During the section of movie today, I was really surprised that the few men who were found guilty of their KKK crimes were sentenced by the court to three years in jail, but then it was suspended. I was confused as to how the judge could just suspend a sentence so easily with no explanation. He gave his reason for such a light sentence as the crimes were “provoked by outside influences”. This definitely happened in real life, but watching it in the movie showed just how ridiculous it was. The KKK had been committing crimes against blacks for years before the FBI showed up to investigate the disappearance of the three boys. I was surprised at the sight of so many young children at the KKK meeting (the “political gathering”) but it actually made a lot of sense. If kids were raised going to these meetings, hearing members of the KKK condemning blacks all the time, they would feel like they were obligated to believe it. This relates to the next thing that resonated with me from the movie today. The Deputy’s wife said that “Hatred isn’t something you’re born with… it’s taught.” This was a really powerful part, and it showed things from the white people of Mississippi’s point of view. I was confused about how the Deputy’s wife would know where the three boys were buried. Yes, she was married to the Deputy who was very involved, but I can’t imagine that he would tell her, or that any of the other members would tell others for fear of anyone telling the FBI like she did. It was also confusing that the sheriff knew it was the Deputy’s wife who told before the Deputy knew. I thought it was absurd that the FBI would be allowed to venture as far as they did from “bureau procedure” when trying to get the men who were involved arrested. Pretending to be the KKK and almost hanging a man? Kidnapping the mayor and threatening him? Yes, this is what they needed to do to scare the men into giving each other up. But it was crazy that they would be able to do such unethical things in order to get information. How did they justify their actions in court?
I think Heather brings up a really good point in saying that the FBI's actions to finally catch the KKK members were unethical, however, I think that is is completely possible that things like this could in fact happen. I think a lot of the actions the federal agencies take are never spoken about but definitely happen. I think that under the circumstances in a federal court of law, the judges would protect the FBI agents similarly to the Mississippi judges that protected the KKK members in Jessup. Although, these actions were completely unethical and off the book, I genuinely think that the federal government could pull off stunts like these. Although, it is more likely that they simply paid off people to make them talk. I also thought it was really powerful when the Deputy's wife said that people weren't born with hatred, it was taught to them. It is obvious that not every person in the South was a racist at the time, but, because so many of them were it must have been truly difficult to not succumb to the lessons taught in school and the values taught at home. It makes me wonder whether more people really understood the atrocities the KKK created. The actions of the people in Mississippi are clearly generational but it makes me wonder where it all came from. There are so many times in the world when people get this idea in their head that the people different from them are bad and it isn't clear what roots this hatred. It should be interesting to see if the movie has more discussion surrounding this idea.
The last part of the movie we watched today had a lot more fictional elements than the previous sections of the movie. For example, almost all of what we watched today was centered around developing the plot and having the FBI agents use their schemes to find the bodies and later convict the members of the KKK. The majority of these scenes, such as the fake KKK attack on lester, the beating up of the deputy in the barber shop, the visit to the deputy's house when the deputy's wife told Anderson where the bodies were, the scene with the man telling the story to the mayor about cutting of his scrotum with a razor blade, and also the calling of a KKK meeting that was bugged were all events that did not follow the actual events that occurred during the case but were simply used to develop the storyline and have the main characters eventually save the day through a clever fashion. These extreme bits of action by Anderson were the more surprising parts in the end of the movie as he was being quite violent when attempting to gather information about the bodies. Some of the parts that did have more factual or realistic elements were when the four men found guilty of burning the house down were let off on lesser charges because they were "provoked by the outsiders" to commit the crime, and similarly when one of the FBI agents said that they would never be able to convict the KKK members on charges of murder as it was a state crime. These parts were realistic since they showed how the racial tensions in Mississippi at the time made the courts extremely biased towards whites and as a result KKK members often got away on either lesser charges or no charges at all.
Similar to what Heather said, I was surprised but also not so surprised how the men were only received a suspended sentence of three years in prison. The reason that i am not surprised about how the judge dealt with their sentence is because of the enormous amount of racism that existed in Mississippi at the time. It came no shock to me when the judge placed an unreasonably light sentence because of the men were provoked by the outside presence of the FBI. Just as the man that committed the crime, the judge was believed that segregation, inequality and even murdering African Americans is a part of "Southern Life". The judge shows how backward thinking many people in movie were at the time and that to protect a "way of life" African Americans cannot have the same rights as whites. While i think that the director portrayed how racist many people in the South really were at the time, there were a few things that i felt were exaggerated for the film. One Area that I think was exaggerated with the "creative license" of the director was how the FBI extracted information about the murders. However, while this part of the film is not accurate to how the actual events occured, i think it is alright that the director took creative liberties on this part of the film to make it more appealing to the audience. I think that it up to the viewer to be aware that they are watching a movie and not a documentary.
