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12 Years A Slave Movie Analysis

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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!
This incredible movie is written by John Ridley and directed by Steve McQueen. It was released in 2013 and it is based on the insightful autobiography of Solomon Northrup, who was an African American man living in New York in the beginning of the 1800’s. This movie’s excruciating and authentic portrayal of how slavery was exercised greatly in America is not only heartbreaking, but also an important eye-opener for the people who are ignorant on the subject of slavery and who are not aware of the extreme circumstances the African slaves were forced under in over two centuries.

Watching this movie’s portrayal of Solomon’s tragic story and seeing how his autobiography was turned into a painfully beautiful and powerful masterpiece was indeed one hell of an emotional ride. The plot of the movie is based on the life of the main character Solomon Northrup and his journey in life as an educated African American man, husband, father and last but not least slave living in …show more content…

Despite the fact that he is tortured, belittled and treated like nothing for twelve long years, he still remembers the remains of his identity, he still keeps the hope of freedom alive deep inside of him and most importantly in such a hopeless and terrible state he still tries to pass his hope on to his fellow slaves and help them in the best way he can while staying alive for his

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While I sat in my room and read this book I found it to quite interesting and when going thought the list this was the first one that caught my eye. I have read many books never have I read an autobiography. I figured since I was in history class this was the perfect opportunity. I was happy with the content in the book. I feel as if this book showed me another side to slavery I didn’t know about, I have always known slavery and what it was about by as a former slave told his side it was something else.

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In his autobiography, Northup describes the everyday “obstacles of color”, in his life prior to his kidnapping. I can understand why the filmmakers wanted to include a strong opposition between Northup’s life as a free man in the North and the physical and mental trauma he endured while enslaved in the South. Twelve Years A Slave remains one of the most important American slave narratives. It is a valuable source of information regarding the daily lives of slaves in Central

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Slavery is a huge part of the United States' history and is something everyone should learn about so it does not get repeated in the future. “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” is a story of a slave that goes through many challenges to become free. Similarly, the readings “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”, “Priceless Instruction”, and “No Rest" from Twelve Years a Slave” all deal with characters that have gone through many struggles because of slavery. There are numerous similarities between this film and the readings. A common theme between the film “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman”, and the readings “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”, “Priceless Instruction”, and “No Rest" from Twelve Years a Slave” is slavery.

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Inhumane What is a slave? The word slave in the dictionary is as stated; a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them. Many have heard the word slave before but few are familiar with the brutality and horrors slaves endured in the past and still sometimes today. Through the book Kindred, written by Octavia E Butler, the movie Roots, Incidents in the life of a slave girl seven years concealed, and the diary of a slave we are exposed to some of the gruesome and appalling ways slaves were treated. Not only are we exposed to the physical inhumanity but we also get a glimpse of the emotional expedition slaves overcame and overcome on a day to day basis.

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In the years prior to the Civil War, countless black Americans found themselves forcibly bound by the chains of slavery and barred from basic human rights. As identities were stripped by slaveholders denying freedom and equality, slaves were imposed with the burdens of captivity and its inherent evils. As freed people, both Frederick Douglass in “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” and Solomon Northup in “12 Years a Slave” detail the true horrors, hypocrisy, and abuse they experienced while enslaved. Douglass and Northup effectively communicate and depict the slave system to a sympathetic anti-slavery audience using tone, imagery, and irony to enhance readers’ impressions and appeal to their pathos.

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When discussing slave and neo slave narratives and films, it’s essential to understand the audience that the film or narrative is targeting. With the importance of the audience comes the larger question of the purpose of the work itself. In “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” and “Superfly” the purpose of these works exemplifies black representation and the journey of rising in the American class system. With careful consideration from both works, the message that a political and cultural change was vital in order to allow blacks to not only be represented properly but to gain personal freedom. Despite that personal freedom for Youngblood Priest and Frederick Douglass was different, both endured the racial oppression

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It does so by using pathos and logos to tell the legacy of one slave, Nat. Storytelling is a great way to teach people. In the movie, Nate Parker tells the story of Nat Turner and gets his message out there in a way that will impact the majority of the audience, by tugging on one’s heartstrings. The struggles and mistreatment inflicted on the slaves is shown throughout the movie.

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He realized that the only way to escape the horrors of slavery was to fight against it, and he dedicated his life to that

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Some were so bad that it would leave his back raw and bloody for days. Even though he went through countless beatings he stayed courageous and stayed focused on his goal of escaping to freedom. This appeals to pathos because even though he knows the consequences of educating himself and eventually escaping, he ignores them and continues to push for freedom courageously. Shortly after escaping, Douglass went to many different meetings and spoke on the behalf of the abolition of slavery. He was eventually recognized as an avid supporter and speaker of abolition.

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It baffles me to see how these men, women, and children were treated as animals. I ask the question, how could these owner treat the slaves like this and not have any regrets or fears as to what would happen to them when they die. It also made me think on the slaves who were not born slaves that came from Africa who did know the language, customs, and how they were up rooted from their lives. I always thought that slaves were separated from their families because one of the family members did wrong. This film taught me that that was not always the reason some slave owners sold members of the slave families just because they could.

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English Essay This essay is about the movies Django Unchained and 12 Years a Slave. These movies were directed by Quentin Tarantino and Steve McQueen respectively. Django Unchained is the story of a black slave named Django, who, set free by a mysterious man named Dr. Schultz, sets out to rescue his wife, Broomhilda. 12 Years a Slave is based on a real story.

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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. Long shots – Joe kept the long shots as long as he thought was necessary to add to the subject matter and the feeling he wanted to bind with the story. At the end of the film there’s this extremely long shot where Solomon is practically staring at the camera for about a minute and a half. The timing of that shot is so perfect because it’s not too short so you don’t have enough time to think about what just happened or too much time to overthink the situation. Closer to the end of the shot he lets the sound fade slowly and rapidly gives you a wakeup call when the next shot starts off where Solomon and the rest of the slaves are busy working in the field.

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