Slavery in django unchained and amistad

Introduction

The Atlantic Slave trade of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries present a dark past in the history

of mankind. More than 35 000 slave voyages took place between the continent of Africa and

the America, resulting in years of exploitation, abuse and brutality of slaves from

Africa by the whites in America 1. Freedom denied, identity ripped away, slaves who were

taken from Africa lost who they were and had to dorn new identities presented to them by the

whites that is of poverty.

This paper examines two modern, cinematic approaches, which depict in their own right, the

dynamics, complexities and prejudices of slavery in America. The first film, Amistad was

directed by Steven Spielberg and released in 1997, follows the events upon the slavery ship

Amistad, which was transporting slaves from Africa to the U.S.A. to be sold. The slaves

revolted and killed their captors and fought for their freedom by forcing one of the white’s

crew to take them back to Africa. The movie is inspired by William A. Owen’s book,

Black Mutiny: The revolt on the Schooner Amistad .

The second cinematic work is Django unchained directed by Quentin Tarantino . A slave film

surrounding the life of Django, a slave purchased by a dentist turned bounty hunter who is

after the brutal Brittle Brothers. Django’s story revolves around his search for his wife,

Broomhilda, who was sold to a brutal slave owner Calvin Candie. The story depicts the lives

of slaves as a whole, the Mandingos, the fighting for survival, the ‘Uncle Tom’ and the all-

round development of Django as an individual.

Do these movies really teach us about the history of slavery? What should we learn from

them?

1 Presentation of slavery in Django and Amistad.

In the movie Amistad the slaves are presented in the first scene killing their captors and

taking over the ship victoriously. They are presented as strong, coordinated and the images of

the muscular African screaming as he thrusts his sword into one of his former captors is

unforgettable. This sets the tone for the rest of the movie, but alone, the scene does not

represent slavery. It is a fictional work. But reality shows that slave son ships were guarded

most times and were treated like animals.2 On slave ships, the slaves were crowded and

ordered, packed together like fish in a can, defecating where they slept. They had no clean

air, room to breathe and move; disease and wounds infected them from the rusty chains

cutting them. The transportation of slaves from Africa across the Middle Passage became a

struggle for survival. Only the strongest survived, the weak destined for the roaring waves

of the sea. The representations of the struggle in the Middle Passage are powerful images that

represent slavery and are the most powerful aspect of the film. In the hold of the slave ship,

the camera pans across the chained bodies of the enslaved. Blood is seen splattered across the

decks and the mutilated bodies and infested wounds brought into light. Such images, which

depict black people being treated as lesser than animals, reveal that the owners never

considered them human, but cargo, same as barrels or crops,

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