The first part of the segment of the movie we watched today showed three men in court, they were sentenced to three years in jail but the charges were suspended. It was amazing to see so many people listening to the case, and support the three men who committed violent acts against the black people. The fact that those charges were suspended because they were allegedly “provoked” into doing those acts, the court blamed the FBI agents for the violence, turning the townspeople against the FBI. This shows how bad things were in the town, and that the influence of the KKK was everywhere. The townspeople reacted by pillaging the black village. During the “political meeting”, there were numerous younger children and women attending. The meeting was in fact a KKK conference, and the younger children were being influenced by the constant degrading speeches against black people. They learned to hate the black people from a young age, which eventually turns them into the racist, black hating people they are today. The FBI’s procedure in capturing the KKK agents was unethical, but extremely effective. I applaud them in coming up with such a plan. I do not know if the movie correctly portrayed the procedure, but the plan seems entirely plausible in real life.
Jack, I agree with what you said about the FBI's procedure in capturing the KKK members. The morality of their strategy did seem a little questionable, but in the end they got the job done. While the plan does seem plausible to me in real life, the part that was surprising and a little unrealistic was the switch from one agent's plan to the other. In the movie, it seemed like a seamless transition from one to the other. One character simply gave in and allowed the other to take the lead. I don't think this would ever happen in real life. Also, there is no explanation for where the other agents who were working on the case went, or the 100 navy reserves. I also agree with what you said about the political meeting. It was definitely a KKK conference. The director was very clearly showing all of the kids in the audience who were listening and clapping while the man spoke on stage. He wanted to show how ingrained the KKK was in the lives of these Mississippians. Those kids were being taught that the KKK was an honorable group of people, and they were going to grow up to believe that whites are truly superior to all other races. This is how the KKK perpetuated racism in the South.
I think the director employed a common tactic during this section of the movie, a typical "plays by his/their own rules" situation. People love that kind of thing in TV shows and movies. Here, Ward is finally driven to the point where he can't stand around and do things by the book anymore, and when the Deputy beats up his wife, Anderson starts doing things even further away from "by the book" than he normally would. I would find it hard to believe that most of these events actually took place. As Edward said, I think they were used to help make our protagonists (the FBI agents) look like real heroes, and show once again that good triumphs evil. This movie wouldn't sell in theaters if Ward and Anderson weren't successful. It also wouldn't sell if Ward and Anderson were successful because the KKK simply wasn't hard to overcome. I stand confused along with Heather as to how the actions of the FBI stood in court. The procedures taken by the FBI were completely immoral. However, not all of them were needed IN court. For example, when the agents pretended to be Klan members in order to scare Lester into cooperating, they didn't need to mention that incident in court. All they needed was for Lester to come to their side, based on his belief that the Klan had turned on him and would kill him. With the Mayor, there was no proof that his kidnapping had taken place, nor was there proof that the FBI was behind it. What the FBI did in order to get information in this situation was debatably wrong, but was necessary in order to end the strife taking place in Jessup County. After the court case that had taken place, where the Judge let the Klansmen go because of "provocation", it was clear that the FBI wasn't going to win easily in Jessup County playing by the rules. They didn't need to drop down to the level of the Klan completely (though Anderson's attack on the Deputy at the barber shop was fairly violent). They just needed to be a little more creative with their tactics.
As Edward said, there was a lot of dramatization, and extending or falsifying the truth of what happened in the last part of the movie. I did like this though, and as an educated viewer I can admire it. By the end of the movie the dramatization helped the outcome of the search even more righteous as we got to know the “bad guys” very well and seeing them jailed was fulfilling. However, this same fulfilling feeling could have also been the director’s way of hiding the reality of what happened to the KKK members. Like what Heather said, a lot of the men got off with doing less time in jail then I have spent in high school for aiding in killing or killing three boys. I feel like the director also took liberties in the corrupting of Lester too, but that made the FBI look all the more awesome and heroic. Once again, the moviemakers took righteousness and labeled it to people in attempt to cover up what happened. Seeing the FBI agents working so well together and catching the bad guys through hard work, and determination seemed so false. In reality the FBI was not nearly as involved as the director made them out to be which we have talked about a lot as a class. Overall I think that the quote Shelbie said, “Hatred isn’t something you’re born with… it’s taught” sums up why the entire event happened. The people in the KKK were born to hate, so they hated, and when the people they hated tried to fight back, it started a war, that war was the Civil Rights movement. The movie that we have watched is a product, more so, recognition of the three casualties of that war and who deserved better than what they got. Unfortunately the price the boys paid was masked by Hollywood and in the end its important to recognize that when you look at the film.
Edward brought up a good point referring to the legitimacy of the events that we watched today. In my opinion, I think that the producers took too many creative liberties. For one thing, I do not believe that the FBI would have taken such drastic measures as dressing up one of their own in Klan garb. I understand that Anderson does not do everything by the book as Ward does, but I did not think that Ward was going to agree to his plan so quickly. The attitudes of these FBI agents towards each other changed rather quickly. I wondered if the producers did this so that their collaboration would help the plot and investigation move on more quickly or was it primarily an accurate representation.
The love affair between Anderson and the Deputy’s wife has also gotten to a point that I never thought it would reach. At this point the KKK are inflicting pain on there own, the ones who are supposed to be closest to them. The deception by the wife just proves the lack of support that she had for her husband. Getting closer to Anderson would certainly not help him out either.
