MovieChat Forums > Mississippi Burning (1989) Discussion > Unintentionally Ironic Plot Point

Unintentionally Ironic Plot Point

posted 13 years ago by imajestr
13 replies | jump to latest

First, let me say I loved the film. I just saw it the other day for the first time, and thought it was fantastic.

But part of me couldn't help but find some irony in one of the major plot points. Here we have a community that consistently beats up, attacks, threatens, and even tries to murder various members of the black community for the tiniest of reasons. This is cause for concern, and leads to the murders of three activists in the town.

So what's the irony? Throughout the film the two main characters push and pull about the extent to which they're willing to push the law in order to get the bad guys. Throughout the film, attacks against black men and even black children occur. It continues to escalate. And yet, of course, what is the last straw, the horror that pushes them over the edge?

A white woman is beat up by one of the perpetrators.

Well! We can't have that! Time to start kicking some ass!

I guess it wasn't enough of an outrage that a black man was taken to the woods and (presumably) gang raped by a group of KKK members.

Anyway, like I said, I liked the film, and this might even be an intentional bit of irony to show something about the characters, but I doubt it. I think it reveals some subconscious oversight of the screenwriters. The film has good intentions, of course, but I still find this major plot point pretty damn ironic for a movie about racism.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] Kieselguhr 13 years ago

Good point, Dougster:
Who said the black guy was raped?
I think someoene is projecting their own motivations and urges.
Deputy Pell's beating his wife was just a mark of how low these bums were prepared to go.
They were depicted as thoroughly evil, with absolutely no redeeming features.
But hey, they were American. What else would you expect?

[–] krissparks5-30-487871 12 years ago

Your probably German.. Figures

[–] avix_007 10 years ago

And yet he writes better English than you.

[–] TheLurkingFox 12 years ago

I don't think the boy was raped, I think he's the kid who got castrated - the one talked about afterward when the black guy threatens the mayor of the same. It fits - taken "for a ride", "in the forest" and then "found".

PS: For the people accusing OP of "projecting": The guy clearly has his pants down when the two agents find him. And the "what is wrong with this people" from the FBI guy clearly meant that there was more than just a beating.

*****
With the newspaper strike on, I wouldn't consider dying! /Bette Davis/

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] benbo-3 9 years ago

I don't think the boy was raped, I think he's the kid who got castrated - the one talked about afterward when the black guy threatens the mayor of the same. It fits - taken "for a ride", "in the forest" and then "found".

1. Right when the FBI agents find him, he's writhing around on the ground, and his hands are crossed over his cock. There's also some blood visible.
2. his pants were down.
3. The remark about "what's wrong with these people", i.e. the worst thing u can do to a man, worse than death.
4. The later story the intimidating Black agent tells the mayor, obviously was referring to the castrated boy.

I don't know why some people are having a hard time believing they'd do that to him; the Klan are animals they did that and worse to people, and they're still listed as a terrorist organization. As we've seen from the ISIS videos, terrorists ain't humane or human.

[–] stagebandman 12 years ago

Just watched it, and I think you're wrong. It was the assault on the man who got thrown in the pickup, and taken out to the woods that finally convince Willem Defoe's agent that it was time to get nasty. The beating of the deputy's wife just exacerbated the problem for Agent Anderson. I know there are black film critics who throw this in with movies like "The Help", thinking that the white people have to come and save the day for the black folks, but that's a lot of how the civil rights movement got anything done. (And I still think "The Help" was just as much about the maids as the writer). I must have watched this movie a dozen times now, because I remember a lot of that happening, and grew up, in Iowa, around some people who felt the same as the racists in this movie. I've even seen burning crosses. And that was in 1979!!!

This movie still says a whole lot, and would be a great classroom movie for high school kids. Some just may learn something.

If we all liked the same movie, there'd only be one movie!

[–] mike-1871 12 years ago

The guy in the woods represents Edward Aaron, a World War Two vet who was castrated by the Klan.

The FBI's outrage was intentionally ironic. Alan Parker--the director--has brought this up before, and was regrettful that the heroes of the film were two white guys, but that is who the FBI was at the time.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] jjjunob 10 years ago

A few other points that haven't been made yet: 1) Hackman's character is attracted to Mrs. Pell. Love, lust, infatuation, call it what you will--it makes a difference. People react more strongly. "This time it's personal" and all that. 2) IMO, it isn't portrayed so much as a big change in their overall investigation, but just as one individual (again, Hackman's character) losing it and beating up the husband. 3) Unlike in the other crimes, this time they know exactly what individual is wholly responsible for the attack. There's no doubt, nothing ambiguous, no 'shared responsibility' of a group acting together. The sole target for his rage is clear.

All that said . . . the OP makes a good point. People certainly do--both in movies and IRL--see some crimes as 'worse' than others based on the demographics of the victim. Sad but true. Just look at the reports of any large-scale tragedy (i.e., a plane crash): they always immediately include how many women and children, how many Americans (referring to US media here, obviously), etc. Why? The implication certainly seems to be that their lives are more valuable, that their loss is somehow more tragic than others'.

[–] Anorensic 9 years ago

No Anderson (Hackman) was only using Mrs Pell...in their final scene together as he's leaving, Mrs Pell tells him, "if you are ever in...don't send me a post card", indicating that she knew too that he was just playing her all the time to get at her husband....Anderson's character is very complex, he may have even set Mrs Pell up on purpose to be beaten up by her husband and then pretend to react more strongly than he really felt in front of Ward to convince him to start doing things his way (which if you remember the after scene between them with Mrs Pell up in the hospital bed all beaten up...Ward finally agrees to Anderson).

Of course when people only want to see racism, they will only see racism, instead of actually understanding the characters (which is one of the fun parts of such movies).

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wat are you lookin' at...

[–] CapitanHowie 9 years ago

A white woman is beat up by one of the perpetrators.

Well! We can't have that! Time to start kicking some ass!

You have to understand, the ONLY reason the FBI was even involved was because 2 of the kids they murdered were white. They could have murdered SIX Black kids- and not a thing would have been done. Certainly no FBI men investigating. That's the ONLY reason anyone cared- the 2 white kids.

The fact that the men who murdered Emmett Till went to trial was a "disgrace" back then to white people. They felt they had a "right" to protect their 'way of life" and they felt a murder or a hanging was "keeping Black people in their place". they wanted the power they had- and they were not about to hand it over without a fight.

Let's not forget Byron De La Beckwith- who shot Medgar Evers in the back in front of his wife and kids- he even bragged about it- nothing happened. Nothing. It wasn't until the late 90's that case was even looked into.

White people were not prosecuted for killing Black people back then- especially not in Mississippi or the other Bible-belt states. And when you think about it- it still rarely happens.

Look at the cops- the ONLY reason they are getting caught and punished now is we all have cell phones to catch them- before that, cops got away with doing this all the time.

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I've never met a racist person, just a scared and uneducated person.
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