Portrayal of Gender in the 1962 To Kill a Mockingbird Film : An analysis of the representation of gender in the 1962 filmization of “To Kill a Mockingbird” and using film to discuss gender issues in the Swedish EFL classroom

Sammanfattning: This essay examines the 1962 filmization of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird through gender theory to identify its representation of gender, underlying gendered norms and how power is exercised through gender. The analysis concludes that the film’s portrayal of men and women follow a pattern of traditional gendered roles and norms in terms of their respective gender roles, accepted behavior, dress-code and men’s overarching influence in society in accordance with the film’s time and setting. Although the film’s main characters question and oppose certain gendered roles and norms, its problems are left unsolved and not reflected upon towards the end of the film. The film can be used in the Swedish EFL-classroom to identify and analyze gendered norms which can then act as the starting point of a discussion on how it stands in contrasts to the gendered norms and roles of modern-day United States and Sweden.