I also thought that it was interesting that the judge let the KKK members off so easily for a very serious crime. The judge’s decision and opinion, which blamed the FBI agents for their behavior, showed the bias that existed in Jessup (and probably all throughout the south). The Deputy’s wife described this, as “Hatred isn’t something you are born with, it’s taught.” In this case, I certainly believe that the atmosphere that these people have been surrounded in for their entire lives has affected their moral judgment. This was an accurate representation of southern states during this period.
There was also a point in the movie today were an African American father realized that the KKK were outside of his home. They were prepared to attack and destroy it. His first instinct was to save his family, but the next was to make a stand and prove to the KKK that he was not going to take them pushing blacks around any longer. The strength of this one man is honorable. A comparison can be seen between him and his son, who returned to his father as soon as he got the rest of his family to safety. I am not quite sure if this scene was dramatized to stress the feelings of African Americans, but no matter, I understood that the blacks were no longer going to sit around and wait for someone else the world. They deserved equality and would take matters into their own hands if necessary. This has been the most exciting part of the movie, but I still believe this is due to creative minds, not factual evidence.
I think that throughout the movie, the director has made clear how prevailing racism was in the South by emphasizing the tension between the FBI agents and the state officials. When the FBI agents tried to investigate the case of three civil rights workers through the normal bureaucratic proceedings, they were met with hostility from the Mississippi government and could not proceed with their legal authority. The reason was that racism was entrenched even in the state government; the police had deep hatred toward the blacks. They would heartlessly tear American flags from the marching black children and would even be members of the KKK. Not only were the police racists, the judge of the state court also sided with the KKK as they gave the KKK criminals merely sentences of three years in jails and suspended the sentences. It was outrageous when the judge claimed that their crimes were provoked by outside influence, an argument that I could have never imagined to appear in court. Thus, it can be clearly seen that racism pervaded the southern state government, perpetuating segregation and blatant racial prejudice. Under such a government, the KKK was able to prevail in spreading fears without incurring serious consequences. A perfect example was how the police connived in the fires and riots that broke out right after the court session ended. Therefore, the FBI agents could have never accomplished their investigation through the normal proceedings and by coercing the state government; the only way they could succeed, as shown in the movie, was through other means such as intimidations. Mr. Anderson obtained information about the bodies by talking to the wife of the Deputy, kidnapped the mayor, and orchestrated a KKK abduction of a man. These means were necessary in order to convict the murderers of the three civil rights workers; therefore, Heather, I think they are justified and by no means unethical. The KKK could not be forgiven for their inhumane atrocities, and anyone who saw the scene during which a black man was hung with his barn burning in the background and his son crying. It was unsatisfying when the criminals were finally convicted, none of them were given a sentence longer than ten years. On the other hand, these racist Southerners could not be blamed for everything considering the environment in which they were raised. Heather brought up a great point: at the KKK meeting, the venom of racism was instilled into many young children as the Klan leader proclaimed that they had led a "shining example of successful segregation." Overall, this was a highly effective movie in portraying the impact racism once had in the United States.
As stated in previous comments, there were certain parts of the movie I was questioning about whether they actually happened like that or not. Some of the already stated ones include how the deputy's wife and Anderson were seeing each other, the two agents in charge of the case and how they (and their attitudes in life) interact with each other and other people in general, and finally the KKK. I am not positive if anyone truly brought up the KKK as being portrayed incorrectly in the film, but at first I figured it was all dramatized. In general history you hear about violence all of the time. Especially in topics involving slaves, blacks and civil rights, violence is almost a given in every piece of evidence and every story read in that section. Before watching this movie, I understood that many people were violently abused and a lot of times for no reason. But, and I believe this to be a very important turning point for me in the movie, as soon as the violence level started to kick in more, I started to believe that it could have been just like that. At first and especially in the beginning of the film, I knew people were violent with each other. But as soon as the film demonstrated what that violence could have consisted of, I started to completely and fully the believe the movie's depiction of the civil rights violence in Mississippi to be fairly accurate compared to what evidence it was based off of.
I thought today’s portion was really interesting. To start off the movie, I thought it was interesting how the first scene was a group of black people walking down the street with white people yelling at them, then immediately after it panned to chickens stuck in a cage. I think that was put their for a purpose because it signifies that the black people had no freedom, and were “in a cage” in a sense. Secondly, I think the corrupt officers in that town mean a lot. The justice system is meant to create equality throughout people of all races, but it was obvious that the officers in that town in Mississippi did not think of blacks as equals. Immediately after releasing a black kid from jail, they sent members of the KKK after him. He was chased into the woods and then beaten very badly. The members of the KKK were dispersed all throughout the town, whether it is in the police force, courtroom, or in every day diners. Even more importantly, when the members of the KKK were in court for beating that black kid, the judge declared that they did it because of “outside influence”. The judge was corrupt, and the three men were only charged with five years of incarceration. Even more bias, the judge decided to postpone their sentence to a later date. All in all, today’s portion showed how significant a role the KKK played in the town. They represented people all throughout the town, and they also had support of many townspeople. At the very end, after everything was said and done, none of the officers or KKK members in the killing got more than 10 years of imprisonment. The sheriff was acquitted.
