September 27, 2016
B block
Throughout the films 12 Years a Slave and Glory the truth of slavery and war are depicted through beauty and sorrow, but both give the viewer a pure depiction of each. Many films have attempted to show the hardships of slavery, but don't always stay with the truth and try to focus on entertaining the audience. These two films pull the viewer into the lives of these men and women while holding truth and allowing the audience to learn more than only reading from a book.
These films have allowed the average person to have a window into the past while creating an emotional attachment between the viewer and the characters. 12 Years a Slave is based off of a collection of writings by Soloman Northup, which allows the filmmaker a large amount of evidence and truth about the lives of slaves in the south to base the film off of. Throughout 12 Years a Slave, the viewer follows the life of Soloman Northup through his life as a free man in New York and his life after being kidnapped into slavery and taken to the south. As his life is turned completely upside down, the viewer experiences the pain that Soloman feels as he is ripped away from his past life and forced to suffer as a slave. This film shows the true everyday lives that slaves have to suffer through, which allows a true window to be looked through into the past during these times in the south. Soloman starts out his new life with a fairly nice master, but ends with an aggressive drunk who treats his slaves like nothing. This change of masters shows the viewer that some slaves were treated with fairness but many others were treated as property, not people. Although some facts in 12 Years a Slave have been changed for the viewers entertainment, the message that Soloman Northup is trying to convey is still truthfully portrayed. The lives of the slaves in the south during this time period are accurately shown in this film and really do allow the viewer to step back in time and experience their lives. These kind of films, when based off of factual evidence, truly inform the viewer more than a book or writing could do by giving a physical image of the past.
The film Glory also holds truth throughout it by showing the lives of the first African Americans in the military during the civil war. The hardships that these free men and slaves face is truthfully shown throughout this film. The first African Americans in the military faced many hardships and so did their superior officers. Throughout this film, the viewer is taken into the lives of Robert Shaw, the first colonel of a completely African American regiment, as he writes letters home to his mother informing her of the truth that faces both he and his men. The 54th Massachusetts is filled with slaves and also free men that have signed up to fight for the freedom of African American slaves. Among these men is Thomas Searles, who is a free man that grew up along-side Robert Shaw, but must face the harsh reality that he is just another soldier in the military and must fight. These men are not treated like the white soldiers and still feel as if they are slaves in the eyes of the government when not given the proper materials that they need and being told that they are manual laborers that won't even make it to a battlefield. These men only want to fight and have a life that is more than on of being a slave. As the movie concludes with the battle at Fort Wagner, the men watch as their leader is fatally shot and they must continue without the man that gave them so much. This movie allows the viewer to see the personal lives that these men live and the adversity that they face.
As I watched these two films, I developed a personal attachment with Soloman Northup, Robert Shaw, and Thomas Searles. This allowed me to become consumed by the lives of these men and truly feel as if I were a part of their lives. The ability to imagine yourself in the lives of someone else allows a true understanding of the time that they lived and the world around them during that time. Without these films, I would not be able to fully gain a visual understanding of these people and their experiences. Films allow the viewer to gain knowledge by climbing inside the world of the characters, while texts force the reader to have to imagine it themselves which can lead to misunderstandings of what the text actual conveys. Both of these films held the attention of the audience while giving information about the lives of African Americans in the north and the south around the civil war.
54th Massachusetts storming Fort Wagner
Soloman Northup as a freeman in New York
The 54th Massachusetts with Colonel Shaw
Slaves picking cotton on a plantation
Work Cited
Freeman, Elsie, Wynell Burroughs Schamel, and Jean West. "The Fight for Equal Rights: A Recruiting Poster for Black Soldiers in the Civil War." Social Education 56, 2 (February 1992): 118-120. [Revised and updated in 1999 by Budge Weidman.]
Todd Scurci and Denny Boyle, with Comments by Hilary Chadwick and Patrick O'Brien. "Reel American History - Films - List." Reel American History - Films - List. Web. 29 Sept. 2016.
