It's monologue

最近剛看完一部非常好的電影 <To Kill a Mockingbird> -1968 (誰殺了知更鳥or梅崗城故事)，根據作家哈波・李 Harper Lee的同名小說拍攝，同時也是她目前唯一一本的小說。雖然這部電影算是早期拍攝的(仍是黑白電影)，但是這並無損於一個好的故事。Harper Lee 算是美國很神秘的小說家之一，原因就在於To Kill a Mockingbird是本非常賣座的書，ㄧ直到許多年後的現在大家仍在讀這本書或是看這部電影，然而Lee自那之後沒有再寫一本小說，沒人知道為什麼就此沒再出版過一本小說當她一直以來都保持低調的生活。不過以這本她唯一的小說，我認為Lee也仍然會被大眾記得就像其他經典的作家一般。事實上，梅崗城故事本身毫無疑問的已經是一本經典了，是一本你會放在閱讀清單上一次的一本書。

雖然電影一開始的步調有些許緩慢，許多場景在一開始看來似乎都挺隨意且無關緊要，但是隨著故事的發展，故事線逐漸變得清楚且結構完整。整部影片大多是由一個小女孩-斯葛 Scout(或是思考特)眼中的角度來看，思考特的家中還有一個長她幾歲的哥哥以及父親。當中Lee寫進了許多重要的元素在她的書中，無知、歧視、正義、原諒、智慧、勇氣、以及理解。在梅崗鎮上有兩名居民共同特別討厭的人物，布・瑞德以及湯姆魯賓森。布被鎮上當成是一名危險的神經病，而湯姆則是被指控為強暴犯同時也被當作罪犯般關進監牢。看起來居民沒有理由喜歡這兩個人似乎合乎邏輯，然而故事之後的發展讓我們知道我們看到的事情樣子不見得就是事情的真實，鎮上的居民其實對於布還有湯姆一點都不瞭解，因為他們兩都算是社會上的弱勢族群，因此人們不尊重他們的同時也害怕他們。故事後來，就如同觀眾可以猜到一般發現其實布和湯姆就像所有其他人一樣友善，甚至是比一些鎮上一些種族歧視人士還要更值得人們尊敬。Lee使用知更鳥來暗喻那些正直且無辜的人。

故事當中亞惕 Atticus (思考特的父親)和他的兩個孩子傑姆 Jem和思考特 Scout在某次晚餐當中有過一段對話。亞惕提到他在青少年時期就拿到他人生的第一把槍，並且自那開始練習射擊。他同時也說道，去射殺知更鳥是件不道德的事情，因為知更鳥對於人而言完全沒有任何傷害，反而還用心唱出好聽的音樂給人們聽。當中對湯姆的那場審判最終的結局對湯姆而言是場悲劇，雖然整個審判的過程在整本書當中是個重要且讓人難忘的一幕。除此之外，當亞惕的孩子們遭受突然的攻擊也帶來故事中另一個大衝擊，特別是當一個意料之外的人出現救了兩個孩子，但卻意外地造成了事件攻擊者的死亡。意外的是，當警長和亞惕談論的時候，警長並沒有打算把這件事件向鎮上曝光。他認為把一個單純無辜的人放到大眾之前是一種罪過。他的這份認為是因為雖然警長覺得這位拯救孩子們人物會被大家當作英雄般地對待，但那卻不是這名人物可以應付得了的情況，因此他認為把事情曝光反而是一種罪。如果魯賓森是暗喻的知更鳥之一，我們可以從警長的對話中推測出Lee在這邊暗指出他的死是一個錯誤，因為布正是另外一隻知更鳥，Lee藉由思考特的口中的一段話指出，她說：那就像是射殺一隻知更鳥一樣”，如果把事實攤在大眾面前。

毫無疑問地，哈波 李無疑的是一位出色地說故事者，如果讀者大眾有留心的話，在故事的一開始有一段話是這麼說的，雖然短卻意義深遠，“沒有什麼需要恐懼的除了恐懼它本身”引述富蘭克林・羅斯福總統演說的一句。造成對布和湯姆的誤解就是因為人們無知的恐懼。人們害怕心智不正常者，黑人，以及未知的事物。因為不瞭解，所以他們認定了精神病者及黑人是危險且令人嫌惡的，而我認為那是作者想要討論的整個書的中心，即便如次，Lee仍然留下了許多值得深思的部分即使看完這個故事之後。
 

I just finished watching one of the best movies- To kill a Mockingbird, adpated by Harper Lee's same novel, which is also her only novel by now. Though the movie was shot early (it's still black and white), it doesn't diminish the greatness of the story at all. Harper Lee is one of the most mysterious American novelists. Her "To kill a mockingbrid" created a huge success, people still read her novel and watch the movie even after so many years. But she never wrote another novel again without reasons as she keeps such a low profile for a long time. With her only novel, I believe she will be remembering still as other classic authors. There is no doubt To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic already. It is something you would like to put on your must-read list for once. 

The movie started with a bit slow pace. Many scenes you feel random and irrelevant from the beginning, but the story literally develops strong and structural. The film generally is from the eyes of a kid- Scout, a little girl having an elder brother and their father. There are many elements Lee wrote in her story, ignorance, discrimination, justice, forgiveness, wisdom, courage and mutual understanding. Two characters of the film the town residents feel hostile to particularly, Boo Redley and Tom Robinson. The former is considered as a dangerous psycho in the town; the later was accused as a rapist and was put into a jail as a criminal. It seems obviously there's no reason that people should like them two. However, the story later showed us what we see may not be what it really is. People in the town don't really understand Boo and Tom because they're the unrepresentative of the society. People fear them and disrespect them. Later, the audience can find that Boo and Tom are just as friendly as everyone else even more respectful than some racist residents in the town. The mockingbird is a metaphor that Lee uses to represent innocent people here. 

There is a conversation between the heroic father, Atticus and his children Jem and Scout over a dinner. Atticus mentioned he was given a gun in his puberty, and started to practice shooting with his gun since then. He said, it seems immoral to kill mockingbirds because they do no harm to human beings but singing out their hearts with beautiful melody. The trail against Tom results in a tragedy to himself although the trail itself is somehow an unforgetable and crucial scene of the movie. In addition, the sudden attack on Atticus's children brings up another climax of the story especially when an unexpected person saved the two kids, which accidentally caused the demise of the attacker. Surprisingly, the sheriff has no intention to expose the town what truly happened in the accident when he talked to Atticus. He thinks it's a sin to make an innocent person under exposure in front of the public. Though sheriff suggested the unexpected rescuer will be treated heroic, which is not likely a situation the rescurer can deal with, thus he thinks that's a sin. If Robinson is a metaphoric mockingbird, we may also assume that Lee indicates his death is a sin from Sheriff's statement, because Boo is another mockingbird that Lee pointed out with the little girl's mouth "it is sort of like shooting a mockingbird", said to Atticus, meaning if the truth was revealed to the public. 

Undoubtedly, Harper Lee is a great storyteller. If the reader has listened carefully, you may remember there was a line at the very beginning, short but significant. "There is nothing to fear but fear itself", quoted from Franklin Roosevelt. What caused the misunderstanding to Boo and Tom is because of the fear of people's ignorance. People fear about mental disorders, black people, and things they do not know. Because of knowing nothing, they presume mental disorders and black people are dangerous and detested, and that is the center of the story I thought Lee wants to talk about here. Yet, Harper Lee still left us lots of thinking after reading her story.