film and fiction Flashcards
Uncle Toms cabin plot
2 slaves have to be sold
uncle tom - taken to Mississippi by boat (where he saves Eva)
- Eva’s father st clare buys tom
- eva dies and tom about to be set free but father dies and tom is sold to legree who beats tom to death
- Shelby arrives to buy tom and witnesses his death so frees all his own slaves in toms memory
meanwhile Eliza’s story
- flees north hoping to gain freedom in Canada and is helped by quakers
who wrote uncle toms cabin and when
harriet Beecher stowe 1852
background to uncle toms cabin
1850 compromise to maintain the balance of free and slave states
new fugitive slave act
- $5 reward for every fugitive released (not taken back by the south)
- $10 for every fugitive sent back to the south
north was furious
this book was written in response to the 1850 compromise
background to harriet beecher stowe
born in conneticut but rejoined family in cincinatti (bordered Kentucky = first hand accounts from runaway slaves)
child of Lyman beecher (re-nowned preacher and anti-slavery)
which newspaper was uncle toms paper serialised in and when
the national era
june 1851-april 1852
selling stat for uncle toms cabin
biggest seller 19th century after the bible
who famously read uncle toms cabin
Lincoln
‘so this is the little lady who started this great war’
negative impact of uncle toms cabin
popularised the stereotype of an ‘uncle tom’ - dutiful long suffering servant
how is uncle tom portrayed
pious Christian slave
middle aged man (but pictures depicted him as older as removes anything sexual with eva)
tom saving eva goes against rape stereotype
toms faith is tested and dies an almost biblical death
religious aspect contradicts the old testament justification for slavery
how is eliza portrayed
heroine
mother losing her child, harry
easy to empathise with
eliza quote
chapter 7
‘if it were your harry, mother, or your willie, that were goin to be torn from you by a brutal trader … how many miles could you make in those, brief few hours, with the darling at your bosom…’
fugitive slave quote
‘now jphn, I don’t know anything about politics, but I can read my bible; and there I see that I must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the desolate; and that bible I mean to follow’
who wrote gone with the wind and when
Margaret Mitchell, 1936
background to gone with the wind
set clayton county and Atlanta, Georgia during American civil war and reconstruction
southern plantation fiction / ‘Anti-tom’ literature
published during the depression and new deal
background to Margaret mitchell
born in Atlanta and grew up with stories of the civil war from her suffragist mother
plot of gone with the wind
1861 - southern belle, scarlett, lives on tara a large plantation in Georgia
several love stories
civil war begins, Yankees capture tara
after civil war scarlett takes charge of rebuilding tara (against high taxation by northerners)
becomes a shrewd business woman
is attacked by a free a/a and his white companions (is avenged by the kk)
scarlett then returns to tara after Rhett leaves her (daughter dies) and is comforted by her childhood nurse mammy)
how many coies of gone with the wind were printed world wide
30 million
outcry from a/a over gone with the wind
criticised
NAACP attempted to boycott the film
Walter White helped with the director Selznik to play down some of the racism in the film
how does gone with the wind portray the institution of slavery
a benevolent institution
pre-emancipation south is beautiful and idyllic, society functions and slaves are happy
chaos by evil northerners during civil war and reconstruction
slavery quote in gone with the wind
chapter 42
‘slaves were neither miserable nor unfortunate. T he negroes were far better off under slavery than they were now under freedom’
names of the two slaves in gone with the wind
mammy and prissy
how is mammy portrayed in gone with the wind
scarletts a/a nurse close motherly relationship with scarlett never given name / own identity content in her position belongs to the white family uneducated
how is prissy portrayed in gone with the wind
domestic slave stupid squeamish a liar hysterical written as comic relief caricature which reinforces slave owners claims a/a need to be slaves as they cant function on their own
who wrote huckleberry finn and when
mark twain 1885
background to huck fin
written 20 years after civil war
Mississippi
set in plantation era
is the sequel to tom sawyer
background to mark twain
lived in Mississippi
family became impoverished on death of hos father
wrote this as an adventure book, not a great somment on civil rights
synopsis of huck fin
huck living with a new family and unhappy about cleanliness church and school - pap kidnaps huck and holds him in a cabin
fakes own deth and escapes
meets jim (slave escaping slavery)
unsure whether to help him
goes through some adventures with jim and become friends
