Movies are a great way to portray information. I know personally, it helps me so much to be able to see what I am learning. If we were discussing slavery, it would help me to be able to see what it was like so I can have a mental image and also to develop empathy towards the people that were going through that. You can develop analytical skills, explore real events, circumstances, and attitudes from watching movies. Movies are great for students and are great for sensitive topics because they let our mind do what it wants to do which is to feel emotions towards the characters or to feel emotion for them,
When I watch movies I am often times persuaded into thinking something different or having a different outlook on that topic after I have seen the movie. Movies develop analytical skills by getting you to be so invested into their movie and what they are saying that you start to believe it and almost feel like you are a part of it. For instance, slavery is a very sensitive topic and every student learns about it but we never really understand how graphic and bad it really is. After watching 12 Years a Slave I feel that I have a better understanding of slavery and what it was like to be a slave or slave owner. That is exactly what the filmmaker, Steve McQueen, wanted us to get out of it. In an interview with Elvis Mitchell he said, “I wanted to throw the audience into the deep end at the beginning... so the film dives right into slavery.” 12 Years a Slave was so impacting because it did not sugar coat slavery, the filmmaker really wanted us to realize what it was actually like and in order to do that you have to empathize with the characters and put yourself in their shoes to possibly realize what it is like. 12 Years a Slave made us feel that way by the way the film was presented which it won several awards for such as Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role and so many more. A critic on the movie, Henry Louis Gates Jr. said , “One of the most amazing and succesful things the film does is show the way that slavery dehumanizes the master as well as the slave…” This was shown by Epps and Patsy in the movie. Epps obviously had feelings for Patsy but he was mad that he did so he beat her. The issue with slavery movies is that the filmmaker has to chose how graphic and detailed they can let it be without traumatizing the audience. Steve Mcqueen does a good job of balancing that out, I never felt like it was too much for myself to handle but it definitely had an impact on my view of slavery. From avforums , a critic said “12 Years a Slave doesn’t really attempt to get under your skin… but peeling away at you until you’re flayed to the bone.” I disagree, I feel that the movie did get under my skin and make me unconfortable in a way because I did not realize how bad slavery truely was. I think that 12 years a Slave did a better job than Glory as far as getting us to feel what the characters are feeling goes.
The movie Glory was more about getting a great message across rather than getting us to empathize with the soldiers. This movie was much easier to watch because we have studied war in depth throughout our history classes but it was helpful to see it actually happening. The movie made me feel proud for the soldiers even though they ended up dying. Which sounds wrong but the way the movie was presented let us have hope for the soldiers and let us feel happy for them. The movie won many awards and two of those are best actor in supporting role and best cinematography. The movie got the message across that the soldiers may have died and struggled but they did it together. I don’t think I would be able to get that out of reading about the war but when I was able to see it and see how the soldiers interacted I was able to take that message away which is what the filmmaker wanted. Ed Zwick, the filmmaker said, “The fundamental focus of the film is not Shaw and the rest of the officers but the coming together of the regiment in all aspects” The movie did exactly this. We were able to see how the regiment affect them in all sorts of ways, it was so interesting to watch the soldiers trust each other and to watch them grow and make progress. Like I said, unless it was written out saying how the soldiers died but the fact that they died together is the point I would not get it. Thanks to the great filmmaking , I was able to take more out of it.
When filmmakers are making their decisions about movies such as these two they have to chose how historically accurate it is going to be. Both of these movies were mostly historically accurate but they both had some tweaks just like most movies do. However, they had less tweaks than most making them some of the most accurate movies. A critic from the New York Times said, “Glory is the first serious movie about the civil war to be made in years.” I think it is important for the movie to be serious to really take something out of it. For 12 Years a Slave, Steve McQueen said, “If I was to illustrate the book... it would be far worse than what I filmed.” So the filmmaker had to tone it down a bit to please the audience. Yes we still got to see how bad slavery really was but we even know and can imagine based off of what we’ve seen that it was even worse. Even if the movies alter the events a little bit as long as we know that I think it is ok to view the movie because then we can discover the truth and use our imagination for that truth. Movies often lead me to wanting to know more about it so then I go do research and learn so much more about it. So movies also provoke us to want to know more leading us to accurate research. Both of these movies were very successful and both earned a lot of awards because the way they demonstrated the truth.
I think movies are a great way of showing circumstances because they let us see and feel what it was like. I would be disappointed if we were not allowed to see movies at school about history because I want to be able to realize how the people in the circumstances felt. Movies allow us to use our mind to empathize with the situation and people and from that we have a better understanding of the situation.
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