Learning History through Film: Glory and 12 Years a Slave

In class Essay about Movies and History

Many teachers may believe that students aren’t able to learn anything based on a movie, but this can definitely be argued. Movies develop historical truths and may not always be completely accurate in their history. I believe that it is possible to develop great analytical skills and explore real events, circumstances, and attitudes just by watching movies in a critical way, and doing some research. The historical movies ‘Glory’, and ’Twelve years a Slave’ are great examples of historical truths, used to display historical concepts and themes. These movies also allow for students to be entertained, causing them to take more away from a movie, as opposed to a lecture.

Glory is a movie from the 1980s placed in the time period of the Civil War. It is about one of the first black regiments, called the 54^th regiment. These black regiments, according to History.org, were mainly composed of 180,000 of the 500,000 free African American men. There were 163 units, the 54^th being one of them. In the film, the director tried to get the viewer to empathize with the characters more, so the regiment was mainly made up of runaway slaves, instead of free blacks. The movie tried to make the point that these men had something to fight for, so they changed the historical fact, but overall got their point across. This overall helps the watcher to take in this information by getting a more personal connection to the characters. According to the New York Times’ review on Glory, the movie was based off of Colonel Shaw’s letters, named “Lay this Laurel” and “One Gallant Rush”. Although this movie is basically based off of a memoir, one must think about perspective. Roger Ebert’s review on glory helped me to think about why the director chose to have Colonel Shaw be the protagonist, when it could be from the black men’s point of view. This is a challenge faced by the film writer and all of the people making the movie. The movie could’ve been more juicy and empathetic if it was through one of the soldier’s eyes, but choosing for it to be from Shaw’s perspective helped the movie to be more historically accurate. The movie Glory also helped me to understand the intenseness of the Civil War.  The New York Times says, “Glory is celebratory, but it celebrates in a manner that insists on acknowledging the sorrow”, which I completely agree with. In the last scene of the battle at Fort Wagner, Shaw proudly stands up and says that his regiment will lead the rest in the battle. This helped me to see how much pride went into being in these regiments, and being a soldier, while also acknowledging the sorrow that many of the men would die. I believe that the movie Glory helped me to understand what went into being a soldier, and the extent of the events in the Civil War.

Twelve Years a Slave is a movie about a real man, Solomon Northup, who was a free man, until he was drugged and kidnapped, only to be sold as a slave for twelve years. This story is completely based off of a memoir told by Northup, but written by his lawyer, David Wilson. Before watching this film, I had never heard of free men being kidnapped, and never really understood what went into slavery. Roger Ebert wrote that this movie makes viewers think “that they have actually witnessed American slavery in all its appalling horror for the very first time”, which is very true. The director uses many scenes to make the viewer uncomfortable, that Roger Ebert refers to as “discomfort cinema”. For example, McQueen uses multiple nudity scenes, to make readers understand that these slaves are at their most vulnerable and again helps the reader to emphasize, according to Roger Ebert. McQueen also tries to get other points across, even if not included in the actual memoir. According to the Atlantic, the scene on the boat, when the sailor goes to molest a slave being transported, never happened. This scene is put in to show what would happen on the boats and the full extent of what these slaves had to live with. One quote that was put into the movie that helped me to understand what these people were going through, was when Solomon said, “I don’t want to survive I want to live”. By putting this quote in the script, it makes it easier for viewers to empathize and understand how these people felt. All of the slaves were trying to survive their whole lives, but never understood what it was like to live. This helped me to put myself in Solomon Northup’s shoes; making me think about what it would be like if my regular life was suddenly taken from me.

Although each of these movies may not be entirely, historically accurate, the point could be made in both of them. Each of the movies have been exaggerated, such as the scene in Glory when the small town was invaded, but by making it more juicy, there were more views from the public. The directors and writers of each of the movies had tremendous hardships trying to figure out when certain facts could be changed or not. The movies can’t always be completely factual, for it isn’t a documentary, but the point getting across to the public is what is essential. I believe that each of the movies, Glory, and Twelve Years a Slave helped me to better understand, and empathize with all of the people in the Civil War.

1. Marked by Teachers-Glory

This article helped me to see some of the historical inaccuracies in the movie Glory.

2. Awards won by Glory-Imbd

This source showed me the numerous awards the movie won.

3. African Americans in the Civil War- History.net
This source provided me with background information about slaves and african americans in the Civil War

4 .Black Press Research Collective
This provided me with a review of 12 Years and gave me background information about kidnapping.

5. 12 Years Awards- Imbd
This source showed me the sources won buy 12 years a slave

6. Civil War Trust- African americans in civil war
This source also provided me with information about black soldiers in the Civil War

7. Roger Ebert review on Glory
This source gave me a critical review of Glory and provided me with an analysis

8. New York Times- Glory
This source also gave me a review and analysis of the movie Glory

9. Roger Ebert Review on 12 years a slave
This source was a review on 12 years a slave and provided me with an analysis of the movie

10.Soloman Northup- Brittanica Encyclopedia
This gave me a background about the real Solomon Northup, the main character

11. The Atlantic-12 Years a Slave
This source showed me the different historical inaccuracies and taught me about the real memoir written in the 1800's

Solomon Northup after writing his famous memoir, 12 Years a Slave

12 Years a Slave original copy

Robert Gould Shaw in uniform

One of the first Union black regiments

The battle of Fort Wagner