Selma The 13th Analysis

Wherever we go, whether it be the grocery store, the mall, or even the couch, people are constantly bombarded by the elements of persuasion. For example, when buying a carton of milk, the advertisers will entice buyers with statistics and a list of healthy ingredients. Or while flipping through a magazine at the dentist's office, marketers draw the eyes in with bright colors and bold text. These elements of persuasion, rooted both in visual and logical appeals, can also be woven together to create an argumentative documentary. These documentaries, especially when considering controversial issues, have the power to broadcast important social messages to the world. This ability, however, can only be unlocked when the right rhetorical means are used to further their argument. The 13th, a documentary directed by Ava DuVernay, is a prime example of this. Released in October of 2016, this oscar-nominated film made an immediate impact due to its provoking message on the mass criminalization of African Americans in the United States, skilfully exploring the disproportionate amount of African Americans in prison. The success of this documentary can be attributed to its persuasive visual and audio tracks and its well timed arrival, ultimately influencing the viewer's passion to create a change in the world.

What does March 7th mean to you? On this significant day, hundreds descended to Selma, Alabama in a bid to secure voting rights for African Americans. These African Americans only ever asked for the simple right to vote and to be treated with equality compared to whites, but all they ever got in return, was disrespect. Blacks wanted to be treated like citizens, similar to anyone else with the opposite skin color. Because of this, in 1965, blacks who were not guaranteed voting rights marched and tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge to stand up and even demand for what they believed in. Although their efforts were great, local and state police stopped them before their march got too far. A few attempts later, the demonstrators made their way across the bridge. Blacks had to stop marching after 10 miles each day because they had 54 miles to go to complete their walk. This march for equal rights was such a huge issue that there was a total of 600 participants when they finally completed the walk! In fact, this didn’t just affect a few people, it affected any black woman, man, or even children too. For example, eleven year old Desiree Robertson carried an American Flag helping lead the group of marches down a rolling stretch of a highway. These people walked for their freedom and never gave up for what they believed in.

When I first viewed “Selma” in a government class several years ago, I was emotionally moved by the nobility of civil rights activists and the strength they carried while enduring brutal violence. Upon recently reviewing it, I felt the same emotions overcome me. However, even though I felt much compassion for the civil rights activists, I felt none for Lyndon B. Johnson. “Selma” portrays Johnson as more interested in his own Great Society than the violent acts of oppression happening right in front of him. He appears to have forced himself to push the Voting Rights Act forward, rather than supporting it because he wants to, or because he believes it is right. The film shows Johnson as a man with strong opinions who puts his own

The documentary “13th”, directed and written by Ava DuVernay and released as a Netflix Original in 2016 is about the history of racism and inequality across America, corresponding with the mass incarceration of African-Americans in modern prison. The title represents the 13th amendment of the United States Constitution stating the abolishment of slavery. The target audience of this movie is the federal system, black communities, and the modern society. This movie seems to coincide with the Black Lives Matter movement that stormed the country in 2015 after the death of black males at the hands of police officers. Mass incarceration across the United States makes up a Majority of the movie. DuVernay bases the movie of the narrative that

The movie Selma is about African Americans and even some white people who marched in the 1960s from Selma to Montgomery. They had a struggle to achieve equal rights and equal treatment in southern states that placed restrictions on who was able to vote. MLK was the leader of the nonviolent civil rights movement. Many African Americans followed him and looked up to him as he led the marches. The first march failed and ended with many African Americans beaten or even killed by white southerners. The second march he had more support form white people in the north who participated in the march, but MLK turned around and decided not to march. The third march he made it from Selma to Montgomery.

The movie I watched was 13th by Ava Duvernay produced by Kandoo Films and Forward Movement in 2016. Ava Duvernay is an American director, film maker and film distributor who has directed, co-directed and created since 2008. Some of her famous works are Selma, A Wrinkle in Time, and 13th (Wikipedia). Ava Duvernay says that some of her reasons for creating this film was because of her childhood and the image she had of what a police officer is. She also talks about her discovery of ALEC and the motivation it gave her to research more into that organization and also the topic. The main purpose of the movie was to raise awareness of the reality of slavery and massincarserations of the black population in the American society. There are any things we still don't know about slavery and massincarseration of blacks. This movie serves as a means of explaining the various things and truths we don't know about slavery and also the 13th amendment.

