Similarities Between Amistad And The Color Purple

Movies and entertainment outlets speak volumes about the current state of a nation’s culture. Cinematic creations in the United States allow small voices to be heard and controversial issues to be addressed. However, a repetitive and monumental issue continues to be addressed, yet continues to persist in our 21st century culture, racial inequalities. Since the inception of the United States, black men and women alike have been disenfranchised at the hands of the “white man” in America. Instead of continuing the conversation today, the issue is continually silenced referencing the successes and achievements of the Civil Rights Movement in the 20th century. Nonetheless, an unfortunate reality looms upon this great land; racially based systems and structures continue to exist in 2015 the in United States. This paper synthesizes three films focused on racial inequalities in different time periods. Separate but Equal (1991), Selma (2015), and Crash (2005) illustrate how influential the Civil War amendments are, while serving as an uncanny reminder of how the racial prejudices during the 20th century continue to exist in our great nation today. Needless to say our nation has made great strides, but still has a long way to go.

The concept art imitates life is crucial to film directors who express their views on political and social issues in film. In regard to film studies, race is a topic rare in many films. Like America, many films simply refuse to address this topic for various reasons. However, more recently, Jordan Peele’s 2017 box office hit Get Out explicates contemporary race relations in America. In the form of an unconventional comedy horror, Get Out is intricate in its depiction of white liberal attitudes towards African Americans. In short, Get Out suggests a form of covert racism existing in a post- Jim Crow era. Similarly, Eduardo Bonilla- Silva’s book Racism Without Racists acknowledges the contemporary system of racism or “new racism,” a system

• May believe that accomplishment of one goal or activity fulfills obligations to minority communities; may engage in token hiring practices.

     In conclusion, both “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” and “Amistad” are important stories that thoughtfully comment on the slavery issue. “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” points out the harsh conditions on the slave ships. The story of “Amistad”, African slaves and the trials they had to go through highlights the injustice of slavery. As Adams said “The natural state of mankind is instead-and I know this is a

Often in many films that undermine African Americans, they are depicted as thief's, murders, or unintelligent. These images are used to show that African Americans are unlike their white counterparts. According to Friedman, "This formulation undermines the racially and sexually based violence toward African Americans, wiping out the memory of rape, castration, and lynching of slaves that occurred in the past" (Friedman). The development of African American films, or films that truly put African Americans in any type of positive light did not really start to occur until the 1970's or 1980's. Before then films were often negative in spirit. Paula Massood describes the Hollywood depictions of African Americans in the previous era as, "failing to recognize the sociopolitical changes in the American landscape. African American characters most often appeared within a southern setting, largely ignoring the black city space and culture that figured in the lives and the imaginations of a vast majority of African Americans" (Massood). However, in the following years the development and progression of African American films was able to be seen.

Acting white by Stuart buck and race relations light years from earth by mitu sergupta both use a form of racism and classism to express a similar theme to convey their message effectively. Acting white begins with the author explaining how most minorities are discouraged about furthering their education because of negative prejudice remarks from their peers. The conflict at hand was that desegregation introduced inequality in the schools where most of their teachers were white. With this being said their racial backgrounds caused education to be unequal. During this time, whites were viewed as the oppressors, and slave-owners. In everybody’s eyes whites were always superior to the blacks. Looking back at the historical record, the Jim Crow era introduced many cases of racial inequality. This goes to say, the author in Race relations light years from earth explains how deep racial allegation has changed over time. In this passage the author believes that racism is deeper than slavery, it has evolved to our modern day movies such as Avatar. Mitu goes into dept of how whites are more dominant in avatar than the blacks. The movie portrays many ethnic heroic roles defending the Navi. Many believe the navi are African Americans due to their braids and resemblance to color. Some may question the film but Avatar is a racist film. In other words the white messiah came into play when discussing the film. The author’s conflict at hand is that racism has yet to stop in today’s

In this movie the African Americans were treated nicely but in reality they did not feel this way. The masters mistreated their slaves but in the movie they were actually having conversations. There is a scene in the movie where a group of African Americans were shaking hands with the white Americans. The producer of the movie wanted to inform others that the “birth” of America was founded on the basis of equality rather than discrimination. If the producer of the movie did not show how the slaves were mistreated, the people will just see the world in only that point of view; the slaves’ point of view does not exist. Ruling countries oppressed both the undeveloped, barren places and the African Americans. The Birth of the Nation is a perfect example of a form of travel writing; the Americans wanted to inform others about America but this movie was only produced in their perspective. Rather than recording the reality, the produces or writers record history with the input of their own influences.

Whether it be novels, comic books, plays, or even poetry, each has its own way of affecting a person. Reading books create and build upon valuable skills, such as critical thinking and imagination. Reading stories can paint pictures in your mind perfectly in every way you’d like, although it isn’t truly in front of your eyes. Creating movies from books allows people the opportunity to physically see what events act out and can trigger emotions that were not found while merely reading the text. Likewise, movies can alter what truly happens in a story, which could lead to a plot change. The dramatic spanish film, La Novia, is the perfect medium between sticking to the plot and adventuring deeper into the unknown.

The film Amistad traces the journey of the Mende Africans of Sierra Leone from abduction to freedom. United States v. The Amistad, while making its way to the Supreme Court, also ascended tensions between abolitionists and slavery advocates. Politicians and judges involved in the case walked on eggshells to come to a just verdict and prevent the outbreak of civil war. This case emphasized slavery as the Achilles heel of the Union internally and externally and the struggles of upholding the rights of mankind when a threat to it is the institution of slavery.

[2] For films concerning slavery, the role of the filmmaker as educator is substantially heightened. All too often slavery films categorically vilify whites as oppressive forces, polarizing race and stereotyping the white

Movie Comparison Caleb Barnes- The bluest eye is told by Toni Morrison and is about a little 11year old,innocent,African American girl named pecola looking for someone to love, her relationship with her parents is very bad. Her father Cholly grew up rough and was an alcoholic. Pecola’s mother Pauline was very bitter and hated white people and showed no love for her daughter. In the book Pecolas father cholly aslo sexually assaulted her and when she confronted her mother about it she acted like it did not happen and denied it.her family or even her community shows no support because they think she got pregnant by someone else and did not know she was raped.

Another issue in the movie was attitudes. All races have attitudes towards people that are not like their own, whether they are good or bad. Attitudes I believe are connected with experiences. What one experiences with another race can affect the way their attitude is towards them.

This essay is going to be about the movie called Amistad. It is a 10 of December 1997 American film directed by Steven Spielberg which was a very famous Hollywood director, based on a story which happened in 1839 about some Spanish man in a ship called Amistad which had captured many slaves to sell. This history of the movie was made in Connecticut in the coast were a case occurred to save the slaves which had ended up in the united states, it was a hard case, but the case was given to the liberty of the slaves, the case took around four years to be solved.

I feel every person should care about sexism and racism, because these two issues affect everyone. “The Color Purple” is a great film that focuses on the problems African American women faced during the early 1900s. "The Color Purple" provides a disturbing and realistic account into the life of Celie, a poor southern black woman with a sad and abusive past and Sophia, another poor southern black woman with a sad and abusive past.

Over 400 hundred years there has been slavery, racism, and discrimination in America with blacks, and other minorities. A famous man once said “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word” – Martin Luther King Jr (brain quote). The movies ‘Miracle at St. Anna’ directed by Spike Lee, and ’12 Years a Slave’ directed by Steve McQueen both show the struggle African Americans went through during a tough racial period in American history. Even today in Modern society African Americans still deal with racism. Spike