Finch is already a crusader against the racism that is allowing the false accusation of rape against his black client in the old deep South by a white woman whose sexual advances the client turned down because she’s married. In the play it seems Finch has to learn that racism is a bad thing over the course of the case rather than already be anti-racist. I guess because he’s a white guy. Really, the book and movie already spoke against racism with everybody else and didn’t need Finch to stop being a racist because he never was. So what is the point? And no, I’m not buying “artistic differences”, the excuse given by the producer. There is no reason for this change. I’m with the Lee estate on this one.
The creators of this updated To Kill A Mockingbird play deserve to be sued. This play totally goes against the spirit of the character Atticus Finch. I wonder what Mrs. T, our 9th grade English teacher who had us read To Kill A Mockingbird, would say about this development.
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