The film Sankofa serves as an excellent historical representation of the horrors surrounding he African slave trade in the not-so-distant past. Although the movie was released over two decades ago, it’s content is timeless in it’s significance. This is due to the fact that the film’s core foundation revolves around humanity’s capability of ruthless intolerance that has led to many of our world’s tragedies. Many of the film’s themes surrounding the slaves’ harsh reality demonstrate the purpose of creating a unique culture to identify with, as well as the way we define ourselves based on a socially constructed hierarchy.
The story begins in present day with a tacky cameraman directing a seemingly fashion model Mona on a beautiful beach. Taken …show more content…
He is depicted as crude, ignorant, and ruthless, even pressuring one slave to whip the others. He makes threats, inquiring if the man wishes to be demoted from his status as a house slave to an outdoor plantation worker. While the whites have their own social hierarchy, the black slaves do as well. Slaves with a lighter skin complexion have a higher place in the social system. This parallels Michael-Rolph Trouillot’s analysis of the Caribbean’s formation of social status on the basis of color. This also parallels our class discussion on the Caribbean’s mixing of races due to many Europeans integrating and marrying slaves and indigenous people over the course of time. The film shows many light skinned blacks committing ruthless acts against darker blacks, all under the orders of the white plantation runners, or “masters,” as they are often referred to by the slaves. The spectrum of skin color is truly shown to be a humungous influence on one’s place in …show more content…
The slaves are able to laugh and have fun during the night (often through storytelling and music), in spite of the sadistic treatment that they face on a day-to-day basis. The film’s subplot of the characters of Shola and Shango demonstrate how a strong emotional bond between human beings can help an individual survive what otherwise would be a miserable existence. In fact, the harsher and crueler the slaves are treated, the more unified many of them become throughout the film. This can be looked at as a major factor in the evolution of the various cultures found today throughout the
The story begins in present day with a tacky cameraman directing a seemingly fashion model Mona on a beautiful beach. Taken …show more content…
He is depicted as crude, ignorant, and ruthless, even pressuring one slave to whip the others. He makes threats, inquiring if the man wishes to be demoted from his status as a house slave to an outdoor plantation worker. While the whites have their own social hierarchy, the black slaves do as well. Slaves with a lighter skin complexion have a higher place in the social system. This parallels Michael-Rolph Trouillot’s analysis of the Caribbean’s formation of social status on the basis of color. This also parallels our class discussion on the Caribbean’s mixing of races due to many Europeans integrating and marrying slaves and indigenous people over the course of time. The film shows many light skinned blacks committing ruthless acts against darker blacks, all under the orders of the white plantation runners, or “masters,” as they are often referred to by the slaves. The spectrum of skin color is truly shown to be a humungous influence on one’s place in …show more content…
The slaves are able to laugh and have fun during the night (often through storytelling and music), in spite of the sadistic treatment that they face on a day-to-day basis. The film’s subplot of the characters of Shola and Shango demonstrate how a strong emotional bond between human beings can help an individual survive what otherwise would be a miserable existence. In fact, the harsher and crueler the slaves are treated, the more unified many of them become throughout the film. This can be looked at as a major factor in the evolution of the various cultures found today throughout the