12 Years a Slave essay
The movie 12 Years a Slave, directed by Steve McQueen, opposes the idea that history cannot be learned from a film. I read part of Solomon Northup’s Narrative: 12 Years a Slave, and the movie displayed what Solomon had to say very well. In his narrative, Northup describes the transition of being a free man to suddenly being a slave with a master to answer to instead of himself. He expresses the struggle of being treated terribly, along with telling the stories of other slaves as well. The scene that captured me the most was when Solomon is almost hanged and just left there with people walking by, not even giving him a second look. This is definitely the most powerful scene to me, and teaches history to the audience because it shows how horribly slaves were treated. It really brings the reality of slavery into perspective. In Solomon's narrative, he tells us about this time where he was almost hanged, and also tells us what Chapin, the overseer, has to say to the people trying to hang Solomon, "'Ford holds a mortage on Platt of four hundred dollars. If you hang him he loses his debt. Until that is canceled you have no right to take his life. You have no right to take it any way. There is a law for the slave as well as for the white man. You are no better than a murderer.'" This is another example of how we learn history from films because it shows how complicated life was.
In an interview with BlackTree TV, Alfre Woodard, who plays Mistress Shaw, says, "We know the facts about slavery, but we don't know the reality of it." Just knowing the facts about slavery does not do justice for the reality of what slaves really went through, and this movie portrays that so well. In an article from The New York Times, Manhola Dargis talks about the almost hanging of Northup, saying that it's not about why Solomon was hung to a tree like a "dead deer" in the hot sunlight, drenched in sweat, with minimal water. The importance is what has been frequently lost amid the "economic, social, and cultural explanations of American slavery and in many of its representations: human suffering." From my experience, I believe that you can learn history from a film, because this film in particular has a very powerful effect in ways that textbooks don't.
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| Solomon Northup’s Narrative: 12 Years a Slave |
In an interview with BlackTree TV, Alfre Woodard, who plays Mistress Shaw, says, "We know the facts about slavery, but we don't know the reality of it." Just knowing the facts about slavery does not do justice for the reality of what slaves really went through, and this movie portrays that so well. In an article from The New York Times, Manhola Dargis talks about the almost hanging of Northup, saying that it's not about why Solomon was hung to a tree like a "dead deer" in the hot sunlight, drenched in sweat, with minimal water. The importance is what has been frequently lost amid the "economic, social, and cultural explanations of American slavery and in many of its representations: human suffering." From my experience, I believe that you can learn history from a film, because this film in particular has a very powerful effect in ways that textbooks don't.
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