12 Years a Slave - Movie Analysis Essay

Introduction

The movie "12 Years a Slave" analyzes an incredible story of one man who was fighting for his survival an adaptation of a slave memoir of 1853. Solomon Northup is the main character in the film. He was a Black–American who was kidnapped and sold to slavery during the pre-civil war era in the United States of America. He was an accomplished violin player who was born and lived in the upstate of New York. Solomon Northup lived as a slave for 12 years, where he survived as personal property under different slave leaders (Alfred et al., 2017).

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Communication and Character Analysis

Throughout the film, the communication between the characters represents the horror slavery experiences faced by most black Americans who are sold or abducted in the United States of America. Before his abduction, Solomon Northrup was treated equally as his fellow men, but he was considered an animal and treated inhumanly after his abduction. James Burch is a white American who treats slaves with bitterness and with a lot of inhumanity. For example, whenever Solomon asks for freedom from James Burch, he is beaten with a lot of cruelty, this demonstrates that James Burch treats Solomon Northup and others with inferiority because he perceives them as Black Americans who should not be treated with dignity (McQueen & Northup, 2014). Bass is a kind and polite white carpenter; his communication with Solomon Northup is not discriminatory; he is more emphatic about the injustices meted on Solomon.

William Ford is also pivotal in helping Northup secure his freedom. The works of William Ford are also a true reflection of good leadership. In the movie, he is the first master of Solomon, who acts with a lot of kindness and compassion about Solomon's situation. He acts as a Northup protector, and Solomon deeply respects him. Their communication is an illustration of respect and understanding; even though Solomon is a slave to him, he treats him with respect and dignity. Edwin Epps is another inhumane slave master, whom Solomon serves for ten years. The communication between Solomon and Edwin Epps is discriminatory since Edwin Epps treats Solomon with inferiority all because he is a black American. His communication towards slaves is malicious and cruel. Thus, most of the works about the communication between the characters in the film are right and are a true reflection of what happens in the Black Americans' modern life in the United States.

Depiction

The film "a 12 Years of Slave is an accurate depiction of what happens in America. Even though human beings should be treated equally culturally, most Black Americans in the United States are not treated with equality. The story of Solomon Northup is just one in many in which most of the Black Americans are treated inhumanly. Slavery has been a culture to most Black Americans; their treatment has been brutal and humiliating. Most of the Black American slaves were subjected to beatings, rapes, and executions, this, therefore, is a true picture of the movie "12 years of slave", even though there were good masters who treated Solomon Northup with a lot of dignity and humor like William ford, many of them treated him like an animal.

This film provides an exploration of the many conflicts faced by Black Americans in the United States of America. In the movie “12 Years of Slave," Patsey is portrayed as the epitome of rape; she is a young little girl who is constantly subjected to brutal treatment and rape from Edwin Epps and his wife to some extent she is nearly beaten to death by Epps (Mueller, 2016). However, she is portrayed as a bright and extraordinary young girl. In modern slavery in the United States of America, most slaves, more so young girls are subjected to rape and brutal treatment by their slave masters. Thus, this film illustrates how the unfulfilled needs of the slaves' lead to social conflicts. In this movie, Solomon Northup works had to free himself from slavery but find himself in different slave masters' hands. This is a true depiction of what happens to most black slaves in the United States; most of the fight to regain their freedom through lawyers' use. Thus the movie represents a clear picture of slavery in America.

Conclusion

The works of different characters in the film get it right about the communication between the characters. Based on the movie's character analysis, it is an accurate depiction of what happens in the United States. In the United States, most slaves resisted slavery in different ways, which included rebellion and sabotage. Based on the movie, most slaves are subjected to brutal treatment that includes rape, abuse, or heavy beatings. Drawing from the movie, many slaves such as Patsey, Solomon Northup, Emily, and John Williams are all subjected to brutal imprisonment experience. Most of them suffered all these problems because of their ethnicity and race differences; therefore, human beings should all be treated with equality, slavery should not be used as a tool to topple a weaker partner, this is because many slaves struggle to achieve their life goals and slavery experience has a significant impact on their future life.

References

Alfred, A., Natsir, M., & Setyowati, R. (2017). Slavery of the Main Character Solomon Northup in the 12 Years a Slave Movie. Ilmu Budaya: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni dan Budaya, 1(3), 183-192.http://e-journals.unmul.ac.id/index.php/JBSSB/article/view/670

McQueen, S., Ridley, J., Pitt, B., Gardner, D., Kleiner, J., Pohlad, W., ... & Northup, S. (2014). 12 years a slave. Entertainment One. http://www.materialserver.filmwerk.de/arbeitshilfen/12_years_a_slave_Film_Tipp.pdf

Mueller, J. C., & Issa, R. (2016). Consuming black pain: Reading racial ideology in cultural appetite for 12 Years A Slave. In Race and Contention in Twenty-First Century US Media (pp. 139-155). Routledge.