gets caught on the Phelps farm
tom sawyer arrives and big stunt to release jim, fails and jim sacrifices his freedom in staying by injured tom
tom reveals is all a game and jim is free
impact of huck finn - on schools
after Shakespeare most studied book at school
1957 NAACP removed it from the majority of schools including the mark twain intermediate school Virginia
how is jim portrayed in huck fin
at the mercy of white characters
white characters ten to be morally inferior to him
regularly the butt of the jokes and outwitted by whites
portrayed as stupid (eg tom and huck play a trick on jim which they blame on witches and he falls for)
language towards him is derogatory (nigga is used over 200 times)
reinforces racial stereotypes
how huck and his relationship with jim evoloves
at first huck sees socieites rules around slavery as correct but breaks them as has little respect for rules
each adventure brings the two closer
huck begins to form his own view
huck writes a letter to send to miss Watson but tore it up saying ‘all right I’ll go to hell then’
then huck decides to help jim escape slavery
huck undergoes a transformation as he stops accepting social norms and instead follows his own beliefs
twain encourages people to be like huck
can be seen as a metaphor for the civil war
who wrote to kill a mockingbird and when
harper lee, 1960
background to to kill a mockingbird
set in economic depression in the twon of Maycomb Alabama
1954 - brown, 1955-6 - Montgomery bus boycott = published at height of the civil rights campaign
background to harper lee
born Alabama
at college she wrote a series of short stories on racial injustice
plot of to kill a mockingbird
close knit community of Maycomb
atticus finch raising two kids scout and jem
goes to the defence of a/a tom robinson who has been accused of raping and beating a white woman
scout and jem face slurs and discrimination
despite atticus overwhelmingly proving tom innocent the all whote jury finds tom guilty
atticus inadvertently offends bob ewell (typical white trash) who then vows revenge
scout and jem then attacked but are rescued by Arthur boo Radley who kills bob
impact of to kill a mockingbird
staple on school reading lists
the national education association in 1968 placed the novel on a list of receiving the most complaints from private organizations after little black sambo
told through a kids eyes adds innocence and misunderstanding
parallels with scotsborough case
how is segregation and discrimination portrayed in to kill a mockingbird
Maycomb = small town with two different communities living separate lives side by side
typical accusation by a shady white girl of rape against an innocent black man
scout and jem faces discrimination
quote on discrimination in to kill a mockingbird
‘“you aint got no business bringin’ white chillun’ here - they got their church, we got our’n. It is our church, aint it, miss Cal?”’ Zebbo then steps in tells lula she is wrong and scout and jem are welcome
how is tom robinson portrayed in to kill a mocking bird
falsely accused of rape
portrayed as harmless, innocent, intelligent and hardworking
good manners and courtesy come across in the trial
refuses to repeat the foul language bob ewell directs at him
refuses to accuse mayella, a black servant for lying about him in the court case
goes against many racial stereotypes
how is atticus portrayed
the character who breaks the racial divide
knowing full well the all white jury will convict tom he still defends him
in his summing up to the court he powerfully states yes all black people lie and yes they are basically immorl beings but he insists the truth is there has never been a person who has not told a lie and not a man living who hasn’t looked at a woman with desire
white trash
apart from atticus and his kids all whites in the novel are portrayed much more inferiorly to blacks
ewells - white trash, ignorant and full of racial prejudice
who wrote beloved and when
toni Morrison (female + the only a/a on the course) 1987
background to beloved
powerful civil rights laws had been passed but a/a still hadn’t gained social equality
watts riot 1965
Newark riot 1967
watts riot 2 1992
beloved made powerful as its portrayal of race relations reflected what was happening in contemporary America
on a side not cincinatti was where harriet beecher stowe grew up
plot to beloved
two stories run side by side, ‘present day’ 1873 and 1850
paul d visits sethe and they begin to recall their earlier lives as slaves
they try to escape a racist slave owner ‘schoolteacher’ who cathches and rapes sethe
paul ends up in a chain gang in Georgia
sethe is cared for by the only nice white character amy Denver
schoiolteacher comes back to get sethe so shes tries to kill her children as not to let them into slavery but only kills one
in the present the ghost of sethe’s daughter ‘beloved’ appears. she becomes increasingly abusive and sethe goes rapidly downhill.
