Return to Mount Kennedy and the Legacy of Civil Rights 1

Return to Mount Kennedy and the Legacy of Civil Rights

Christine Randolph

University of Houston Clear Lake

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There is nothing more important than the values that you are taught growing up. Youth is

a formative time during which a majority of values are ingrained, and it is there that things like

prejudice originate. Studies have shown that bigotry is not an inherent human condition, but

rather the byproduct of a society which deems those traits worthy of imparting on future

generations. It is through those generations that hope for change thrives, as the onus is placed on

them to self-reflect and responsibly select the values worth retaining and those that are better off

being discarded for the betterment of society and themselves.

An ideological global theme that recurs in the film Return to Mount Kennedy (2019) is that of

family values. The director employed three cinematic tactics that touched on both the positive

and negative aspects such as, the narrative point of view, use of old embedded news footage, and

photos of family activities. This essay will discuss three specific scenes that illustrate these

tactics and connect them to the potential theme of family values and the global issue of the Civil

Rights Movement.

Narrative is a vital aspect of every story, informing the audience what is being said and

how. Families are a story of their own, one that is being passed down and edited with every

generation with their values. In Return to Mount Kennedy, the narrative is that of the difficult

relationship each of Jim Whittaker’s sons had with their father in the path they took in order to

reconcile their feelings. By establishing the relationship between the sons and their father the

film offers a hopeful narrative about how families can grow apart during the middle of the story,

but ultimately always have the possibility of finding peace in the end, even if it is through great

struggle. This narrative serves well with the backdrop of the civil rights movement discussed in

relation to Robert Kennedy‘s political beliefs for which he was martyred. Robert Kennedy was
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not the first nor the last to be struck down for progressive change, yet the film demonstrates the

strong ties he had by showing how they are reflected in his son Chris’ career. The interviews and

images of young Robert Kennedy create a solemn but hopeful narrative. The scene in particular

which best illustrates this tactic is the scene where Chris Kennedy is being interviewed and

admits that he does not like to bring up his family most of the time while acknowledging that

your family is where you get your values and they are always going to be a part of you (Becker

2019). It is clear from his political activity that this is something he believes and is passionate

about because it was so important to his father. It is only by continuing to pass these ideas down

that true change can come to pass in the future.

Point of view is another very important cinematic tactic when it comes to communicating

visual ideas. The point of view is the one that the audience is given, things appear very disparate

from different angles in a very literal sense and this can transcend to ideas as well. An idea can

be presented one way and will probably be taken that way unless an alternative perspective is

offered. A complete understanding of an idea can only be achieved by a comprehensive point of

view, so authors must be conscious of what point of view they choose, for it will affect the

nature of their message. In Return to Mount Kennedy The film is documentary style so the point

of view is that of the audience member directly having a conversation with the interviewees. This

type of point of view works well for conveying a straightforward message, it allows the audience

to feel as though they are conversing directly with the speaker instead of watching a conversation

happening between two different people. This film style is clean and well lit and thus helps to
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accentuate the wardrobe choices of the interview subjects. The Whitaker sons in Return to

Mount

Kennedy are generally depicted as wearing outdoorsy heavy jackets which allows viewers to

immediately see them as mountain men before the dialogue informs them of this fact (Becker

2019). Film as a visual media and point of view defines what vision is being communicated. The

point of view shifts also to include aerial shots of mountain ranges, which accompanied by the

musical score help to create a serene mood. Overhead shots like those are perfect for conveying

scale and magnitude, like that of the mountains. Direct point of view works also for the old

footage of civil rights demonstrations that are shown in the documentary, particularly the scene

where a train is going by crowds of people both black and white all of whom are joining hands in

solidarity. In that segment of footage the perspectives from the train allow the audience to see the

breadth and significance of the huge number of people coming together for justice. Just one shot

of one part of the crowd would not convey how massive this demonstration was;but seeing the

shot from the train flying by at a high speed communicates just how many people were coming

together because they were sick of the effects of racism in their country. Perspective continues to

be vital in communicating social justice ideas even today. Point of view still matters when

talking about who is affected by something and why. Oftentimes the perspective of the oppressor

becomes the dominant narrative during talks about civil rights, but it is important to keep in mind

the view from the train. The image of regular people from both sides showing that this will not

stand.
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Another method for strengthening the ideas communicated, especially in documentaries

like Return to Mount Kennedy, is the use of old or authentic firsthand footage. Whether it is a

modern news bulletin or a documentary of very old events, if real footage can be obtained of the

event or subject at hand it lends a solid sense of legitimacy. Doctored footage certainly exists,

though it is harder to achieve with non-digital film. Real footage of an actual event allows

viewers to see what actually happened, rather than a recreation or a verbal retelling. The old

footage adds an air of authenticity to Return to Mount Kennedy and really puts the viewer “in”

those moments, allowing one to see what it is these men are remembering. This is particularly

the case with the scene where one of Bob Whittaker’s bandmates lights something on fire in a

hotel room, prompting them to freak out and knock it on the floor (Becker 2019). The scene in

the hotel really makes the viewer feel like they’re hanging out with these crazy kids and offers

them a real look at the early grunge scene in Seattle. Authentic historical footage is also vital to

social justice movements like the civil rights movement. Now with the power of the Internet one

can easily “google” footage of marches and demonstrations which offers us a clear perspective of

what actually took place at that time in history. It’s often too easy to create a comfortable

narrative about the past that ‘things were a little rough but they were never too bad’. It’s

important to show the reality of what was to avoid a watering down of history.