Selma was a movie released at the end of 2014 which portrayed the struggles Martin Luther King, Jr. and others working closely with him had trying to get the black right to vote in Selma, Alabama. The movie portrays many clear points, and has largely accurate information. However, in the movie Selma, there are some clear inaccuracies in the movie that were created to further the plot

Following the end of the Civil Rights Movement many Americans believed this would be the end of race issues in the United States. They believed that the sit ins, marches, and protests that caused President John F. Kennedy to issue civil rights legislation ended race problems making the United States a post-racial society. However, as recent racial tensions in the United States and the anniversary of the Selma Voting Rights March and Voting Rights Act many historians have questioned whether the Civil Rights movement ended. Society has drawn a correlation between the fight for justice now with the justice African Americans fought for in the 1950s and 1960s. The Selma March which is significant because the national attention it received giving

1. In paragraph 4 Martin Luther King mentions several claims that form his argument. Those claims being “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere… Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere in this country.” (King) He supports this throughout explaining how as a nation, it should be united not divided. Amalgamated not segregated because from only there, can a nation evolve.

The biggest issue that Hollywood currently is facing is its lack of diversity both in front of and behind the camera. Very few opportunities are offered to minorities in the entertainment industry, so it needs to be celebrated when someone who lacks the same chances as a white male is able to make their voice heard. Director Ava DuVernay is one of those artist who refused to be silenced. Ava is a black female director, screenwriter, film marketer, and film distributer. The majority of her narrative films feature black female characters that are navigating their way through life and learn about themselves as they go along. She began her film career with a music documentary and worked

In this unit we learned about the debate over slavery and watched the movie Selma. Most people don’t know it, but the two are a lot alike. Both the book and movie try to show emotion and what the time was really like and they showed that the issues were about the same and I am going to give you a few example and first , is that In the movie Selma the blacks where fight for there rights and in the unit we learned about the American revolution and the blacks. Second, In the movie it showed how the whites hated the blacks and would do what ever they had to. But in the book it showed how the whites treated the their slaves and as most of you know the slaves were blacks.

Before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, segregation in the United States was commonly practiced in the Southern and Border States. This segregation while supposed to be separate but equal, was hardly that. Blacks in the South were discriminated against repeatdly, while laws did nothing to protect the inviduals right. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 riddled the nation of this legal segregation and cleared a path towards equality and integration. The importance of the act, while forever alternation the relationship between blacks and whites, remains one of history’s political battles. In the film, Selma, the three main issues that women and men were advocating for in the Civil Rights Movement were equal education for children, the right to vote, and

Selma is a very moving movie that brings attention to what the civil right era was actually like. This movie stared David Oyelowo, who played Martin Luther King Jr. Selma is about how Martin Luther King Jr. and his campaign to secure equal voting rights for black civilians and the march that got them there.

Together designed by Selma Burke is the piece of artwork that will be analyzed in this paper. This piece of artwork is created to represent a message, but speaks so much more on a deeper level. For example, the piece speaks to deeper level because of the first fact that Selma Burke background began as an artist that spoke for the African American culture. At the time she was advocating for African Americans she also was a practicing artist and teacher.

Angelina Jolie is one of Hollywood's most known actresses. Leading in movies like “Salt” and “Maleficent.” She’s one of Hollywood's highest paid actors. Jolie was born in Los Angeles, California, June 1975. She was always a joyful little girl, she would dress up and play improve while her brother would record her. Meanwhile, she suffered from depression. While living in New York at the time, her parents were separated when she was only 6 months old. Her father being the actress Jon Voight managed to be very wealthy, but he failed to pay child support and saw Jolie and her older brother occasionally leaving their mother in money trouble. She was bullied in school and when they moved back to California she grew to be a rebellious teenager. She was a self-cutter (people who cut themselves to relieve stress between the age of 7 to 24) and started doing drugs. One time she cut herself so deep, she had to be rushed to the hospital. That was sort of wake up call for Jolie. Later in 1986 she dropped out of Highschool to attend Lee Strasberg Theatre and film Institution in West Hollywood, California. There she learned the method of acting, how to feel the emotion of characters by getting in touch with their painful memories. Acting pulled Jolie out of this dark place in her life. She later went back to Highschool where the bullying continued. Jolie says “ I didn't feel clean or pretty” pg.17.