As Edward, Shelbie, and everyone state, the director exaggerates the truth as the story progresses. The movie moves from being a factual account of the activities that occurred on that notorious night in June 1964, to being a fictional story about the finding of the bodies and the prosecution of the murderers. In a 1988 review of the movie that appeared in the New York Times, the director’s response to the criticism of his use of dramatization and inclusion of events that never occurred, is described as the following: ''I'm trying to reach an entire generation who knows nothing of that historical event,'' Mr. Parker said in a telephone interview, ''to cause them to react to it viscerally, emotionally, because of the racism that's around them now. And that's enough of a reason, a justification, for the fictionalizing.'' (http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=940DE2DA1F30F937A35751C1A96E948260) It is interesting how the director is saying that the end justifies the means, in other words, it’s OK to stretch the truth if more people come and see the movie and learn about racism in the Mississippi. His point that it is fine to make-up events in order to get people to react viscerally has some merit; however, the reality and true events were gruesome enough and dramatic enough that embellishment was probably not necessary. Even though the director has every right to show what he wants in the movie, the problem is that I suspect many viewers thought that the entire movie was true and that the events portrayed were accurate. I also think that despite the fictionalizing of the story, the essence of the message, which is racism, corruption, and hate are evil and should be abolished, is clearly represented. There was corruption everywhere and the three year minimal sentence for the murderers shows that Southern leaders, businessmen, and even judges, who were members of the KKK themselves, could even influence the outcome of a federal trial. The leadership and the system was corrupt, which resulted in racism and prejudice being perpetuated.
The last part of the movie was the most fictional, but it could show how brutal the FBI could be if they couldn’t get any answers. Like everyone else before me, the FBI were very unethical with their methods of obtaining information about the murders of the three civil workers. However, I could see the reasoning why they went in like that to get as much information as possible. The people of Jessup country weren’t willing to comply with Ward’s questioning, so they had no choice but to use force against the whites. It was interesting to see Anderson leading the investigation as it really showed the contrast between Anderson and Ward. It really reminds me of the difference between the northerners and southerners according to what we observed from the documentary before. Throughout this unit, we’ve been told that the northerners tend to rebel using non-violence, and that the people in the south tend to rebel using violence. The differences between the two were very evident between Anderson and Ward. Ward was from the North, and throughout the movie, he tried to negotiate and stay calm as much as possible, trying to avoid any type of conflict as possible. Anderson was the opposite of Ward, using violence and fear to get the answers from everyone in the south. Anderson was the south, and since the two were from different areas of the U.S, I though their interrogation styles reflected the differences between the two sides. The sentences of the 7 men at the end were surprising to me as they didn’t receive any major time in jail. I was expecting a minimum of at least 20 years in jail for all of them as they tried to cover up the murders of the three men and actually helped with the murder. Even though they really deserved a long time in jail, they were tried in state court, so I could see how the 7 men were only given 7-10 years in jail.
As this movie continues, the prominence and violence of the KKK is shown more and more. Towards the end of the movie, one of the FBI agents says an important quote which is directed towards the mayor. He says that anyone is guilty who watches something like what the KKK did happen and doesn’t do anything about it. This quote speaks to a majority of whites during the time period of the civil rights movement as many experienced the KKK beating up on blacks, but didn’t do anything to stop them. Also, many have been speaking of the KKK’s action becoming more dramatized as the movie continues. However, I think this fictionalization was a smart choice by Parker because the violence keeps the movie interesting and makes sure to get across the point that Mississippi was extremely racist during this time period. Another important scene is the speech when the south believes that the north and the FBI agents are intruding on them with the search for the bodies. This shows that the South thought being racist against the blacks was alright and did not like when anyone intruded on their way of life similar to they have done with the blacks’ way of life. This intrusion is one of the reasons, in the court scene, that the judge suspends KKK members of their sentences. This scene shows one major problems of this time era was that the whites were not getting punished for their wrongs. One example of this problem occurred in the case of the murder of the three civil rights workers. The article that we read on Edgar Ray Killen said that he was the first to be charged by the state. Also of none of the men involved in this crime, who were tried in 1967, received more than a ten year sentence.
I found that the last part of the movie was when the director stretched the truth the most and made it the most fictional. This was because of the methods the FBI agents used to get the information from the murders. I doubt that they would hire a black man to kidnap and threaten the mayor of a town. In fact most of the methods they used to coerce the truth out of lester would be highly illegal and also not used by the real agents then. In the real investigation it would be much more likely that they would use bribery and rewards for information to find out what happened rather then kidnapping a mayor and one of the murderers. Though this was all highly fictional I think it was needed to be put in by the director. This is because this was a story that the public needed to hear and in order for the movie to be watched by the public it had to be exciting. Like the director had said, the ends justify the means, it was okay to fictionalize and exaggerate the story as now the public knew what happened then. Finally the sentences that the men who were responsible for murders got was surprising. I didn't think that the FBI agents would be as happy and celebrate that as a victory because they each only got about 7-10 years for murder. Though this could not have been fictionalized I feel like the sentences were put in to stir up more outrage from the viewers about this on how easily they got away with it.
