Writing About 12 Years A Slave
Learning History From A Film
Much of what we learn is from the past, the history of our actions. We study the past to see how we can improve and better ourselves and the community overall. The way we learn is a different story. I believe that it doesn't matter how you learn your information, whether its from books or movies or news articles, as long as the information is truthful and accurate then I think its okay. The movie "12 Years A Slave" is a great example of learning from different types of sources.
In the small section of Solomon Northups narrative that I read, chapter 1, I learned more about his past life in Saratoga, New York with his family than his life as a slave. In this chapter, he discussed the history of his name, more specifically his last name. He said “As far back as I have been able to ascertain, my ancestors on the paternal side were slaves in Rhode Island. They belonged to a family by the name of Northup, one of whom, removing to the State of New York, settled at Hoosic, in Rensselaer county. He brought with him Mintus Northup, my father. On the death of this gentleman, which must have occurred some fifty years ago, my father became free, having been emancipated by a direction in his will.”He then moved to Essex county in New York where Solomon was born during the July of 1808. Mintus Northup was born into slavery unlike his son Solomon who was born a free man and stayed that way for over 30 years. He then got married to Anne Hampton and had three kids, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Alonzo. He was then kidnapped and became a slave, working for 12 years, and was then rescued during the January of 1853.
In an interview that director Steve McQueen did with "Rotten Tomatoes", he was asked why he chose this story as the focus of his next film. To summarize, McQueen says he wanted his next film to be a narrative and how the viewer goes on this journey with the slave as they shows the viewer what slavery was really like. He says that at one point while writing he was really struggling with making sure the script he was writing was factual and while researching stumbled upon the book 12 Years A Slave. He was then in shock about actually having this book in his possession and he said "I’m gonna make this my passion to make it into a film.”
In a review by Susan Wloszczyna about 12 Years A Slave, she says that this film nearly lyrical, though dark and reflective. She says the film shows the terrors of enslavement as raw as possible. She continues by saying that the director, Steve McQueen, certifies that the viewers experience the sensation of pain from every beating these people had the go through. She continues her review by stating “It's Edgar Allan Poe by way of Walt Disney's Pinocchio, the boy puppet coerced by hucksters into going to Pleasure Island.” I chose to directly quote her when she says this because that one sentence is so powerful and gives the reader the image of how much control these people were really under.
To answer the question at hand of to what extent it is possible to learn about history from watching a movie I would say that the film 12 Years A Slave is a very good example of a film that is truly historically accurate. This film showed its audience members what the pain was really like first hand. It's one thing to read about the slaves being punished in a textbook but it's a completely different experience watching the pain in the persons eyes every time the whip makes its horrifying noise.
hyperlinks: slave narrative, interview, review
In the small section of Solomon Northups narrative that I read, chapter 1, I learned more about his past life in Saratoga, New York with his family than his life as a slave. In this chapter, he discussed the history of his name, more specifically his last name. He said “As far back as I have been able to ascertain, my ancestors on the paternal side were slaves in Rhode Island. They belonged to a family by the name of Northup, one of whom, removing to the State of New York, settled at Hoosic, in Rensselaer county. He brought with him Mintus Northup, my father. On the death of this gentleman, which must have occurred some fifty years ago, my father became free, having been emancipated by a direction in his will.”He then moved to Essex county in New York where Solomon was born during the July of 1808. Mintus Northup was born into slavery unlike his son Solomon who was born a free man and stayed that way for over 30 years. He then got married to Anne Hampton and had three kids, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Alonzo. He was then kidnapped and became a slave, working for 12 years, and was then rescued during the January of 1853.
In an interview that director Steve McQueen did with "Rotten Tomatoes", he was asked why he chose this story as the focus of his next film. To summarize, McQueen says he wanted his next film to be a narrative and how the viewer goes on this journey with the slave as they shows the viewer what slavery was really like. He says that at one point while writing he was really struggling with making sure the script he was writing was factual and while researching stumbled upon the book 12 Years A Slave. He was then in shock about actually having this book in his possession and he said "I’m gonna make this my passion to make it into a film.”
In a review by Susan Wloszczyna about 12 Years A Slave, she says that this film nearly lyrical, though dark and reflective. She says the film shows the terrors of enslavement as raw as possible. She continues by saying that the director, Steve McQueen, certifies that the viewers experience the sensation of pain from every beating these people had the go through. She continues her review by stating “It's Edgar Allan Poe by way of Walt Disney's Pinocchio, the boy puppet coerced by hucksters into going to Pleasure Island.” I chose to directly quote her when she says this because that one sentence is so powerful and gives the reader the image of how much control these people were really under.
To answer the question at hand of to what extent it is possible to learn about history from watching a movie I would say that the film 12 Years A Slave is a very good example of a film that is truly historically accurate. This film showed its audience members what the pain was really like first hand. It's one thing to read about the slaves being punished in a textbook but it's a completely different experience watching the pain in the persons eyes every time the whip makes its horrifying noise.
hyperlinks: slave narrative, interview, review
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