Film Essay

 

            Sometimes for us to understand what people went through we have to “experience” what they did, movies are a great way for that to happen. With the movies “Glory” and “12 Years a Slave” I learned to understand a lot about the slaves and slave owners back then. Watching movies is beneficial because you are put into someone else’s shoes in a way, and get to see and be a part of the same things that they were. I’ve learned more about the 1800s slave era by watching 2 movies than I ever have before.

            For a filmmaker to make a successful and interesting movie, he needs to be able to draw the audience in but still be historically accurate. A great example of this is the movie “Glory.” According to reelamericanhistory.com, Glory is one of the most historically accurate movies ever, but yet it was still a very enticing and interesting movie that I enjoyed watching. Same goes with “12 Years a Slave,” the movie followed the book almost perfectly, and it still won numerous Academy Awards, including “Best Motion Picture of the Year.” Edward Zwick (Glory) and Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) directed these movies in a way where they were very accurate to the history, and still some of the biggest hits ever, that is what sets these movies apart from some of the other historical movies.

            Movies allow us to see things from many different points of view. With Glory, we got to see things from the blacks, and the whites perspective. With that opportunity, we can really analyze the movie and shape opinions that we normally wouldn’t be able to obtain if we weren’t watching a movie. That is the best part about movies; they make you form an opinion and spark conversation among the viewers. An article on Steve McQueen said that his intentions when making 12 Years a Slave were to “look behind” the subjects people didn’t want to. That is exactly what he did, people who didn’t want to really look at slavery were forced to after seeing this movie and it started conversations about this topic among the viewers. None of this is possible without the power of movies.

           

            For us to really understand the past, we have to see what they went through, with the movies “Glory” and “12 Years a Slave,” the audience is put into the shoes of black men and white men. Without being put into their positions I wouldn’t understand nearly as much about that time period as I do now. I’ve learned more about slavery by watching these movies than I think I ever could anywhere else.

            

Sources: http://goo.gl/8Vyra0 --- IMDb Website for Glory   

                http://goo.gl/YYWu6l  --- IMDb Website for 12 Years a Slave

                http://goo.gl/CtznHk --- 12 Years a Slave Critics

                http://goo.gl/U9xp3U --- Glory Box Office

                http://goo.gl/Wky3M6 --- 12 Years a Slave Box Office

                http://goo.gl/xdeI3d --- McQueen’s Intentions on making 12 Years a Slave

                http://goo.gl/yHN7Lv --- Zwick’s Intentions on making Glory    

Practicing Incorporating a Quotation

James Webster and I found this to be the most straight forward and important quotes from the Reel American History article.

Watching Glory was a good thing to watch in class because it was not only beneficial, but historically accurate according to McPherson, who said. "Glory is not only the first feature film to treat the role of black soldiers in the American Civil War, [but] also the most powerful and historically accurate movie about that war ever made." 

 This is what Mrs. Lawson wanted me to learn today:

-Only use quote when it adds power and style to my writing.
-Always make it clear, from context, that i understand the full meaning of the quote.
-Whether I quote of paraphrase, always be transparent about the source and how I'm using it.
-If I use another author's exact words or phrases, to any extent, I have to use quotation marks to give credit.
-If I use another author's presentation of facts or ideas, but put their ideas in my own words, I better have a good reason for doing that and MUST give credit.
-Hyperlinking is so easy, there is no excuse for not being transparent about my sources.


I UNDERSTAND THIS!

Paraphrase Practice

 We used an article on Reel American History

"Regardless of the cause, fighting for the Union army were over 188,000 Blacks who often are overlooked or forgotten in our understanding of American history from our primary school textbooks. In addition to those brave soldiers, the struggle and the people behind the struggle to allow colored regiments to fight for their country was as quickly and easily omitted from our "history." In this aspect, the film is glorified as a heroic milestone in historical cinema."

Paraphrase
There were almost 200,000 blacks fighting in the Civil War and we did not hear about them in our history books that we used in school. The blacks fighting weren't the only ones who were going through hardships, the men who were in charge of the black regiments weren't heard of very much either. This movie was a big milestone in film history because of how it highlights this part of American history. 

Empathy and Sympathy

This is a definition of sympathy I found on Google: "feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune."

This is a definition of empathy I found on Google too: "the ability to understand and share the feelings of another."

-When you have sympathy for someone you feel sorry for them, when you empathize with someone you understand their pain and feel what they are going through but you don't necessarily "pity" them.

-I don't agree with people who owned slaves a long time ago, but I understand that they were just doing what was normal at that time and they weren't doing anything that was "wrong."

-It helps for us as students to be able to step into the shoes of the people in the past and get inside their heads so we can understand why they did certain things.

This shows empathy because these people are looking inside of each others heads and understanding each other.