During the section of movie today, I was really surprised that the few men who were found guilty of their KKK crimes were sentenced by the court to three years in jail, but then it was suspended. I was confused as to how the judge could just suspend a sentence so easily with no explanation. He gave his reason for such a light sentence as the crimes were “provoked by outside influences”. This definitely happened in real life, but watching it in the movie showed just how ridiculous it was. The KKK had been committing crimes against blacks for years before the FBI showed up to investigate the disappearance of the three boys.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised at the sight of so many young children at the KKK meeting (the “political gathering”) but it actually made a lot of sense. If kids were raised going to these meetings, hearing members of the KKK condemning blacks all the time, they would feel like they were obligated to believe it. This relates to the next thing that resonated with me from the movie today. The Deputy’s wife said that “Hatred isn’t something you’re born with… it’s taught.” This was a really powerful part, and it showed things from the white people of Mississippi’s point of view.
I was confused about how the Deputy’s wife would know where the three boys were buried. Yes, she was married to the Deputy who was very involved, but I can’t imagine that he would tell her, or that any of the other members would tell others for fear of anyone telling the FBI like she did. It was also confusing that the sheriff knew it was the Deputy’s wife who told before the Deputy knew.
I thought it was absurd that the FBI would be allowed to venture as far as they did from “bureau procedure” when trying to get the men who were involved arrested. Pretending to be the KKK and almost hanging a man? Kidnapping the mayor and threatening him? Yes, this is what they needed to do to scare the men into giving each other up. But it was crazy that they would be able to do such unethical things in order to get information. How did they justify their actions in court?
I think Heather brings up a really good point in saying that the FBI's actions to finally catch the KKK members were unethical, however, I think that is is completely possible that things like this could in fact happen. I think a lot of the actions the federal agencies take are never spoken about but definitely happen. I think that under the circumstances in a federal court of law, the judges would protect the FBI agents similarly to the Mississippi judges that protected the KKK members in Jessup. Although, these actions were completely unethical and off the book, I genuinely think that the federal government could pull off stunts like these. Although, it is more likely that they simply paid off people to make them talk.
ReplyDeleteI also thought it was really powerful when the Deputy's wife said that people weren't born with hatred, it was taught to them. It is obvious that not every person in the South was a racist at the time, but, because so many of them were it must have been truly difficult to not succumb to the lessons taught in school and the values taught at home. It makes me wonder whether more people really understood the atrocities the KKK created. The actions of the people in Mississippi are clearly generational but it makes me wonder where it all came from. There are so many times in the world when people get this idea in their head that the people different from them are bad and it isn't clear what roots this hatred. It should be interesting to see if the movie has more discussion surrounding this idea.
The last part of the movie we watched today had a lot more fictional elements than the previous sections of the movie. For example, almost all of what we watched today was centered around developing the plot and having the FBI agents use their schemes to find the bodies and later convict the members of the KKK. The majority of these scenes, such as the fake KKK attack on lester, the beating up of the deputy in the barber shop, the visit to the deputy's house when the deputy's wife told Anderson where the bodies were, the scene with the man telling the story to the mayor about cutting of his scrotum with a razor blade, and also the calling of a KKK meeting that was bugged were all events that did not follow the actual events that occurred during the case but were simply used to develop the storyline and have the main characters eventually save the day through a clever fashion. These extreme bits of action by Anderson were the more surprising parts in the end of the movie as he was being quite violent when attempting to gather information about the bodies.
ReplyDeleteSome of the parts that did have more factual or realistic elements were when the four men found guilty of burning the house down were let off on lesser charges because they were "provoked by the outsiders" to commit the crime, and similarly when one of the FBI agents said that they would never be able to convict the KKK members on charges of murder as it was a state crime. These parts were realistic since they showed how the racial tensions in Mississippi at the time made the courts extremely biased towards whites and as a result KKK members often got away on either lesser charges or no charges at all.
Similar to what Heather said, I was surprised but also not so surprised how the men were only received a suspended sentence of three years in prison. The reason that i am not surprised about how the judge dealt with their sentence is because of the enormous amount of racism that existed in Mississippi at the time. It came no shock to me when the judge placed an unreasonably light sentence because of the men were provoked by the outside presence of the FBI. Just as the man that committed the crime, the judge was believed that segregation, inequality and even murdering African Americans is a part of "Southern Life". The judge shows how backward thinking many people in movie were at the time and that to protect a "way of life" African Americans cannot have the same rights as whites.
ReplyDeleteWhile i think that the director portrayed how racist many people in the South really were at the time, there were a few things that i felt were exaggerated for the film. One Area that I think was exaggerated with the "creative license" of the director was how the FBI extracted information about the murders. However, while this part of the film is not accurate to how the actual events occured, i think it is alright that the director took creative liberties on this part of the film to make it more appealing to the audience. I think that it up to the viewer to be aware that they are watching a movie and not a documentary.
The first part of the segment of the movie we watched today showed three men in court, they were sentenced to three years in jail but the charges were suspended. It was amazing to see so many people listening to the case, and support the three men who committed violent acts against the black people. The fact that those charges were suspended because they were allegedly “provoked” into doing those acts, the court blamed the FBI agents for the violence, turning the townspeople against the FBI. This shows how bad things were in the town, and that the influence of the KKK was everywhere. The townspeople reacted by pillaging the black village.
