Reel Intimidation

By Harrison Lawrence

[1] Throughout Mississippi Burning, director Alan Parker gave African Americans very minor roles. Besides the fact that they were constantly at the mercy of the vicious KKK and the police force, none of them had any serious speaking lines. However, one scene in particular went against the trend of defenseless blacks that were so visible in the movie. Near the climax of the investigation, the mayor is taken captive by a black FBI agent, who pretended to be a citizen of Neshoba County. This episode sparked much controversy, however. Parker used this invented character as “almost a metaphor for what was happening in real life, the assertion of black anger, and black rights reasserting themselves.'' Parker first builds up the anger of the black community in the prior scene, then uses this character during a turning point in the film that illustrates blacks acting upon the frustrations they share and regaining their peace of mind.

[2] The way that Parker sets up this scene may be underappreciated; however, it provides a segue from the passive blacks to blacks taking action. For the first 100 minutes of the film, the black community of Neshoba takes a passive stance against the oppressive whites. The first time we see any form of resistance is during the mourning of the one black civil rights worker who was brutally slain. As the pastor begins to talk about the tragedy that occurred, his preaching takes on a progressively angry tone: “Now I say to these people -- look at the face of this young man and you will see the face of a black man. But, if you look at the blood shed, it is red. It is like yours! It is just like yours!” The pastor is clearly upset at the fact that even in death two different races still are unable to be buried with one another. The crowd roars in agreement, and this is the first time we start to see Parker give the black community any sort of backbone at all. What follows this scene is a result of the collective pent-up rage and frustration that the pastor so vividly spoke about.

[3] The first facet that this “specialist” character assists with is the Information that is retrieved from the mayor who is held captive. The valuable information extracted from the mayor ended up revealing all of the major conspirators, which in turn helped the FBI eliminate all the major players who made life hard for the blacks of Neshoba County. Although there were no black FBI representatives at this time in America, Parker creates this character to form an all-important turning point in the film. At this point, the blacks of Neshoba County are fed up and this “specialist” represents the emotional toll the people have gone through and the push to finally get some answers. The true story of how the information was retrieved is unclear -- some say it was a bribe -- but one thing we know is that it certainly wasn’t a black FBI agent posing as a local.

[4] The second aspect that Parker’s created “specialist” deals with is giving a voice to the African American’s who are so neglected throughout this film. In Parker’s eyes, this agent represents a build-up of anger and frustration that the blacks of Neshoba County had been feeling for a long time. What upset audiences is that this anger and frustration was completely absent during the first 100 minutes of the film, then lives and dies with a short, two-minute scene in which the agent is threatening the mayor. Although the scene is short and does little justice to boost the image of the defenseless blacks, it is better than nothing. Parker gave life, via this black agent, to the African Americans of Neshoba in a moment that changed the landscape of the film. Had Parker not used this “specialist” as a tool to extract the information, the African American representation in the film would have been completely absent, creating an even bigger controversy.

[5] Although Agent Monk isn’t a historically accurate character, he still serves as a very purposeful aspect of the film. After Monk pulls off his faux-KKK hood to reveal his identity to the mayor, he tells a (true) story about a young boy named Homer Wilkes who was picked up by the KKK and castrated with a ragged old knife, similar to the one Monk was brandishing at the time. It is eventually the threat of this same fate to the mayor that forces him to give up the information that allows the FBI to proceed with their investigation. Parker’s use of this true story mixes fact with fiction and gives this scene some sort of legitimacy. Although Parker’s method of connecting the dots with half-truth and half imagination isn’t ideal, it still serves as a way to justify the use of Agent Monk at this point in the film.

[6] There’s no question that Parker’s film has taken a lot of flak for his tendency to flip and bend history to make it fit inside his script. Many questions were raised regarding the FBI “specialist” who happened to be black in a time that we know there were no black agents. However, in the grand scheme of the film, this created character seems to produce more positive action than negative. Parker had no ill intentions for agent Monk, he only chose to use him as a tool to express the aggravation that had been building up inside the hearts of the terrorized black community. The “specialist” aids the film by allowing the FBI to infiltrate the corruption that takes place between the KKK and the police.