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Marxist Analysis Of Selma

924 Words4 Pages

Ruth Boro
Professor Hernandez
English 1302-71701
November 16, 2016
A Marxist Analysis of the film, Selma.
Selma is a 2014 historical drama movie, written by Paul Webb and directed by Ava Duvernay, based on the events that took place in Selma to Montgomery in 1965 when African Americans were protesting and fighting for their legal right to vote. The marches were led by Martin Luther King, Jr and John Lewis. According to an article by Daniel D’addario, "the film examines a pivotal period in the last four years of King’s life,” (2015). According to Henry David Thoreau, “all men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable.” …show more content…

One of the most remarkable scenes in the movie is when King, together with other activists, and black citizens march to the registration office to register. The protestors are not scared or worried about the consequences and are passionately willing to firmly face the consequences. The protestors show a lot of courage and endurance. A confrontation occurs in front of the courthouse between the police and the protestors and one of the activists, Cooper knocks the Jim Clark, the sheriff, to the ground and this led to the arrest of some protestors including Martin Luther King, …show more content…

James Rebb, a white American is one of the people who join the protestors and he is later killed by a white mob in Selma. Judge Johnson approved the marches and they pay off because the president spoke to congress and wanted the bill allowing black citizens to vote passed and he commended the courage of the people involved in the marches. As the film ends, King addresses the protestors and gives a speech on the steps of the State Capitol, after the marchers complete the Selma to Montgomery march. According to James Deutsch, “instead of a straight on close-up, the camera is placed at a low angle, which increases the significance and status of the subject,”

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In the text he says, "I wish you had commended the Negro sit inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation. One day the South will recognize its real heroes. As you can see King expresses his feeling of the negro sit-inners and demonstrators not given the verdict of being the "real heroes" of the south which they were king also give off a slight glance of angry towards this as well. As well as fur Roosevelt he too give off a tone of noble and a slightness of anger. In the Four Freedom speech he says things like, " it 's not probable

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With the help of these four steps, he justifies the need for the demonstration. King illustrates the city of Birmingham as “the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States,” (King 2). Here King is able to show that injustices are present in Birmingham, which further justifies his reason for a peaceful demonstration. King proceeds to speak about his method of protesting. He states that negotiation was not met, and that “[their] hopes had been blasted,” that like “victims of a broken promise,” their wishes had been disregarded, (King 2).

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For example, sanitation workers had to carry bags of garbage that had holes in them and since they were paid low wages, they ended up poor on welfare. Not only was this film was a way of seeing another turning point during the civil rights movement but also, African Americans fighting for justice. Even though I was not born during that time, I can understand how they felt because it wasn’t that easy. In today’s society racism isn’t as bad as what it was during that time. Besides we still have times were we face racism in our lives so I would say in some areas racism is still a

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He feels that they should have the right to their peaceful protests. He describes the officers’ actions as “ Ugly and inhumane” (paragraph 2, King) because of the hatred they have for the Negro people. King simply does not understand how his fellow brothers of the church could praise these officers’. By using these words to describe the officers, he is trying to depict how people actually treat him and his people. He’s showing them that what they’re praising is wrong.

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People could portray anything in different ways. Thoreau and King both have differences in portraying civil disobedience. In Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience” he begins writing about how the government rarely shows how powerful it is and instead acquires power from the people. King used civil disobedience as a means of effectuating government change and used his courage to protest against discrimination through the act of civil disobedience.

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King writes to the eight clergymen who were critical of his protests and to the indifferent people of the United States. In the essay, he claims that he has done nothing wrong by protesting peacefully. In paragraph 11, King says “freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” He is saying that freedom is something they have to fight for because the authorities will not give it to them. He is directing this statement at the clergymen while reaching the apathetic people of the United States.

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On April 3, 1968 King delivered his final speech “I’ve been to the mountaintop,” in Memphis Tennessee to a massive crowd at the Bishop Charles Mason Temple Church of God. His speech was to bring awareness to the unsafe working condition and wages that the African American sanitation workers received. Prior to Reverend King’s speech on Feb. 12, 1968 roughly one thousand black Memphis sanitation workers went on strike and refused to work until their demands were met. Unfortunately, their request was denied and King, as well as Reverend James T. Lawson, traveled to Memphis to lead a nonviolent march but some of the participants started to become violent breaking windows of building and looting. This was a setback for the peaceful boycott due to rowdy few one person was shot and killed.

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Introduction Hook: I never knew that one day, one idea could have such a big impact. That one thing could change the history, set up the rest of the country to follow suit with this specific topic, and things that need a change in general. Background: Over 50 years ago, on March 7, 1965, now known as bloody Sunday, segregation was still prevalent. At the time it was not allowed for blacks to vote at the time.

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When a federal injunction was put into place to prevent the protest without permission of the city, Martin Luther King Jr. persevered and decided to go on with the campaign. He got arrested for heading the demonstration and was in jail for eight days. When King heard of the eight clergymen who wrote a letter criticizing the direct action campaign, he began to write his well-known Letter from a Birmingham Jail. One of the tactics he uses to get people to agree with him is he uses emotion to get people’s attention. An example of this comes from paragraph eleven in which the main focus is a lengthy sentence devoted to naming the struggles African Americans endured during that time.

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Sometimes ideas of a bright individual, such as M. L. King may run ahead of time. Society might not be able to perceive and react adequately to progressive ideas at that time. But times change, and eventually people realize what the right thing to do is. I should admit that Martin Luther King’s words that “the day of men as men”, whether black or white, should come, caught my attention. His speeches that I heard in this movie impressed me by their sincerity and dedication to his own race, but at the same time respect for the white.

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He is not just any man protesting for the rights of colored people, but he was the leader and organizer of the protest. He is a clergyman reaching out to the others. King also uses Logos to show readers his voice of reason behind everything that is going on,” I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community.. Nourished by the Negro’s frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible devil.” ( page 540)

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This march was watched by millions of Americans and through this march, many whites saw just how cruel the blacks were treated. King organized another march on the same bridge that Bloody Sunday took place, and in this march hundreds of whites traveled to Selma to participate in the march. Another example of the movie portraying history right is when we see Johnson giving his famous “we shall overcome” speech, when confirming the equality between black and

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After a fifty mile fight, Selma to Montgomery, African Americans finally reached the finish line, and voting was achievable for all. It was not easy though. After 250 years of slavery the civil war made everyone free. The reconstruction followed, in efforts to make things equal for everyone, but Plessy v. Ferguson was a setback. It started the “separate but equal” concept, and life was segregated for 60 years.

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Two score and 13 years ago people with colored skin were being segregated for everyday activities like drinking from a water fountain and going to school. Martin Luther King and many others were tired of not getting the treatment they were promised as a whole, so Martin Luther King wrote his famous “I have a Dream” speech, to address the problem that was sweeping the nation. He wanted to persuade the nation to treat Black people with equality and respect. The black population was not going to rest until they received their rights that they were promised when Abraham Lincoln said the “Emancipation Proclamation” . King has a dream and has faith that one day everyone will be equal, everyone will have rights, and that there will be everlasting

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Martin Luther King Jr. uses both logical and emotional appeals in order for all his listeners’ to be able to relate and contemplate his speeches. He does an exceptional job using both these appeals throughout his speeches by backing up his emotional appeals with logical ones. Using emotional appeals captures an audience's attention and makes them think about what the narrator is saying. Emotional appeal uses intense words and charged language to grab listeners to get them to keep listening. On the other hand, logical appeals helps to grasp the concept better and provides facts that prove it to be true.

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