Themes Of 12 Years A Slave

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The film I choose is Twelve Years a Slave. Based on a true story, it described a free black man, Solomon Northup, who was kidnapped in Washington and sold to Louisiana as a slave for twelve years before gaining freedom. It represented the greed of the capitalists and the struggle of the African Americans at the bottom of the society. By displaying the sufferings of Solomon in the twelve years, it actually showed us the destiny of all the black people in that distinctive historical background. “Race and racism in the United States have been shaped by a centuries-long conflict between white domination and resistance by people of color (Omi and Michael, 3). This film restored the slave-holding details in the South of America, and uncovered various …show more content…
The extremely torment and ravage made her lose the hope of life, so she asked Solomon to kill her. Life was the endless sufferings for her. She would rather be a man so that she could get rid of being sullied by the slaver. Except that, the identity of gender was basically disappeared. Both man and women all slept on the ground side by side and did the same work. However, the feminine trait was not totally vanished in the heart of Patsey. She still want to at least keep body clean even she could not look for beauty. She borrowed soaps from Mrs. Shaw, a former slave who had married to her slaver. When she was asked where she was going by Epps, she said she could not stand the dirty body and wanted to keep herself clean. The dirty not only referred to body, but also the dirty caused by the rape from the slaver. But she was naked and whipped severely by Epps as the punishment for her behavior till she went faint. The whole process was displayed completely to restore the true black slave …show more content…
Only few of the slaves could gain freedom like Solomon among the millions of slaves. The director did not try to shape Solomon into a rebel hero like the other classical Hollywood movie instead of displaying the brutal true salve life. Solomon was just a member of a plenty of slaves who suffered from the cruel slavery system under such history background. The reality is always the most brutal. When Solomon was required to whip Patsey by Epps, the scene was directly aimed at Patsey. Every single stroke was really hard and the raking of her back was really shocking. The cruelest and truest scene was presented to the audience completely. The film depicted a real life of slavery. It was so real that people may feel depressive and even could not face it. Therefore, although it was ended up with a comedy, the miserable slave life would not be erased, and the cruel reality was just what the director attempted to

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