Badham turned badass

Yesterday, my mom forwarded to me an NPR interview with Mary Badham. For those of you who don't recognize the name, Badham played Scout Finch in the classic 1962 film adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird. All these years later, it seems that Badham has now taken on the role of Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose --- the Finch family's racist neighbor.

Anyone who truly knows me understands my love of To Kill A Mockingbird... and weirdly, Mrs. Dubose is one of my favorite characters. She has a single mention in Chapter One, I believe, and then an entire chapter at the end of Part One. Her memorable line in the movie ("Don't you say 'hey' to me, you ugly girl! You say 'Good afternoon, Mrs. Dubose!'") is probably my favorite movie line to quote, ever. When I teach To Kill A Mockingbird at the start of second semester, I warn my students if they say "hey" to me in the hallway, I may respond with that line. It's just so fun to say!

Anyway, back to Badham. In her interview, she mentioned that she's never felt any sort of ownership over the role of Scout Finch. She's apparently attended several school productions throughout her life, observing all different interpretations of the overall-wearing hooligan, and loved all of them. It got me to thinking, however, about whether America (and the rest of the world) feels that no one is capable of portraying Scout more accurately than Mary Badham... or, even more likely, no one is capable of portraying Atticus more accurately than Gregory Peck. I have this conversation with my students every year and we all agree on this wonderment: Why can't a big-name service like Netflix or Amazon Prime make a Mockingbird miniseries? Why can't someone release a six-part drama that includes EVERYTHING in the novel? I mean, think of all that's left out of the movie:

1. Mrs. Dubose, for starters! Jem never destroys her camellias or has to read to her. She's mean because she's addicted to morphine and going through withdrawal, but viewers never learn that because it's not mentioned. But that's kind of a huge thing! Plus, Atticus has that insanely powerful quote: "I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what." Um... foreshadowing, anyone? Because that's exactly what Atticus does in reference to Tom's trial.

2. Neither Francis nor Aunt Alexandra appears in the movie. Coincidentally, one of my favorite lines in the entire novel is "Long ago, in a burst of friendliness, Aunty and Uncle Jimmy produced a son named Henry, who left home as soon as was humanly possible, married, and produced Francis." Can you think of a more poetically humorous way to describe sex? "A burst of friendliness." I just love that!

3. I can sort of see eliminating Francis from the movie (even though that's a crucial scene with Uncle Jack afterward... who's also not in the movie), but Aunt Alexandra comes to stay with the Finch family during the trial and essentially acts as a mother figure to Jem and Scout. She's a hard character to like, but I like her a lot, and my favorite chapter in the entire novel is when she invites her missionary circle for tea. Chapter Twenty-Four. You've really got to read between the lines for that one, but wow... There's a lot hidden in the unspoken dialogue! I love, love, love that chapter. And freakin' Miss Maudie! "His food doesn't stick going down, does it?" Now THAT is a badass woman. Someday I intend to have a dog (hopefully a Bedlington Terrier) and name her Maudie.

4. Speaking of Miss Maudie, her house never burns down in the movie... which means Boo can't cover Scout in a blanket.

5. After the trial, Maycomb's POC don't turn up at the Finch property and gift Atticus with everything from scuppernongs to pickled pigs' feet. They had next to nothing and gave so much to him to show how appreciative they were for what he'd tried to do for Tom. I mean, that's just a really powerful scene. It should be in the movie.

6. Calpurnia never takes the kids to church with her! Viewers aren't given the opportunity to meet Lula or learn about linin'. That's an eye-opening chapter and I think if someone were to remake To Kill A Mockingbird, that scene would definitely make the cut.

7. Boo never speaks. He has one line in the novel --- "Will you take me home?" --- and it conveys so much. I wish they'd given him that line in the film too.

I could go on and on, but I'm going to change gears just a bit because I want to give a plug to Truman Capote. I know he and Harper Lee were friends growing up, and that he was the inspiration for Dill Harris, and that Capote and Lee's friendship fell apart when he tried to take credit for Mockingbird. She won the Pulitzer for her novel and he didn't win the Pulitzer for In Cold Blood and that sort of ruined everything that had once existed between them. That's how Harper Lee's sister Alice explains it in the documentary Hey, Boo anyway.

Okay. Back to what I'm trying to say.

What I'm trying to say is that until recently, I'd never actually read anything by Truman Capote, but this summer I picked up In Cold Blood and man oh man, that guy can WRITE. I only have about ten or fifteen pages left, but it was already after one o'clock when I finally put my book down last night (earlier this morning?) and so I decided to save the execution for later today. So that's what I'm off to do. Maybe what you should do is reread To Kill A Mockingbird if you haven't picked it up since high school. It's one of those books that gets better and better with age.