Discussion Questions for the Films

1. Compare the movie to the book. How did viewing the movie compare to the experience of reading the book? Were the characters and setting used in the movie in keeping with your own visualizations as you read?
2. What did the film change or leave out? Why do you think these characters and moments were altered or deleted? For example, when a lynch mob confronts Atticus before the trial, Scout's innocent interference dispels the threat of violence. Compare the scene as it occurs in Chapter 15 of the novel to the film.
3. What other films does To Kill a Mockingbird remind you of? Are there similarities in the characters? Setting? General feeling?
4. How does the film compare to the images of childhood represented in other movies or television programs you have seen? How does it compare to your own recollections or understanding of Southern culture? Of post-depression culture?
5. Are the issues as they are portrayed in the film still pertinent today? How have race relations changed? How have they remained static? How has social status changed in our society? How is it similar to that portrayed in the text?