ReplyDeleteDuring the “political meeting”, there were numerous younger children and women attending. The meeting was in fact a KKK conference, and the younger children were being influenced by the constant degrading speeches against black people. They learned to hate the black people from a young age, which eventually turns them into the racist, black hating people they are today.
The FBI’s procedure in capturing the KKK agents was unethical, but extremely effective. I applaud them in coming up with such a plan. I do not know if the movie correctly portrayed the procedure, but the plan seems entirely plausible in real life.
Jack, I agree with what you said about the FBI's procedure in capturing the KKK members. The morality of their strategy did seem a little questionable, but in the end they got the job done. While the plan does seem plausible to me in real life, the part that was surprising and a little unrealistic was the switch from one agent's plan to the other. In the movie, it seemed like a seamless transition from one to the other. One character simply gave in and allowed the other to take the lead. I don't think this would ever happen in real life. Also, there is no explanation for where the other agents who were working on the case went, or the 100 navy reserves.
DeleteI also agree with what you said about the political meeting. It was definitely a KKK conference. The director was very clearly showing all of the kids in the audience who were listening and clapping while the man spoke on stage. He wanted to show how ingrained the KKK was in the lives of these Mississippians. Those kids were being taught that the KKK was an honorable group of people, and they were going to grow up to believe that whites are truly superior to all other races. This is how the KKK perpetuated racism in the South.
I think the director employed a common tactic during this section of the movie, a typical "plays by his/their own rules" situation. People love that kind of thing in TV shows and movies. Here, Ward is finally driven to the point where he can't stand around and do things by the book anymore, and when the Deputy beats up his wife, Anderson starts doing things even further away from "by the book" than he normally would. I would find it hard to believe that most of these events actually took place. As Edward said, I think they were used to help make our protagonists (the FBI agents) look like real heroes, and show once again that good triumphs evil. This movie wouldn't sell in theaters if Ward and Anderson weren't successful. It also wouldn't sell if Ward and Anderson were successful because the KKK simply wasn't hard to overcome.
ReplyDeleteI stand confused along with Heather as to how the actions of the FBI stood in court. The procedures taken by the FBI were completely immoral. However, not all of them were needed IN court. For example, when the agents pretended to be Klan members in order to scare Lester into cooperating, they didn't need to mention that incident in court. All they needed was for Lester to come to their side, based on his belief that the Klan had turned on him and would kill him. With the Mayor, there was no proof that his kidnapping had taken place, nor was there proof that the FBI was behind it. What the FBI did in order to get information in this situation was debatably wrong, but was necessary in order to end the strife taking place in Jessup County. After the court case that had taken place, where the Judge let the Klansmen go because of "provocation", it was clear that the FBI wasn't going to win easily in Jessup County playing by the rules. They didn't need to drop down to the level of the Klan completely (though Anderson's attack on the Deputy at the barber shop was fairly violent). They just needed to be a little more creative with their tactics.
As Edward said, there was a lot of dramatization, and extending or falsifying the truth of what happened in the last part of the movie. I did like this though, and as an educated viewer I can admire it. By the end of the movie the dramatization helped the outcome of the search even more righteous as we got to know the “bad guys” very well and seeing them jailed was fulfilling. However, this same fulfilling feeling could have also been the director’s way of hiding the reality of what happened to the KKK members. Like what Heather said, a lot of the men got off with doing less time in jail then I have spent in high school for aiding in killing or killing three boys. I feel like the director also took liberties in the corrupting of Lester too, but that made the FBI look all the more awesome and heroic. Once again, the moviemakers took righteousness and labeled it to people in attempt to cover up what happened. Seeing the FBI agents working so well together and catching the bad guys through hard work, and determination seemed so false. In reality the FBI was not nearly as involved as the director made them out to be which we have talked about a lot as a class. Overall I think that the quote Shelbie said, “Hatred isn’t something you’re born with… it’s taught” sums up why the entire event happened. The people in the KKK were born to hate, so they hated, and when the people they hated tried to fight back, it started a war, that war was the Civil Rights movement. The movie that we have watched is a product, more so, recognition of the three casualties of that war and who deserved better than what they got. Unfortunately the price the boys paid was masked by Hollywood and in the end its important to recognize that when you look at the film.
ReplyDeleteEdward brought up a good point referring to the legitimacy of the events that we watched today. In my opinion, I think that the producers took too many creative liberties. For one thing, I do not believe that the FBI would have taken such drastic measures as dressing up one of their own in Klan garb. I understand that Anderson does not do everything by the book as Ward does, but I did not think that Ward was going to agree to his plan so quickly. The attitudes of these FBI agents towards each other changed rather quickly. I wondered if the producers did this so that their collaboration would help the plot and investigation move on more quickly or was it primarily an accurate representation.
ReplyDeleteThe love affair between Anderson and the Deputy’s wife has also gotten to a point that I never thought it would reach. At this point the KKK are inflicting pain on there own, the ones who are supposed to be closest to them. The deception by the wife just proves the lack of support that she had for her husband. Getting closer to Anderson would certainly not help him out either.
