The Abolitionists Film Analysis

12 Years A Slave Do you care about human rights? Do you feel like injustice, racism and oppression has been and still is a huge issue in America? And most importantly, do you care about the cruel and brutal history of slavery and the consequences it has had for the future generations of African Americans? If the answer is yes to all of the above, then it is an absolute necessity for you to watch the movie 12 Years A Slave!

Slavery was an important time period that is still affecting American society today. For 400 years, Africans were enslaved by Americans and were forced to do hard labor in harsh conditions. They were forced to pick cotton, harvest and plant rice and build railroads. Slavery began in America in 1619 when countries in Europe would kidnap Africans and send them to America on boats. This time period is important due to the devastating actions that happened to Africans and what they did to change the course of history.

Black women are treated less than because of their ascribed traits, their gender and race, and are often dehumanized and belittled throughout the movie. They are treated like slaves and are seen as easily disposable. There are several moments throughout the film that show the racial, gender, and class inequalities. These moments also show exploitation and opportunity hoarding. The Help also explains historical context of the inequality that occurred during that time period.

Slaves played a huge role in the early American colonies because “communities were designed around slavery”. Slaves were commonly seen and worked throughout all colonies but were heavily used in the South. The Southern slaves were “forced to work under harsh conditions for long hours”. The majority of the men worked on plantations doing manual labor and the often times women were house servants. Their punishments could included being beaten, starved, tortured and or killed.

This including the electing of Abraham Lincoln made the southern states feel like they were going to lose control of the political choices in the southern territories, which would have lead to them not having control over their area in general (American Civil War History). These events are all effects where the underlying problem was the conflict of slavery that was between the north and south states. Showing how much of a factor it was during the civil war era. Making it one of the largest causes of why the civil war broke

In the film 12 Years a Slave the editor, Joe Walker, makes use of a couple of techniques and styles that adds to the film in its own way.

The United States was built on slavery; it is woven into America’s history. Right after the Revolutionary War, slavery was abolished in most of the northern states. But it was rampant in the South where most of the citizens were farmers working in agriculture. A large amount of workers was needed for the success of the crops. The South was desperate for people to work in the fields.

Firstly, the owners of land ownership in the southern colonies rapidly pooled their land, forming a large-scale farms, which, respectively, required much more labor. Second, the price of tobacco, the main crop of the South, in the 1660s fell and remained at a low level, forcing all the planters to sell cheaper. Third, as population growth in England and at the same time reduced to improve living conditions, the number of people who wanted to go to America as indentured workers, reduced - thus the number Servent also declined. Fourth, the laws of Virginia and other colonies were aimed at the worsening situation of black workers and ultimately led to legitimize the system of slave labor. Although theoretically black workers were free men, in fact, they had to put up with infringement of their civil, legal and property rights.

Slavery was one of the biggest problems between 1820 and 1860. Sometimes two states had to be added to the Union at the same time, to make things fair. The North and the South fought almost constantly over the issue of slavery, sometimes things were able to be worked out about it, but as the years passed, the problems with slavery and territory started to become too big to ignore or

The impact of slavery on the Old South is a difficult measure to establish because slavery was the Old South. While the popular adage was “Cotton is King,” it was simply a microcosm of the delusion of the day. Truly, slavery was king. Slavery was the growing tension of the time, political catalyst and ironically crux of American power. To the masses, slavery was a social defining stance; the “peculiar institution” to some and a defining moral line to others, American life was changed depending on what view you took of slavery.

The slavery issue seemed to divide the North and South to the point of Civil War. The South felt economically dependent on slavery. It enjoyed having a free labor system. It also relied on slave labor to maintain the growth of the farms and plantations. The north didn’t support slavery because they believed it was unfair the south didn’t have to pay for labor.

There was a lot of rebellions against the slavery process. The south was terrified because of the slaveholders. The main slaveholder was Nat Turner and he had 75 black people and 60 white people and he got that in two days so the other slaveholders were terrified. They finally hated Turners Rebellion. He said he didn’t discipline them and then they figured out he did.

From the movie choice given, I have choose The Shawshank Redemption. This movie is a 1994 America film directed by Frank Darabont based on Stephen King’s short story “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a masterful novel that dives into the life of Scout as a child. In the novel, Lee goes into much depth about Scout’s life so that the reader can always keep up with what is happening. When a book is converted into a movie, many things often change no matter what book it is. This remains true for To Kill a Mockingbird between the book and the film. The film is a wonderful work but there were still many things cut out that were in the book. Overall, the film and book share many similarities but there are also many differences between the two

My opinion has changed about keeping whales in captivity and using them for entertainment because I was never aware how they did the whole process. I never knew the whales were taken away from their families and forced to live in uncomfortable positions that they aren’t used to. The main point in this movie that changed my perspective is knowing that many whales are taken away from their own mothers at a very young age. I could never imagine being taken away from my mother, and how I would be able to survive without her. I never realized all the things they had to go through, including the pain and suffering. Throughout the movie they displayed how the whales have emotions and feelings as well, and that they feel emotional pain the same way that we do, and that really got me thinking how I would feel being in that position. Being trapped in a glass box, away from my family, forced to do un natural things for the rest of my life. I would probably go insane and feel so beyond hopeless.