12 Years A Slave Analysis

     

"12 Years a Slave" Analysis

        Films have always been at a point of contention when discussing if they are a good source to learn history. Other than documentaries, the over dramatization of movies like “The Social Network” often skew the meaning of what actually happens. After all, movies are made to entertain, not to teach. However, “12 Years a Slave” is different. It challenges the conventional idea that movies do not accurately represent real life. “12 Years a Slave” provides a way to learn from the horrors of US slavery such that the viewers do not just understand the information, but they become closer to gaining empathy for the slaves.
The conventional way to learn about slavery is by reading about it, either from a textbook or from primary sources. While this gives the reader knowledge about the lives of slaves back then, it can be hard to gain a perspective. Simply reading text may cause sympathy in the reader, but it will never cause empathy. Not many people in this day in age can empathize with how horrific some of the descriptions that we read about. In “The Life of a Slave Girl, Seven Years Concealed”, while the reader feels sympathetic for the helplessness the slave girl is facing when she says, “when he[slaveowner] told me that I was made for his use, made to obey his command in every thing; that I was nothing but a slave, whose will must and should surrender to his, never before had my puny arm felt half so strong”, the reader cannot actually understand what she is going through. Most people have never gone through a case where they are literally treated as property. Because of this, readers lose the perspective of the intensity of the hardships and emotional impact that was present on the slaves. While some types of texts, such as novels, are meant to make the reader feel some sort of empathy, a textbook is not made to portray a sense of feeling. They are simply made to provide factual information.

Solomon Northup hanging from a noose barely touching
the ground

        While 12 years slave doesn’t provide as many facts, such as dates, it provides the reader with the closest they will be to understanding the feelings and experiences the slaves endured. In Solomon’s written narrative, “12 Years a Slave”, he mentions in one line how he stood on the ground while the noose still layed around his neck barely being able to touch the ground. While the reader is able to have an idea of the feelings that he felt, the length and description of the scene makes it difficult to understand the pain that Solomon himself was going through. In the movie, however, the scene is unforgettable. The audience is forced to watch Solomon painfully dangle from the end of a noose just escaping death by the tips of his toes. There is no music playing, just the sounds of the chickens around him and the struggle to keep himself on his feet. The visualisation of this uncomfort forces the audience to inherently feel uncomfortable. Because of this, the long drawn out scene that is actually two minutes and forty-five seconds feels like ten minutes, therefore, the intensity of the scene is multiplied. The audience, as a result, is able to have a better understanding of the pain that Solomon went through, not just have the knowledge that he went through it. The New York Times review on this movie best sums the impact of this movie when they say how the brilliance of this scene really exemplifies the common, corrupt behavior of the slaveholders. Not only was the movie difficult for the audience to watch, but the great cinematography of the movie made the actors themselves have a sense of empathy of that time. In an interview with the actor of Epps, played by Michael Fassbender, he stated when asked if it was hard to act in any scenes, he replied, “It’s upsetting[...] for sure[...] but the problem is minute compared to what these people[slaves] were going through”. Because of the cinematography, the actor was able to form an emotional connection with each person in the movie, giving him a better sense of empathy.
Reading a narrative and watching a movie both have its pros and cons. While reading provides a lot of factual information, the cinematography of a movie can allow the viewers to gain a greater connection with those in the movie. Movies are not meant to replace the information in text and text is not meant to replace film, rather they are complimentary pieces. The sense of intensity and hopelessness text lacks is made up in film. The facts of history that film lacks is made up in text. If a movie is made well, the idea that one cannot learn from a movie is false. Empathy is something hard to gain; not many people understand, emotionally and physically, the pain the slaves went through. While film cannot make us fully understand, it does take us a few steps forward to gaining this empathy.

"12 Years a Slave" narrative
New York Times Article
"The Life of a Slave Girl, Seven Years Concealed"
"12 Years a Slave" Interview