I also thought that it was interesting that the judge let the KKK members off so easily for a very serious crime. The judge’s decision and opinion, which blamed the FBI agents for their behavior, showed the bias that existed in Jessup (and probably all throughout the south). The Deputy’s wife described this, as “Hatred isn’t something you are born with, it’s taught.” In this case, I certainly believe that the atmosphere that these people have been surrounded in for their entire lives has affected their moral judgment. This was an accurate representation of southern states during this period.
There was also a point in the movie today were an African American father realized that the KKK were outside of his home. They were prepared to attack and destroy it. His first instinct was to save his family, but the next was to make a stand and prove to the KKK that he was not going to take them pushing blacks around any longer. The strength of this one man is honorable. A comparison can be seen between him and his son, who returned to his father as soon as he got the rest of his family to safety. I am not quite sure if this scene was dramatized to stress the feelings of African Americans, but no matter, I understood that the blacks were no longer going to sit around and wait for someone else the world. They deserved equality and would take matters into their own hands if necessary. This has been the most exciting part of the movie, but I still believe this is due to creative minds, not factual evidence.
I think that throughout the movie, the director has made clear how prevailing racism was in the South by emphasizing the tension between the FBI agents and the state officials. When the FBI agents tried to investigate the case of three civil rights workers through the normal bureaucratic proceedings, they were met with hostility from the Mississippi government and could not proceed with their legal authority. The reason was that racism was entrenched even in the state government; the police had deep hatred toward the blacks. They would heartlessly tear American flags from the marching black children and would even be members of the KKK. Not only were the police racists, the judge of the state court also sided with the KKK as they gave the KKK criminals merely sentences of three years in jails and suspended the sentences. It was outrageous when the judge claimed that their crimes were provoked by outside influence, an argument that I could have never imagined to appear in court. Thus, it can be clearly seen that racism pervaded the southern state government, perpetuating segregation and blatant racial prejudice. Under such a government, the KKK was able to prevail in spreading fears without incurring serious consequences. A perfect example was how the police connived in the fires and riots that broke out right after the court session ended. Therefore, the FBI agents could have never accomplished their investigation through the normal proceedings and by coercing the state government; the only way they could succeed, as shown in the movie, was through other means such as intimidations. Mr. Anderson obtained information about the bodies by talking to the wife of the Deputy, kidnapped the mayor, and orchestrated a KKK abduction of a man. These means were necessary in order to convict the murderers of the three civil rights workers; therefore, Heather, I think they are justified and by no means unethical. The KKK could not be forgiven for their inhumane atrocities, and anyone who saw the scene during which a black man was hung with his barn burning in the background and his son crying. It was unsatisfying when the criminals were finally convicted, none of them were given a sentence longer than ten years. On the other hand, these racist Southerners could not be blamed for everything considering the environment in which they were raised. Heather brought up a great point: at the KKK meeting, the venom of racism was instilled into many young children as the Klan leader proclaimed that they had led a "shining example of successful segregation." Overall, this was a highly effective movie in portraying the impact racism once had in the United States.
ReplyDeleteAs stated in previous comments, there were certain parts of the movie I was questioning about whether they actually happened like that or not. Some of the already stated ones include how the deputy's wife and Anderson were seeing each other, the two agents in charge of the case and how they (and their attitudes in life) interact with each other and other people in general, and finally the KKK. I am not positive if anyone truly brought up the KKK as being portrayed incorrectly in the film, but at first I figured it was all dramatized. In general history you hear about violence all of the time. Especially in topics involving slaves, blacks and civil rights, violence is almost a given in every piece of evidence and every story read in that section. Before watching this movie, I understood that many people were violently abused and a lot of times for no reason. But, and I believe this to be a very important turning point for me in the movie, as soon as the violence level started to kick in more, I started to believe that it could have been just like that. At first and especially in the beginning of the film, I knew people were violent with each other. But as soon as the film demonstrated what that violence could have consisted of, I started to completely and fully the believe the movie's depiction of the civil rights violence in Mississippi to be fairly accurate compared to what evidence it was based off of.
ReplyDeleteI thought today’s portion was really interesting. To start off the movie, I thought it was interesting how the first scene was a group of black people walking down the street with white people yelling at them, then immediately after it panned to chickens stuck in a cage. I think that was put their for a purpose because it signifies that the black people had no freedom, and were “in a cage” in a sense.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I think the corrupt officers in that town mean a lot. The justice system is meant to create equality throughout people of all races, but it was obvious that the officers in that town in Mississippi did not think of blacks as equals. Immediately after releasing a black kid from jail, they sent members of the KKK after him. He was chased into the woods and then beaten very badly. The members of the KKK were dispersed all throughout the town, whether it is in the police force, courtroom, or in every day diners. Even more importantly, when the members of the KKK were in court for beating that black kid, the judge declared that they did it because of “outside influence”. The judge was corrupt, and the three men were only charged with five years of incarceration. Even more bias, the judge decided to postpone their sentence to a later date.
All in all, today’s portion showed how significant a role the KKK played in the town. They represented people all throughout the town, and they also had support of many townspeople. At the very end, after everything was said and done, none of the officers or KKK members in the killing got more than 10 years of imprisonment. The sheriff was acquitted.
