Slavery in django unchained and amistad
Dissertation : Slavery in django unchained and amistad. Recherche parmi 300 000+ dissertationsPar nonos2504 • 15 Mai 2013 • 1 081 Mots (5 Pages) • 1 166 Vues
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,
...