The Reivers Movie Analysis

Racism in The Reviers: The Novel and Film Version In 1962, William Faulkner produced his last novel The Reivers. The novel is set, like many of his other novels, in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County. Faulkner places this fictional county in the Southern state of Missisippi. The time is also set in the early nineteenth century so the themes of the book include racism and prejudices, since these were issues in the South during this time frame. In 1969, the film production of The Reivers directed by Mark Rydell was released, which basically follows the plot of the book. A major difference in the movie is the deletion and the played-down scenes where racism is apparent in the book. Another difference is the development of the black characters
Thus we are given the portrait of Dilsey in The Sound and the Fury, Lucas Beauchamp in Intruder in the Dust, Sam Fathers in Go Down, Moses, Ringo in The Unvanquished, and Ned in the Reivers. It must, therefore, be noted that Faulkner's attitude towards his Black characters is far more complex than that of most American white authors." By this statement alone, after watching the movie, it is evident that the lack of further development of the black characters in the movie produces a watered-down version of the book where race does not play as large a part in the movie as it should. In the book, it is evident that Faulkner produces the character of the white man Boon to be cunning and deceiving, a reiver to the fullest effect. At the same time, in the book, Faulkner reveals Ned to be the black man that, in the end seems to be an intelligent compassionate man that is driven by his race to make poor decisions by dealing with a stolen horse. By not revealing the final intentions of Ned, the movie does not represent the strong racial themes that Faulkner displays in his