In the Heat of the Night Film Questions

1. The film relates to Chapter 25 in the Foner textbook in quite a number of ways, the main two being The entire struggle for civil rights in the south, as well as the emergence of conservative thought that happened in the 1960s.
The film takes place in a small town in Mississippi, a breeding ground for racist thought and civil rights struggles in the 1960s. The film is set in 1967, the tail end of the civil rights struggle, although the film is based upon one man's fight for equal rights. The film is about a black homicide detective, Virgil Tibbs, from the north who is framed for murder because he is black. When found innocent, he uses his detective skills to help the racist white cops solve the murder. Virgil, the main character, is experiencing what millions of African Americans faced in the whole southern US during the years prior: fighting to get equal rights everywhere in the US. Virgil has to endure racist actions and unfortunate circumstances solely because he is a black man in the south. Virgil represents the entire civil rights movement. He has to endure horrible conditions and racist actions against him, fight to prove his worth/innocence, and then make the tough decision of letting it all go and helping out the murder case.
The topic the film looks at is the emergence of conservative thought. Now, regardless of political opinions, this film does this in a fantastic way. The film brings about conservative thinking through the white characters in the film, not because they're racist, but because they view society in a very traditional way. At the start of the film, when Virgil gets picked up and arrested for the murder, it is because he is an out-of-towner and Sam Wood thinks that he committed the crime because of that. But then Sam notices he is black and that makes things a whole lot worse. This is a good example of the conservative thought process of many whites back in the 1960s.

2. The symbolism behind the quote, "You're just like the rest of us, ain't you?" said by Sheriff Gillespie to Virgil, is very representative of many Americans during the 60s. After the whole civil rights era, many Americans began to see no difference in African Americans besides appearance. Gillespie is having a great realization that he can get along with a man of a different race, and respect him as a person, an individual, not as anything else. I feel that this quote represents what many Americans came to realize post-civil rights era.

3. In my opinion, the film has a very hopeful outlook to the topic of racism. The film uses characters like Gillespie who evolve from racist thinkers to understanding the mistakes and stupidity of their thoughts. The writers clearly saw hope for African Americans in this country because of the way they integrated Virgil into the case, without him just being the suspect because he's black. The film shows that a black man in those times was just as worthy of rights as anyone else. A good example of this is when Gillespie is interrogating Virgil and Virgil shows him his badge. Gillespie asks how he got that badge and Virgil tells him that he is a homicide detective from Philadelphia. Gillespie then asks him how much he makes up north and Virgil responds with a number higher than Gillespie's salary. Gillespie begins to start seeing Virgil as an equal, or almost more qualified than himself to solve the case.
The film offers a very realistic version of the way blacks were treated in the south by whites. The whites in the film are conservative thinking racists. A good example is when Sam Wood picks up Virgil for the murder specifically because he is an out-of-towner, and because he is black. The jobs of the civilians in town are pretty normal, as well as the tone of the film. The film also offers a realistic, optimistic outlook on life for African Americans, because, although it took some getting used to, people accepted them and do to this day.

4. Gillespie is my favorite character in the film besides Virgil. Gillespie is the classic sidekick character, though many do not realize this upon viewing the film. Gillespie is the one character that learns something about himself, and attempts to show it to the rest of his colleagues, though they don't seem to care. Gillespie realizes he can be around different races and respect them as people of the earth, not viewing them as animals or beneath him. Gillespie has the most character development in the entire film and I believe the writers used him as the classic southern man example, except they made him into this evolving character who realizes the stupidity of his racism.