Explain how a film you have studied depicts conflict, and discuss how this depiction influences the viewers' response to the ideas and characters in the film.

Essay by angelus07College, Undergraduate September 2006

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The film "Mississippi Burning", directed by Alan Parker, is a film that represents severe conflict between the African American population and the White American population in Mississippi during the 1960s. This conflict, however, is especially emphasised through the relationships between White American characters. The relationship between the Jessup County Authorities and the FBI agents depict significant conflict in two main ways. Firstly, the Jessup County Authorities don't agree with the FBI's aims to 'integrate' the south, and secondly, the Jessup County Authorities are extremely racist whereas the FBI are looking out for all races. This character relationship also influence the viewers' response to the characters and ideas in the film through the ways that they handle the conflict that they produce.

Firstly, the relationship between the Jessup County Authorities and the FBI agents depict significant conflict as the Jessup County Authorities don't agree with the FBI's aim to 'integrate' the South.

The first time that the viewer is introduced to the conflict between these two groups is in the County's police station. When Agent Ward approaches Deputy Pell, Pell mocks them by smirking "Federal Bureau Integration?" The racist and impatient attitude from the Jessup County Authorities is obvious. This mockery and intolerance of the FBI agents continues when Anderson enters a Barber shop. Tilman, the County's mayor, expresses to Anderson that he doesn't appreciate the FBI agents attempting to solve the racist crimes in their town. He makes this clear when he says "You can tell your bosses, that the people up there have the wrong idea about the South...we've got two cultures down here. The white culture and the coloured culture. That's the way it has been and that's the way it will always be."

The Jessup County Authorities seem to be satisfied with the way things run in...