Ghost Of Mississippi Analysis

For my final essay I chose to compare the film “Ghosts of Mississippi” by Rob Reiner and the script we read “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell. I picked these two because they are similar in a way that the film is based on a murder of a man and the script is also based on a murder of a man. The universal theme between these two stories are that both are fighting for justice, in the film they are fighting for rights of colored people by fighting to get justice for the murder of Medger Evers. In the play/script they are fighting for justice of John Wright’s murder but also reflecting on how women did not really have any rights back in the 1900’s.
Ghosts of Mississippi
This movie was based on an actual event in American history, and it shows how there
John Wright who lived in his farmhouse with his wife, Mr. Wright was found in his bed strangled. The county attorney takes charge in the investigation guiding the sheriff and Mr. Hale (a neighbor) on what they saw. The wives of the sheriff and Mr. Hale tag along to grab some things to take back for Mrs. Wright. The men continue walking throughout the house to look for motive, evidence and clues as to why Mrs. Wright might have killed her husband. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters stay behind in the kitchen to look for the things that Mrs. Wright wanted. While they were looking around Mrs. Peters found an empty bird cage, and they wondered why she had one with no bird. They sat there for a while talking, trying to figure out why. They later discovered that she did have a bird, a canary, but it too was strangled at the neck and dead. The women discussed this for a while and felt the dead canary was not important enough to tell the men. “Mrs. Peters: Getting all stirred up over a little thing like a—dead canary. As if that could have anything to do with—with—wouldn’t they laugh!” (Glaspell, 1916/2014, p.166). The intent of this play/script in my opinion was to illustrate the common bond between women, even when in the face of law enforcement. It also proves that when things get tough, they stick together no matter what. It also shows the separation between genders, back in the 1900’s the men worked and the women stayed home to cook,
They both definitely had clear plots, and plenty of information to support the ideas. I thought that they also did a really good job on showing the meanings of each while watching/reading them. I really enjoyed them both, and writing this essay helped me analyze them and be able to pick apart each story line easier. I would recommend both of these to anybody looking for a touching, and informational story line. These two stories really show us how far we came along as a society, and how far we still need to