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329:question:329--week_5_questions_comments-2022 [2022/09/22 03:08] – [V. The "So, what?" question] 174.206.39.76329:question:329--week_5_questions_comments-2022 [2022/10/29 16:05] (current) – [I.How does this movie work as a secondary source? What does the movie get right about history?] 76.78.225.92
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 ====== I. How does this movie work as a secondary source? What does the movie get right about history?  ====== ====== I. How does this movie work as a secondary source? What does the movie get right about history?  ======
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 +This movie was devastatingly accurate to the horrors of enslavement and the sheer degradation of the middle passage on the human psyche. Think about it this way, while it was extremely gory, this depiction still wasn’t as horrific as the real deal was. Even rated R movies can only show but so much. The emotion that this film conveys is that of deepest sorrow and torment. Something that these people lived in their entire time during this incident, and even after returning home. I believe that this film is an outstanding source for historical accuracy regarding the depiction of enslavement. Some of the court room scenes, and other related points are dramatized, but to the best of my personal knowledge, the depiction of enslavement practices were not exaggerated. -Michaela Fontenot
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 I was shocked by the historical accuracy of this film. While I cannot speak to the material realism of such things as clothing or ships, I was astounded by how closely the film stuck to the real history of the events. From details like how the abolitionists found an interpreter, to the way the Mende’s were tricked by their Spanish captors by sailing east at day and northwest at night. In addition to small details such as those above, the film followed the course of the actual historical events and legal proceedings with surprising accuracy and faithfulness. --Lucca Crowe   I was shocked by the historical accuracy of this film. While I cannot speak to the material realism of such things as clothing or ships, I was astounded by how closely the film stuck to the real history of the events. From details like how the abolitionists found an interpreter, to the way the Mende’s were tricked by their Spanish captors by sailing east at day and northwest at night. In addition to small details such as those above, the film followed the course of the actual historical events and legal proceedings with surprising accuracy and faithfulness. --Lucca Crowe  
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 I feel that the film was a fairly accurate secondary source because it portrayed the horrible acts the the enslaved people had to endure during their passages. Secondly, it showed the racism even in people who may have appeared as “anti-slavery” supporters such as people using religion to “save the people”. Lastly, the entire court system seemed fairly accurate as well, especially in regards to the actual court course, the translation done, etc. - Erika Lambert  I feel that the film was a fairly accurate secondary source because it portrayed the horrible acts the the enslaved people had to endure during their passages. Secondly, it showed the racism even in people who may have appeared as “anti-slavery” supporters such as people using religion to “save the people”. Lastly, the entire court system seemed fairly accurate as well, especially in regards to the actual court course, the translation done, etc. - Erika Lambert 
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 +Question I: Steam-powered vehicles actually existed when //Amistad// takes place. By the late 1830s, people had been experimenting with steam engines for over a hundred years. Steam-powered vehicles were still fairly experimental though. The experiments were mainly in Britain. It’s very possible that influential Americans, like Van Buren, would’ve had access to steam-powered vehicles for things like campaigning, but everything I could find only mentioned the British experiments with steam engines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_steam_road_vehicles. https://sites.google.com/site/motormiscellany/cars-other-vehicles/the-steam-century-2. -Katherine Rayhart 
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 +The film was able to get a decent amount the of history correct, which was more than I was expecting. Having the characters speak their accurate languages was a huge deal to me. It showed that they wanted to keep the story true and portray these people as accurately as possible. Which allowed for the film to be both entertaining and authentic. - Neonya Garner 
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 +This film was fairly accurate as a secondary source. Like all other movies, if you were to use this as a source you would have to verify everything and back it up with other texts. Many times filmmakers will dramatize or "jazz" up scenes so that they will fit with their narrative. However, in this film, the story was already so heartwrenching. Scenes like the suicide of the boat were both real and heartbreaking, likewise, the scene where the character is going around the dock trying to find someone who will speak the language, is also surprisingly accurate. -Annika   
 ====== II. Problems with historical accuracy? Errors in fact? ====== ====== II. Problems with historical accuracy? Errors in fact? ======
  
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 Though I think the film is historically accurate for the most part, there are some errors in the fact. While I was reading the Wikipedia page on the film, there was this source: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/74/, a website article by Eric Foner, a Columbia professor at the time of its writing. He points out a small inaccuracy that I did not realize is that in the film it shows Van Buren campaigning and as Foner points out, candidates did not campaign. More importantly though, the talk of Civil War in the film is not a truly accurate representation of attitudes at the time. Yes, there was no doubt tension in the states, but it was definitely not to the degree portrayed in the film. The film also portrays the Amistad case as a more domestic issue than it really was, it more about the international slave trade than anything else. Another thing that I found interesting in Foner’s article is that the film was distributing educational materials to schools. The education guide, as Foner states, encourages students to study Black abolitionism through the film’s fictional character, Theordore Joadson. This is problematic, because if you were to study Black abolitionism why not do it through real people such as Frederick Douglass. A real-life man who was a former slave and was the founder of an anti-slavery newspaper, The North Star. If you are going to teach students about Black abolitionism, use a real person, not a fictional character. Foner also states that the guide suggests that the Amistad case was a turning point in the struggle to end slavery, despite the case being more about international matters than domestic ones. - Taylor Coleman Though I think the film is historically accurate for the most part, there are some errors in the fact. While I was reading the Wikipedia page on the film, there was this source: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/74/, a website article by Eric Foner, a Columbia professor at the time of its writing. He points out a small inaccuracy that I did not realize is that in the film it shows Van Buren campaigning and as Foner points out, candidates did not campaign. More importantly though, the talk of Civil War in the film is not a truly accurate representation of attitudes at the time. Yes, there was no doubt tension in the states, but it was definitely not to the degree portrayed in the film. The film also portrays the Amistad case as a more domestic issue than it really was, it more about the international slave trade than anything else. Another thing that I found interesting in Foner’s article is that the film was distributing educational materials to schools. The education guide, as Foner states, encourages students to study Black abolitionism through the film’s fictional character, Theordore Joadson. This is problematic, because if you were to study Black abolitionism why not do it through real people such as Frederick Douglass. A real-life man who was a former slave and was the founder of an anti-slavery newspaper, The North Star. If you are going to teach students about Black abolitionism, use a real person, not a fictional character. Foner also states that the guide suggests that the Amistad case was a turning point in the struggle to end slavery, despite the case being more about international matters than domestic ones. - Taylor Coleman
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 +Question II: This is nitpicky, but I want to talk about it anyways. //Amistad// treats the Civil War like it was a possibility at the forefront of everyone’s mind in 1839-1842. When in reality, almost everyone didn’t start worrying about a possible civil war until the late 1840s at the earliest, and the mid-1850s at the latest. Yes, tensions over slavery were a thing when the movie takes place. However, they were //nowhere// near as bad as they would be, almost twenty years later. -Katherine Rayhart
  
