Abbie Childs
Film Essay
Alright, here goes nothing. I’ve been building up to this moment for the past few weeks and now it is time to write. I just moved to a new school. I had gone to Randolph since kindergarten and we used movies or videos for practically every subject at least once a semester. My new history teacher has a strict policy about no movies. She says it isn't possible for us to learn anything of value or to improve out thinking skills by watching them. She gave me a challenge and that is why I am writing yet another post. My argument is as follows; it is possible to develop great analytical skills and explore real events, circumstances, and attitudes just by watching movies in a critical way, and doing some research.
In order for me to do this, I’m going to use my knowledge of the movies Glory and 12 Years a Slave. Most people normally wouldn’t out these two movies on the same playing field but, why couldn’t you? The fact of the matter is, both of these movies are about slavery. The difference in the two is one is told through the eyes of a white man and the other through that of a black man.
The movie Glory is based on a set of letters written by the main character. It portrays the lives of the 54th Infantry of Massachusetts. The film originally was meant to portray how rudely whites treated blacks, free or not, even in the northern states and to show how much harder it was for these men to live “normally”. Now, we all know there’s no such thing as “normal” but, to them, the whites had it better. After the film was completed, the movie ended up lessening the horrors of being a colored person, especially male, in general. At first, the blacks weren’t treated too kindly but, by the end of the movie, the main character has become the caregiver and almost guardian of these men. These are just observations made while watching the movie. We found out that people were rude no matter where they lived. We learned that there were people who cared and watched out for these men. And we learned that color should never define a person or their potential. Upon doing a little research, I found many more interesting facts. I discovered that even though a majority of the movie did occur, it was twisted around to make a better story. We also can’t be too sure how the movie ended in reality since the regiment got completely wiped out. We can depict information from years of historical research and information but the truth is, there’s always another side to the story. It doesn't matter how you look at it, everyone’s brain is wired differently. As James Bernardinelli of ReelViews states, “Glory is constructed as an inspirational tale, but the inspiration is not forced or false. It is rooted in the characters and the manner in which they overcome obstacles, including, most prominently, their own personal demons.”
The movie 12 Years a Slave takes a different approach to this topic. The movie is based on a book written by it’s main character, Solomon. This story is formed from a free black males perspective after being tricked and forced into slavery for twelve years before being rescued. It depicts the horror and the cruelty and the shame that is inflicted upon slaves day in and day out. If I learned anything though, it would be that this movie was simplified too and that the real world is too harsh to even display for “pleasure”. Solomon’s book actually contains more violence and just outright hatred toward the slaves. Many of the scenes in the movie are over eighty to nighty percent verbatim and very few scenes or sections of dialog cannot be proven one hundred percent accurate. One scene we prove false though is at the very end. Solomon’s daughter, Margaret, actually didn’t recognize her father when he returned. In the movie she is the first to speak and the first to approach him however in actuality, it took her quite some time to put his face with the name of her father and for it to match up. To prove just how real this movie and book are I looked up some reviews. One in particular really stood out to me and it was by Fredrick Douglass about the book written by Solomon. He said, “its truth is stranger than fiction”. This just goes to show how even though we all know this kind of thing happened daily not too long ago, we don’t realize how truly awful it really is. Another review I found interesting was written by Steven Rea of the Philadelphia Enquirer. He says, “it speaks to the courage and resilience of one man, the savagery of many, and the potential for both good and for ill.”
When preparing to make an argument that would allow me to bring some old traditions to a new place, this information was good but not good enough. I then went on to compare awards, cost and budget, and how successful they were. To me, the results weren’t surprising at all. Glory cost a year 18 million dollars to produce and grossed 64 thousand dollars in the first weekend it premiered at three locations. 12 Years a Slave cost roughly 22 million dollars to make and has so far made roughly 190 million dollars in return at over 1,100 locations, 56.7 million dollars of that made here in the United States. Both movies had a 90% or higher average for whether the viewer liked the movie or not and both won numerous awards.
So, after watching and researching both of these movies I still believe that it is possible to learn from them. I think that both movies portray the key information that is needed to see what this country is based on and I feel that I have gotten a true understanding of what took place that I might not have otherwise because having it acted out in front of my face brought it all to life and made me realize that even though the world can be cruel, it always gets better.
For more information on these movies or to just see if someone out there feels the same way you do feel free to check out the following pages:
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