As Edward, Shelbie, and everyone state, the director exaggerates the truth as the story progresses. The movie moves from being a factual account of the activities that occurred on that notorious night in June 1964, to being a fictional story about the finding of the bodies and the prosecution of the murderers. In a 1988 review of the movie that appeared in the New York Times, the director’s response to the criticism of his use of dramatization and inclusion of events that never occurred, is described as the following: ''I'm trying to reach an entire generation who knows nothing of that historical event,'' Mr. Parker said in a telephone interview, ''to cause them to react to it viscerally, emotionally, because of the racism that's around them now. And that's enough of a reason, a justification, for the fictionalizing.'' (http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=940DE2DA1F30F937A35751C1A96E948260) It is interesting how the director is saying that the end justifies the means, in other words, it’s OK to stretch the truth if more people come and see the movie and learn about racism in the Mississippi. His point that it is fine to make-up events in order to get people to react viscerally has some merit; however, the reality and true events were gruesome enough and dramatic enough that embellishment was probably not necessary. Even though the director has every right to show what he wants in the movie, the problem is that I suspect many viewers thought that the entire movie was true and that the events portrayed were accurate. I also think that despite the fictionalizing of the story, the essence of the message, which is racism, corruption, and hate are evil and should be abolished, is clearly represented. There was corruption everywhere and the three year minimal sentence for the murderers shows that Southern leaders, businessmen, and even judges, who were members of the KKK themselves, could even influence the outcome of a federal trial. The leadership and the system was corrupt, which resulted in racism and prejudice being perpetuated.
ReplyDeleteThe last part of the movie was the most fictional, but it could show how brutal the FBI could be if they couldn’t get any answers. Like everyone else before me, the FBI were very unethical with their methods of obtaining information about the murders of the three civil workers. However, I could see the reasoning why they went in like that to get as much information as possible. The people of Jessup country weren’t willing to comply with Ward’s questioning, so they had no choice but to use force against the whites.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to see Anderson leading the investigation as it really showed the contrast between Anderson and Ward. It really reminds me of the difference between the northerners and southerners according to what we observed from the documentary before. Throughout this unit, we’ve been told that the northerners tend to rebel using non-violence, and that the people in the south tend to rebel using violence. The differences between the two were very evident between Anderson and Ward. Ward was from the North, and throughout the movie, he tried to negotiate and stay calm as much as possible, trying to avoid any type of conflict as possible. Anderson was the opposite of Ward, using violence and fear to get the answers from everyone in the south. Anderson was the south, and since the two were from different areas of the U.S, I though their interrogation styles reflected the differences between the two sides.
The sentences of the 7 men at the end were surprising to me as they didn’t receive any major time in jail. I was expecting a minimum of at least 20 years in jail for all of them as they tried to cover up the murders of the three men and actually helped with the murder. Even though they really deserved a long time in jail, they were tried in state court, so I could see how the 7 men were only given 7-10 years in jail.
As this movie continues, the prominence and violence of the KKK is shown more and more. Towards the end of the movie, one of the FBI agents says an important quote which is directed towards the mayor. He says that anyone is guilty who watches something like what the KKK did happen and doesn’t do anything about it. This quote speaks to a majority of whites during the time period of the civil rights movement as many experienced the KKK beating up on blacks, but didn’t do anything to stop them. Also, many have been speaking of the KKK’s action becoming more dramatized as the movie continues. However, I think this fictionalization was a smart choice by Parker because the violence keeps the movie interesting and makes sure to get across the point that Mississippi was extremely racist during this time period. Another important scene is the speech when the south believes that the north and the FBI agents are intruding on them with the search for the bodies. This shows that the South thought being racist against the blacks was alright and did not like when anyone intruded on their way of life similar to they have done with the blacks’ way of life. This intrusion is one of the reasons, in the court scene, that the judge suspends KKK members of their sentences. This scene shows one major problems of this time era was that the whites were not getting punished for their wrongs. One example of this problem occurred in the case of the murder of the three civil rights workers. The article that we read on Edgar Ray Killen said that he was the first to be charged by the state. Also of none of the men involved in this crime, who were tried in 1967, received more than a ten year sentence.
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ReplyDeleteI found that the last part of the movie was when the director stretched the truth the most and made it the most fictional. This was because of the methods the FBI agents used to get the information from the murders. I doubt that they would hire a black man to kidnap and threaten the mayor of a town. In fact most of the methods they used to coerce the truth out of lester would be highly illegal and also not used by the real agents then. In the real investigation it would be much more likely that they would use bribery and rewards for information to find out what happened rather then kidnapping a mayor and one of the murderers. Though this was all highly fictional I think it was needed to be put in by the director. This is because this was a story that the public needed to hear and in order for the movie to be watched by the public it had to be exciting. Like the director had said, the ends justify the means, it was okay to fictionalize and exaggerate the story as now the public knew what happened then.
ReplyDeleteFinally the sentences that the men who were responsible for murders got was surprising. I didn't think that the FBI agents would be as happy and celebrate that as a victory because they each only got about 7-10 years for murder. Though this could not have been fictionalized I feel like the sentences were put in to stir up more outrage from the viewers about this on how easily they got away with it.