the book ends with a warning that this is not a story to pass on
impact of beloved
references to the fugitive slave act + cincinati (beecher stowes home town)
2006 in a new York times pol of 200 critics, writers and editors Beloved was named the single best work of American fiction published in the last 25 years
staddles history and fiction
how sethe is portrayed in beloved
slavery has destroyed much of her identity
would prefer her children to be dead then in slavery
who wrote and when the help
Kathryn Stockett, 2009
background of the help
set in Jackson Mississippi 1962-4 during the height of the civil rights movement where geographically there was much civil rights action (Meredith, freedom summer, voting drives)
references to Medgar evers, an NAACP leader assassinated outside her home in Jackson
plot of the help
tells the story of the relationship between the help and their white employers
how skeeter writes a book “the Help’ based on the testimony of 12 slaves in a fiction town of nicetown but is in reality all about the white employers of jackson
impact of the help
too early to say as was written 2009 but was published in first year of Obamas presidency
highlights the separate lives the black and white communities lead
jim crow laws shown
reveals little has changed since 1860s mammy character in gone with the wind (has its own mammy character which the kid loves more than her own mother)
lynchings
harpers weekly
new York based periodical 1857 - 1916
produced heroic depictions of a/a particularly during the civil war and reconstruction periods
eg 54th Massachusetts volunteer infantry
attempted to depict a fictional idyllic life for a/a living in the south
some well known pintings of a/a
Eastman johnsons ‘negro life at the south’ 1859 - brought the artist immediate celebrity + was valuable as captured a time in American life that was altered by the civil war
Anshutz ‘the way they live’ depicted an a/a women tending to a meagre cabbage patch
how many copies of uncle toms cabin in first 3 months
300,000
how many copies of huck finn every year
200,000
how many copies of gone with the wind sold by 1939
2 million
how many copies of to kill a mockingbird worldwide
30milion
how many weeks did the help stay on the new York times bestseller list
100 weeks
brief plot summary of birth of a nation
two halves looking at life in the south during civil war and then reconstruction
heroes are kkk who in the final scene save the day and reunite two couples in the ‘second coming of the prince of peace and his angels in the city of god stand in their approval over the scene’
saving the south and southern belles from the largely evil a/a
date of birth of a nation
1915
impact of birth of a nation
Hollywood sensational film
first full-length silent film
premiered at a grand gala with expensive ticjets
president Woodrow Wilson had a private screening at the whithouse and is said to have enjoyed it
NAACP protested against it
helped with the reforming of KKK
led to the biggest deterioration in race relations in the usa due to a film
date of in the heat of the night
1967
where is in the heat of the night set and why is this significant
Mississippi
during the 60s was centre of the civil rights movement with james Meredith’s attempt to get into old miss and the voting drives / freedom summer
plot of in the heat of the night
murder mystery phillip Colbert is murdered Gillespie is the police chief ends up arresting then working with virgil tibbs eventually solves the murder
significance of in the heat of in the heat of the night
shows Gillespie and mr tibbs gaining respect for each other over the course of the film
mr tibbs is more intelligent + earns more in a week then Gillespie earns in a month
shows different atmospheres in north and south (quote)
when Endicott slapps tibbs for his insolent questioning mr tibbs slaps him back (one of the first times this happened on screen)
name quote in the heat of the night
‘“Well, you’re pretty sure of yourself, ain’t you, Virgil. Virgil, that’s a funny name for a nigger boy to come from Philadelphia. What do they call you up there?” Virgil: “they call me Mister Tibbs.”
when was Mississippi burning
1988
plot of Mississippi burning
based on real events
3 civil right activists who were helping a black registration drive in Mississippi disappeared (2 are white and one is black)
2 white FBI agents investigate
trick KKK into confessing
criticism of Mississippi burning
misleading depiction of the civil rights movement
black characters play a minor role
movie focuses on two FBI agents who in reality took little interest in the civil rights movement
when the film was released coretta scott king criticised the film for ignoring the role of both black and white civil rights activists
when was roots aired on American television
eight evenings in 1977 and seven evenings in 1979
how did American tv tend to deal with a/a in the 50s and 60s with some examples
reinforced stereotypes
often only given supporting roles
‘I spy’ - portrayed a/a a few times as poorly educated, comic actors
‘good times’ - portrayal of teenager JJ as stupid
viewing fact about roots and stat
most widely watched miniseries in US television history
140 million American saw all or part of the two series
story (BRIEF) of roots
traces kunta kinte being captured in west Africa, made slave and his family till present day
why was roots so popular
history of a/a was personalised
many of hollywoods finest whote actors played the roles of racists and slave owners
style led itself to popular discussion - brought a story to life in a way no documentary could ever do
when was Malcom x the film
1992
plot of Malcolm x
plots life of Malcolm X’s early life, conversion to islam, role as a civil rights activist, and assassination
impact of Malcolm x (negatives)
limited as was not really a box office success
came 32nd on the list of top-grossing films of 1992
predominantly black audiences
Ashley clark wrote in the guardian he never thought Hollywood would support a movie as unapologetically supportive of a radical, controversial black figure
impact of Malcolm x positives
a film was made and supported by Hollywood depicting such a radical man
at time of Rodney king murder by police
when was the wire
2002-8
where is the wire set and why is this significant
Baltimore, Maryland
northern town
most set in south
themes of the wire
illegal drug trade seaport system city gov and bureaucracy school system print news media
why was the wire so significant
for the first time of a major cable channel the lives of an urban black underclass were shown in detail - and is shown through their eyes
what did the daily telegraph say about the wire in 2009
arguably the greatest television program ever made
why did the wire not have an impact on race relations
pretty low viewing stats as was on HBO = expensive
plot complexity and language often was easily understood by white audiences
also just like beloved, white audiences didn’t want to be educated on black problems
some themes to consider when analysing film and fiction (6)
education empathy scale stereotypes pro or anti civil rights shock factor
