12 Years A Slave By Solomon Northup: Film Analysis

Although the film, 12 Years a Slave, follows the narrative by Solomon Northup fairly close, there are differences between the two works that the film’s writers use to incorporate additional levels of emotion and drama to a scene. One of these scenes in the film is when Northup, or Platt, tells his first master, William Ford, that he was once a freeman. In the narrative, Northup states that he almost fully disclosed his background to Ford once but decided it was too much of a risk and “resolved to lock the secret closely in [his] heart—never to utter one word or syllable as to who or what [he] was” (Northup 91). Northup retrospectively comments that the confession of his history may have been beneficial to his position (91), unlike in the film …show more content…
The filmmakers chose to explore what this scene would actually look like, placing it when Solomon is sleeping on the floor of the “great house” after the brutal hanging scene with Tibeats. The dialogue matches up almost perfectly in this scene, although it is Chapin who is remarking on how “that scoundrel [Tibeats] is skulking about the premises somewhere” in the narrative and not Ford as in the film (Northup 124). The filmmakers even included the barking dog that Northup comments on in the narrative. In both versions, there is the underlying sense that Solomon is in danger of being killed by Tibeats after narrowly escaping his clutches earlier that day. The purpose of this creative change may have been to illustrate that although Ford is a good master and a man of God, he is still a slaveholder and the head of his business. Despite the fact that each man cares for the other, there is no way to overcome the fact that one man owns the other. In the film, this is clear when Platt trusts Ford with his most dangerous secret and Ford responds by saying “whatever your circumstances, you are an exceptional n---, Platt, but I fear nothing good will come of it.” (McQueen, 12 Years a Slave). In this line, Ford is saying that Platt may be exceptional, but only exceptional for a black slave. He is acknowledging the separation between them which filmmakers …show more content…
He speaks highly of Ford, even claiming that “had [his] family been with [him], could have borne [Ford’s] gentle servitude, without murmuring, all [his] days” (Northup 103). Ford is a religious man who preaches kindness to each other and devotion to God to the slaves on the Sabbath (Northup 97). Because of his piety, he even allows his slaves to have their own Bibles, which according to his fellow Southerners makes a man like him not fit to own slaves (Northup 98). When Northup runs away from Tibeats, he goes to Ford’s home where he is given food and a few days rest instead of a punishment. When he does return Northup to his master, he reprimands Tibeats for his treatment of his slaves and threatens to take Northup back if Tibeats does not sell him (Northup 150). All of the kindness Ford shows to Northup leads him to believe “there never was a more kind, noble, candid Christian man than William Ford” and his involvement in slavery was simply due to “the influences and associations that had always surrounded him, blinded him to the inherent wrong at the bottom of the system of Slavery” (Northup 90). A product of deeply entrenched slave culture, Ford cannot be held accountable for his participation in slavery in the eyes Northup. He states that had he been born in different circumstances he is certain Ford would have a different perspective on slavery