Film and Fiction: 12 Years a Slave and Depiction of Slavery on Film

Film and Fiction: 12 Years a Slave and Depiction of Slavery on Film

Kate Tutu

Mr. Di Tomaso

CHA3U

In the film 12 Years a Slave directed by Steven McQueen has been critically acclaimed and has acquired recognizable awards for the cinematic adaption of a written first account of a slave in the 1800s named Solomon Northup. The film features the realities of the institution of slavery revealing its cruel and terrifying aspects. The film mainly focuses on a free African American named Solomon Northup who was abducted and was put in to slavery, this film shows the life he had to endure and the people he met for the 12 years trapped, until his release from slavery. The institution of slavery in the United States was an ongoing issue since early in the 17th century, by the time of the American Revolution and the adoption of the new Constitution in 1787 slavery was a dying institution. The importation of slavery to the U.S ended in 1807, but slavery began to thrive especially in the South due to the high demand and high profit of cotton. During the 1800s the institution of slavery in America was split, the Northern states were known as free states where slavery was prohibited but as for the Southern states slavery was a part of the culture and was essential to the economy. The films subject is slavery in America and the filmmakers wanted to bring Solomon Northup memoir to life and to reiterate the sensitive topic of slavery, hoping to spark discussion of the horrors of the institution. The film 12 Years a Slave was extremely effective in portraying the institution of slavery in the United States through the use of historical facts, the use of sensory realism, and its linkage to present day.

The filmmakers strived to re-tell an honest perspective of slavery during Solomon’s time as a slave and factual situations that occurred during that time period. Solomon was tricked by colleagues and kidnapped from New York, a free state and was stripped of his papers that...