A Time to Kill: Issues in Racism

A Time to Kill: Issues in Racism

The film A Time to Kill, directed by Joel Schumacher, explores the issues of race, class, gender and sexuality throughout the plot. The film challenges and focuses mainly around racial issues between African Americans and whites in rural Mississippi. Schumacher displays vivid and harsh scenes of brutality and racism between the two cultures in Mississippi. The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the issues of racism within the film and how it can affect Schumacher's audience. A Time to Kill exploits the issue of racism through the usage of verbal profanity, brutality, stereotypes, and inequality between races. Some of the scenes and images could be described as too harsh and offensive for some audiences, however the film contains a deep message for Schumacher's intended audience.

When conducting an analysis of a film it is essential to take note of the target audience. A Time to Kill is certainly directed towards a more mature adult audience. Douglas Kellner in his article, "Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism, and Media Culture," discusses the importance of identifying the intended audience and how different genders, classes, and races would interpret a film differently. He states, "All texts are subject to multiple readings depending on the perspectives and subject positions of the reader" (Kellner, pg.6). Different audiences will respond very differently to A Time to Kill, and Schumacher is targeting older mature black and white adults. Younger children could interpret the film entirely wrong, and certain audiences could be highly offended. Different cultural groups have such diverse ideas and thought processes that it is often difficult to appeal to all audiences in filmmaking.

Certain audiences can be highly offended by the racial slurs and profanity directed towards a certain race in many films today. Racism has been such a large part of American history and is still present today in much more subtle terms. In the article "Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life," the group of authors refers to these verbal slurs as racial microaggressions. The writers from Columbia University define racial microaggressions as "verbal, behavioral or environmental indignities, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial insults toward people of color" (Sue, Capodilupo, Torino, Becceri, Holder, Nadal, Esquilin, pg.251). This can be harmful to those who are being attacked, and who are constantly being put down by another race.

The film A Time to Kill employs many instances of the usage of racial microaggressions. The black characters are constantly being put down and disrespected by their white associates. Schumacher uses profane language throughout the film to attack and offend the black characters. Carl Lee Hailey, played by Samuel L. Jackson, is called a nigger all movie long by white men who view themselves as more superior. Even a member of his jury when discussing how he views the case says, "That nigger is dead" (Schumacher, A Time to Kill). This profane use of derogatory terms between whites and blacks is still a major issue in today's society and is seen in many different films.

Brutality between races is another serious issue that is portrayed throughout A Time to Kill. The opening scene of the film involves two white racists who violently attack and rape a young black girl. They beat the girl, rape her, and then hang her from a tree in an attempt to kill her (Schumacher, A Time to Kill). This was a disturbing scene, and truly portrays the hatred others can experience for a different race. Douglas Schrock and Michael Schwalbe in their article, "Men, Masculinity, and Manhood Acts," state that the targets of these unwanted sexual harassments are often women of lower status. They believe this gives the men a sense of their dominance and masculinity (Schrock, Schwalbe, pg.105). The two white men viewed themselves as superiors to blacks, and were not afraid to exhibit their dominance to any blacks who stood in their way.

Certain audiences have trouble coping with and watching such severe brutality and violence in a film. The constant violence between the whites trying to harm the blacks, and the blacks fighting back is very intense. This could be a major deterrent to different types of cultural groups, and could seriously offend some people. For instance, women and more conservative viewers may be less inclined to enjoy the film due to the high level of brutality between the characters.

Another major issue present in the film is the flawed view of others through stereotypes. Stereotypes are all over society today and can be harmful to one's image. Judith Andre in the article, "Stereotypes: Conceptual and Normative Considerations," conveys the message that stereotypes are bad things even when their image portrayed is a positive one. Stereotypes keep us from coping with reality,