Early film representations of slave life, such as in Gone With the Wind tend to whitewash the harshness of what has been called America’s peculiar institution. However, later film representations, such as Roots depict the inhumanity on all levels in terms of how men, women, and children were badly treated. Slavery was always violent and brutal but those aspects were kept hidden because most people thought that slaves were comfortable in their situation and voluntarily stayed on their plantation. The fact is, however, that such a blind attitude took away the individual and collective identity of African Americans held as slaves unless they rebelled or ran away. For instance, if it were not for their escape or bought-freedom we’d not know about …show more content…
One of the slaves is given the role as being a mother figure to the main character. While another slave is shown getting hit and yelled at, she is depicted as an unruly servant instead of a piece of property. When we jump forward 50 years in film, the miniseries Roots depicts slavery as the total degradation of a person resulting in that person losing his identity. The notion of selfhood is critical to all cultures. Without a self-one is reduced to the level of chattel goods. Another film based on a true story concerns Solomon Northup and his life, 12 Years a Slave, which presents slavery as the taking away of the dignity of one’s identity. Solomon was a free man and then taken from Africa and forced into slavery, like most; however, some were simply born into slavery in …show more content…
They were infected by a twisted biblical reading that made them feel that God wants them to be slaves, approved of that institution, and that they should obey their masters. This representation of their situation induced them to be more accepting of their fate. Others were suffering but they themselves found their plantation life to be fine, they were led to believe. Some plantation slaves who were not treated as savagely as others didn’t quite question their situation. Some slaves didn’t understand why there was a war happening since they were brainwashed into thinking their situation was meant to be. Since the institution of slavery was so well established, by the time of the war the slave mentality was such that they almost unwittingly conspired with their oppressors. There were, of course, some trapped in slavery who found that death was a better path than living the one they were: they either rebelled or ran