“Mudbound” Film Analysis Paper
Many films in modern entertainment have been influenced by important historical events. However, many of these films are presented to audiences with unrealistic storylines and gross embellishment of the truth. The film “Mudbound” offers viewers an honest and unbiased glimpse into life in the 1940s. While this film offers many different themes and aspects of life in the Mississippi Delta from sharecropping to gender roles; this paper will focus on the dehumanizing Jim Crow laws and the white supremacist mindset. The film is set on a farm deep in the Mississippi Delta.
The storyline depicts the struggles of two families trying to make a living working the land. While both families are identical in economic status, both have a loved one fighting in WWII, and neither owns their land, the one distinct difference between them is race. The mindset and laws of the Jim Crow south make for difficult and dangerous times as the white McAllans, move onto the farm and the black Jackson’s are forced to accept and obey Henry McAllan’s every request. When Henry’s brother Jamie, returns from the war at the same time as Hap Jackson’s son Ronsel, the two form a special bond based on experience and understanding. Ronsel, having served his country in Germany and being welcomed by the civilian German population where Jim Crow is non-existent, does not acclimate well to returning home to the Mississippi Delta. Jamie and Ronsel, form a close friendship through experience and understanding despite the law of the land. This friendship led to the discovery that Ronsel, had fathered a child with a white woman in Germany. Illegal in the Jim Crow south, the truth of his child results in a violent encounter with Jamie’s father, Pappy McAllan, and his fellow Klansman. “Mudbound” offers audiences an extremely accurate account of the Jim Crow south.
The American Civil Rights Union defines the Jim Crow era as an entire way of life devoted to establishing and maintaining white superiority over blacks in America. While Jim Crow attitudes could be found in the northeastern, western, and midwestern states, the south was notorious for the systematic oppression of the black community. The south maintained strict segregation rules that were forcefully upheld, social institutions were designed to reinforce the fundamental principle that blacks were inferior to whites. This idea of black inferiority was seen in every aspect of life from status under the law to access of public accommodations and even in social etiquette. This idea of white superiority is seen within the first hour of Ronsel Jackson returning home from Germany. He stops in a local store to grab a few items before heading to his home to surprise his family, upon trying to leave out the front door of the store he is stopped by Pappy and Henry McAllan. As Ronsel, states he just trying to leave, Pappy McAllan, makes it clear that Ronsel, is back in Mississippi. Pappy explains that while he may have been able to serve in the war and he didn’t know what he was able to do overseas; he was back home and would not be allowed to leave through the front door because he is black.
Jackson replies to Pappy, with an assertive description of how he served in combat with the 761st Tank Battalion an all-black combat unit under General Patton; defeating the Germans while the McAllans stayed safe at home. This infuriates Pappy, as to how dare a negro to speak to him, a white man, this way. During the Jim Crow era, social etiquette rules were in place for blacks and whites while interacting. Some of those rules dictated that negros were to never suggest a white person is from a lower class and never to lay claim to having superior knowledge or intelligence over a white person. [footnoteRef: 3] Jackson breaks these rules when confronting the McAllans, with Pappy furious that a negro dared speak to him in that manner the ideal of white superiority is highlighted. This incident with the McAllans, also showcases how black veterans were seen returning from the war. Even though the U. S. denounced Hitler’s ideal of “Aryan” supremacy in Europe, the U. S. hypocrisy was exposed to black servicemen and civilians alike as they remained second-class citizens.
The Jim Crow mindset is again accurately depicted when Henry McAllan, later visits the Jackson house to talk to Hap Jackson, Ronsel’s father, about how his son acted earlier in the day. Henry demands an apology for Ronsel’s outburst undermining the status of white men. Stating that his actions could start a lot of trouble, the kind of trouble he didn’t want if an apology wasn’t made, insinuating violence would come towards the family and Ronsel. Unfortunately, these threats were not added to the movie for dramatic effect but a harsh reality of the Jim Crow south. In an interview with Jessie J. Johnson, a black man living in the Jim Crow South, he recalls a similar run-in with a white man. Johnson was trying to get a ride into town and asked a white man for a ride, the white man responded he wasn’t going that way. Johnston, states “I said to myself, I said, ‘Uh-huh,’ trying to figure out how I could get to town. He looked down at me and said, ‘N****r, did you say yeah, to me, a white man? Actually, I had just said, ‘uh-huh,’ to myself thinking you know. He hit himself in the chest again and said, ‘did you say ‘yeah’ to me a white man?’ I was surprised I was still standing there. So, he reached down and got that long crank and swayed it at my head. ” [footnoteRef: 5] Violence and the threat of violence towards black families was tool used to control and oppress the black population. Johnson’s firsthand account of his encounter with a white man in the Jim Crow South is a great example of the way of life for the black population actually was during the 1940s and the mindset of white supremacy in the south.
“MudBound,” presents the Jim Crow South from an unbiased viewpoint and accurately portrays the time’s prejudice and violent nature, however, some aspects of the film may have been sensationalized for Hollywood. For example, when it is discovered that Ronsel had fathered a child with a white woman in Germany, Pappy McAllan organizes a lynching with his fellow Klansman, as well as making his son Jamie, who has befriended Ronsel, attend and watch the violence. While lynching was common practice in the Jim Crow South, the chance of Jamie being able to decide which action was taken towards his friend and Ronsel surviving to return to Germany is a long shot. In an interview with H. J. Williams, a black sharecropper in Yazoo Country MS, is asked about lynching in his area. Williams responds “Oh yeah, they had some lynching. Yeah. Sure. I can take you right on there to Shorty Creek where they lynched a man. ” When asked why they had hung the man, his response is chilling. Williams states, “Well, they claim he was a friend to a white lady. That’s what they claim. Now whether that was true or not, I don’t know, and I haven’t heard anybody else say they knowed, but that’s what they claimed, and they lynched him. ” This statement helps to prove the Hollywood embellishment of Ronsel’s lynching. He would not have survived nor, would it have been such a production. Lynching was a common practice in the south and thought to be done in the dark of night with hooded Klansman. However, the reality is that most lynchings were done in broad daylight in a public setting, and most white men didn’t make much effort to conceal their identities. The Jim Crow mindset did not allow for due process in the case of accused negros. If Ronsel, was believed to be the father to a child with a white woman, then in the eyes of Jim Crow he was the father and would have been punished for that. Therefore, making it hard to believe it would have been as dramatic as depicted in the film and that Ronsel would have lived to return to his child.
MudBound” helps to paint a better understanding of how life was in the Jim Crow South post-WWII. The storyline allows audiences to see the many sides of the Jim Crow mindset and the barbaric dehumanizing aspects of the times. The film particularly helps viewers to see and understand life from the black perspective. Blacks in the south were subject to the unfair practices of sharecropping, segregated access to public amenities, constant threats of violence, humiliating social etiquette rules, and overall denial of their basic constitutional rights. Throughout the film, the audience sees the contradicting ideas of “freedom” in the south.
Although slavery is abolished blacks were not equal or free. Overall, the film delivers a powerful glimpse into life during the Jim Crow era. The ideas of white supremacy are deeply ingrained in the culture and society of the deep south in the 1940s. Jim Crow is a dark time in American history that should never be forgotten. Although “MudBound” does allow for a certain amount of accuracy in relation to life during the Jim Crow, the film still follows the media traditions of embellishment and dramatics that also allows for a false interpretation of the progression of societies relationship with blacks during this time period.