Although the Civil Rights movement is generally associated with the 1960’s, that decade

was merely the culmination of turmoil which had been steadily building in the United states for

several years prior. Significant figures such as A. Philip Randolph were championing the

interests of black workers as early as 1941 when he organize the protest in Washington that
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resulted in FDR issuing an executive order that banned discrimination in specific industry jobs

(History.com 2021). The 1950s in the United States is often called an “Age of Consensus” (John

Green 2013), it is however important to note who is considering this a consensus. This is where

point of view plays a role in history’s

narrative. History is written by the victors, or in this case the dominant culture. The 1950s

defined a great deal of what it means to be an American but this was determined primarily by

white men. Every person has blind spots however, and their blind spots became fact in the minds

of many for decades. But this decade was not without its critics, many of whom took issue with

an America who paid lip service to freedom but did not do the real work for its own citizens.

After a long period of laying the groundwork, change was finally happening in America. The

Supreme Court case Brown vs. The Board Of Education established that separate but equal

facilities are inherently unequal by definition of their existence. African American youth knew

they had suffered psychological damage because they could see that by being separated out they

were being deemed as ‘lesser’ (Takedownroach 2013). This period in American history led to

significant figures like Rosa Parks, who did far more than refuse to stand instead of sit on a

segregated bus but was also politically active and a secretary for the NAACP (John Green

2013). It was with the help of a young Martin Luther King that the famous bus boycott began

and lasted for over a year. School integration was also taking place during this time with the

Little Rock Nine as one of the most notable examples of southern resistance to desegregation.

The governor of Arkansas at the time Orval Faubus famously used the national guard to prevent

the entry of the new students, but was prevailed against by the government who used the 101st

airborne division to escort the students for an entire year (John Green 2013).
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Incidents like these may seem far-flung or irrelevant for those who live now today with

the privilege of viewing current circumstances as acceptable. Yet even still, as black youth are

killed by police at a rate grossly disproportionate to their white counterparts, evidence shows that

the dispute of equal rights is well and alive beyond the birth of color TV. Notable cases include

Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and Geroge Floyd. The conviction of Geroge Floyd’s

murderer on all three counts marks a notable shift from the time when Emmet Till’s killers went

free and sold the story of their crime to a magazine (John Green 2013). A notable shift in tone is

also taking place, now taking on a more cynical and bitter outlook as many media outlets

abandoned coverage of older incidents and went on to act as though everything had been

resolved, when in reality very little has changed.

The struggle for civil equality is not unlike the scaling of the mountain. It was Jim

Whittaker’s values which helped his sons to achieve the feat that they did, his lessons which

allowed them to complete the climb. The further up one ascends, the harder it gets. Things like

oxygen use and altitude which may not have previously been issues before suddenly become

very vital. Much in the way that certain issues of the civil rights movement which were very

important in the past have changed in the current playing field. For example, desegregation of

schools was successful but this does not mean that lawmakers did not circumvent this

technicality in order to create the exact same situation that they used to have. As it currently

stands no school is segregated by race, yet there are still schools with predominantly

marginalized demographics who receive far less funding and resources. For many schools the
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burden of funding extra events and equipment falls to parents, some of which have more means

than others to spend due to other inherently unfair economic practices. Scenes from Return to

Mount Kennedy shown alongside images from the civil rights movement help the viewer to draw

the comparison between the two events, both of which required great tenacity to achieve.

Climbing a mountain is a common idiom for doing the impossible, for daring to dream

that something that had never before been achieved was tangible. It was that same gumption that

drove the civil rights movement which was happening at the time of the first climb. Much like

the men seeking to reconnect with this part of their shared past, the civil rights movement is not

something confined just to the 1960’s, but rather a living entity that is added onto and continued

to this day by the current generation.. Each of Martin Luther King’s children went on to be active

in the civil rights movement following their fathers death. Just as Lief and Bob felt moved to

pursue the things their father believed in, King’s children were raised to value the things that he

did, things like freedom, equality, justice and the true American spirit. The train scene occurs

with the narration about the assanination of Bobby Kennedy, showing how one event can pull

disparate groups together. The issue of civil rights is a mountain with no peak, yet it must be

climbed again and again as each time we reach new heights.

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Bibliography

CrashCourse. (2013). Civil Rights and the 1950s: Crash Course US History #39. In

YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S64zRnnn4Po

For Bob Whittaker, “Return to Mount Kennedy” documentary brings his grunge past to

the outdoors | The Spokesman-Review. (n.d.). Www.spokesman.com. Retrieved May 3,

2021, from https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/feb/13/for-bob-whittaker-return-to-

mount-kennedy-document/

History.com Editors. (2018, August 21). A. Philip Randolph. HISTORY.

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/a-philip-randolph

takedowncoach. (2011). Major events of the Civil Rights Movement. In YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spXlsQKHKXM