 ====== III. How does the film’s overall interpretation(s) deviate from scholarly historical sources? ====== ====== III. How does the film’s overall interpretation(s) deviate from scholarly historical sources? ======
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 I think that this film works somewhat well as a primary source about the time in which it was made. As I think it demonstrates a time period where people were fully understanding the gravity of past (and also current) actions rooted in racism. Amistad provides a look into how people understood the weight of slavery and all that it consisted of, as seen in the accuracy of how the events of the Mende were portrayed. -Margaret Jones I think that this film works somewhat well as a primary source about the time in which it was made. As I think it demonstrates a time period where people were fully understanding the gravity of past (and also current) actions rooted in racism. Amistad provides a look into how people understood the weight of slavery and all that it consisted of, as seen in the accuracy of how the events of the Mende were portrayed. -Margaret Jones
  
-Although I found the film more historically accurate than I anticipated, I still found that it showed the faults of 1990’s historical films just like the others we have discussed this semester. There are a few glaring inaccuracies that prove that although Spielberg created a somewhat historically accurate film, he still painted the Americans in far too innocent a light. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the slaves because of an international law—it was not a stand against slavery as a whole. The white lawyers and politicians were still depicted as the saviors of the slaves, making them heroes in the film. In addition, the character Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman) was completely fictional, and in fact no black man would have been allowed to be present in the courtroom at this time in history. The film was successful in not dramatizing the story to the extreme. However, it does fall into the trap of portraying the Americans as heroes and saviors, attempting to downplay the racism that was present. -Burke Steifman+Although I found the film more historically accurate than I anticipated, I still found that it showed the faults of 1990’s historical films just like the others we have discussed this semester. There are a few glaring inaccuracies that prove that although Spielberg created a somewhat historically accurate film, **he still painted the Americans in far too innocent a light. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the slaves because of an international law—it was not a stand against slavery as a whole. The white lawyers and politicians were still depicted as the saviors of the slaves, making them heroes in the film.** In addition, the character Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman) was completely fictional, and in fact no black man would have been allowed to be present in the courtroom at this time in history. The film was successful in not dramatizing the story to the extreme. However, it does fall into the trap of portraying the Americans as heroes and saviors, attempting to downplay the racism that was present. -Burke Steifman
 ====== V. The "So, what?" question ====== ====== V. The "So, what?" question ======
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 +This film is set apart from all others that we have seen so far. This film is a grim masterpiece, one that should be praised in depth for its depictions. This is one of the rare times where I will say that the film makers needed to be hold responsibility for their actions, and it is wonderful that they did. This topic is extremely important and something that isn’t always freely spoken about. This film has power, end statement. This was not a film for entertainment in what we consider it, I believe this film is a statement, and very important one at that. 
 +This story matters, and this movie portrayed it shockingly well. -Michaela Fontenot
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 Overall, I very much enjoyed this movie’s portrayal of history and found it the most accurate out of all the films we watched. The film was very difficult to watch and I found myself having to stop it because it was so intense at times…. particularly the scenes on the ship. I do think this movie can teach many people about how horrendous slavery was but also how it created so much corruption and problems in the United States. - Erika Lambert Overall, I very much enjoyed this movie’s portrayal of history and found it the most accurate out of all the films we watched. The film was very difficult to watch and I found myself having to stop it because it was so intense at times…. particularly the scenes on the ship. I do think this movie can teach many people about how horrendous slavery was but also how it created so much corruption and problems in the United States. - Erika Lambert
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 +Like all Hollywood films, Amistad did not hit every detail on the head. However, the amount of accuracies that were able to be put in the film made it all the more impactful. It is important for a history such as this one (lesser known) to be portrayed as correctly as possible, and I believe Stephen Spielberg was able to do that while still having an entertaining film. - Neonya Garner
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 +I think this film was able to vividly display the hardship of being a slave. At times the movie seemed very performative and dramatic, but for the most part, it was able to portray slaves in an authentic way we haven’t seen in other movies. The hurt, confusion, sadness, and anger were almost palpable. The film took an important topic and did not shy away from the brutality of it like some films would because it might make their audience uncomfortable. -Annika Sypher 
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