Learning about US History by watching movies is a much more exciting and innovative way to learn the contents of our nations historical occurances. Instead of reading from the boring old text out of a four hundred page textbook you can pop so popcorn sit back relax and enjoy the stories of our nations past. Yes, at first you may think this is a waste of time, but when watching historically accurate movies like 12 years a Slave, and Glory, you can truly see the depiction of how these events affected the world today. It is a very sensitive topic learning about slavery and I believe that watching the movies is almost a bolder choice to teach the subject as it shows the cruel and harsh aspects of how african americans were really treated. The events that take place in our history still have an effect on our society today, and if we do not truly wrap our heads around each view of the history then we cannot truly understand why they still prolong in present day affairs. Movies offer imagery and scenes that may not be depicted as well from texts. For humans, seeing the beatings and events takes an even deeper cut to our heart and empathy towards the African American race. While in a textbook, the normal explanation is bland and censored for those who may take offense to the real actions reformed by our ancestors. I believe the only reason we study history is to learn the mistakes of the past, so that we may not one day replicate the monstrosity of those who have come before us.
Glory, a film about the 54th Regiment of volunteers out of the state of Massachusetts was the story of the first all African American regiment in our nations History. The story although was to be a happy tale of bravery, courage, and perseverance by the regiment the director still did a good job of showing some of the cruel aspects of the neglect these group of men faced. Still rated PG to be a family friendly movie, the movie followed the regiment through the beginning of the formation of the regiment to all the way to the Battle of Fort Wagner. The movie did not show the events of the 54th after the last Battle even thought the regiment continued to serve the military. This movie showed us things that we could not see in a textbook. In the movie the director displayed to us how neglected the slaves were when one of the soldiers took his shoes and his foot was so grotesque and raw, that any of the students at Randolph would be in disbelief of how the man was still walking, while in a normal textbook the proof of this problem would be stated as "54th Regiment was neglected of proper food, clothing, boots, and many other items necessary for a soldier." The man went to look for shoes, and was punished for leaving camp. Ironically, he was ripped which caused major tension among the soldiers towards their white commanding officers.
For me seeing the foot showed me the struggle of how these volunteer soldiers were suffering in pain each and every day when they did not have to be there. They chose to be there only because they wanted to fight for their pride, and for the abolishment of slavery for good. This leads me to my next point as well. Throughout the movie we could see the hatred and fire in the African Americans eyes, as they were torn and hurt by the actions of their fellow humans. At the beginning we see many different characters that were all enclosed and had their one viewpoint on the world, even Captain Shaw. By the end of the movie we see all soldiers come together in a brotherhood, and they were all set on one goal. Although no one believed in them they wanted to prove they worth, to themselves as well. By watching the movie, I learned the true passion of the 54th and how much the obstacles really affected them.
The film 12 Years a Slave was claimed to be the last historically accurate film in history. This critically acclaimed film was the story about a free man, Solomon Northup, who was kidnapped, and sold to slavery. This film really showed me the heartless events that took place during slavery. This story has so many harsh scenes it is almost too hard to chose some to talk about, as there all have such a significant impact on the viewer. This film showed me honestly how stupid most white slave owners, and how afraid they were of even the thought of a free African American man. Solomon was a very intelligent man to begin with, but he kept this knowledge to himself. The slavers in this film, especially Epps did not appreciate a slave with knowledge, as they felt degraded, almost like Solomon thought he was more intelligent than themselves. At the beginning of the story Solomon got into a fight with the first overseer, because the the man felt as if Solomon was using his intelligence to insult him. He was then forced to be be traded to another man who's middle name was monster, Epps. Epps throughout the story haunted his slaves lives with his physical actions. Patsy who was Epps prized slave was constantly tortured by this man. This film showed me the true depiction of slaves. They were not considered people, they were only considered property. Their feelings were irrelevant to the master, no matter what had happened. Epps physically and sexually abused Patsey the whole movie. It showed her pain and suffering when she came to Solomon and had asked him to kill her. He would not follow this request, but it still showed how much distress Patsey was under, and how much she hated her life. This movie was condensed into two hours and the director had to fit 12 years into that time period, which was very hard to do, but i believe he told the story the way it should have been. The scenes of whipping and torture, showed the true pain the slaves were inflicted in, and the jobs they had to perform without question. Solomon was forced to whip Patsey a fellow slave as hard as he could for like three minutes straight in the movie.
This was a very eye opening scene, as the whipping was so brutal the blood could be scene spewing off the bare back of Patsey. A textbook could not show this scene the same way the movie did. The movie helped the viewer see truly how vigorously painful the action of whipping a slave was. A textbook would normally summarize these actions by saying "Slaves were whipped for their behavior, sometimes the beatings would leave the slaves in agony." I think that watching these horrifying, yet true scenes fun movies benefits the viewers to truly understand the gruesome nature of slavery.
By historically accurate films, we can do things we could never do reading a textbook. We can analyze body language and see the true depictions of actions made my the men and women we study, and how much different it is to see the action, than it is to read about it. The actions of our ancestors, like I said before, still affect us today in our daily lives. For example the hardships of the riots in Charolette and the Black Lives Matter Movement as a whole. Do you think that if our past did not contain slavery that African American race would be nearly as hurt as they have been by the killings of young teens? No, they would not. Don't get me wrong many would be upset, but without this past and the brutality of it, I believe the circumstances would be different in our world today. History is made up of many mistakes made by the people that came before us. Our goal should be to move forward from these mistakes to make sure our world can cue a better place for everyone to thrive in. Movies matter, just like all lives. Without movies most people would not be able to see events and their true impact.
Works Cited
Bruchko, Erica Ann. "Solomon Northup." American History, ABC-CLIO, 2016, americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1839436. Accessed 28 Sept. 2016.
Levin, Kevin. "About." CIVIL WAR MEMORY. N.p., 24 Apr. 2013. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.
The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.
Williams, Charles H. "54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment." American History, ABC-CLIO, 2016, americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1825050. Accessed 28 Sept. 2016.
