Terence Pratchett's Use Of Racial Tensions In Selma, Alabama

The late author Sir Terence Pratchett once stated that, "The whole of life is just like watching a film" (as cited on GoodReads, n.d., first quote). Likewise, sometimes what we see on the big screen mirrors societal or social events of the time. Such was the case with the 2014 movie Selma, which depicts the racial tensions during the time of the voting rights march to Selma, Alabama, which took place in 1965. In an ironic twist, however, the racial tensions in Selma, which was released on the 50th anniversary of the famous march, also happened to coincide with similar situations occurring around the U.S. at the time of the movie's release. The following information spells-out some of those parallels. When Selma was released in December of 2014, it opened to positive critical reviews, some of which praised its depiction of the tragic, yet inspiring, historical events surrounding the black freedom movement of the mid-1960s. While most Americans likely applaud the progress made in racial equality by the end of last year when compared to the tragic events shown in Selma, real-life incidents taking place at the time of the …show more content…
On November 24, 2014, only three months after the shooting, the St. Louis County prosecutor's office announced that a grand jury had decided not to indict Officer Wilson in the shooting, setting off a wave of protests in Ferguson (Millitzer et al., 2014, para. 1). Looking at the images of the Ferguson protests appearing on national and cable news networks, including the use of riot gear and tear glass by police, is strangely reminiscent of the images recreated in Selma whereby state troopers, using riot gear, tear gas, and clubs, unleashed brutality on black marchers on the Edmund Pettus