Historical And Theoretical Contexts In 12 Years A Slave
Historical Context
“12 years a slave” (2013), directed by Steve McQueen, is the explicit history of slavery in general and of Solomon Northup in particular. In 1841, Solomon Northup was abducted and sold into slavery in the United States. He remained a slave for twelve years. The system of slavery was established in the Western world due to the rising demand for corps. At that time, human beings were used as goods of trade for raw materials between the Western continents. Most of the slaves came from European colonies in Africa where they would be kidnapped and sent through ships to Western countries for trade. When sold, slaves would be the property of his owner and treated by the owner the way he wanted. Most of the time, slaves would be punished, beaten, and even killed.
However, this type of slavery was different in some ways from the type of slavery practiced in North America: North America slaves were always black. The contextual history of Solomon Northup highlights this type of slavery. In the Northern colonies, slaves were used in urban works and in families. On the other hand, in Southern colonies slaves were used for plantation. Slaves in the Southern colonies endured unimaginable pain, tyranny, and beatings. The film highlight those historical moments.
The film highlights the enslaved people having ‘trees of scars’ on their backs due to the brutal whipping by the hands of their masters. The film witnesses horrific circumstances under which enslaved men and women got those trees of scars. For example, in one incident Solomon was forced at gunpoint by his master, Edwin Epps, to whip a female slave, Patsey, until she couldn’t take it anymore. Her biggest crime was that she left the plantation field in search of soap to clean herself.
One of the interesting historical contexts of the film is that it presents a short history of the beginning and end of slavery as a system of domination. For instance, Solomon is a free man who is living a luxurious life in New York. He is tricked and drugged and then sold into slavery. He is taken on a boat along with other slaves. From here on his life of misery begins. He is sold from one owner to another like a property. Eventually, he is freed from slavery and returns to a life that is worth living. Contextually, this is the story of many slaves; however, most of whom may not have seen freedom. Nonetheless, the history of slavery is just like that. In the colonial period, slaves were kidnapped from Africa and transported through ships to the West. The American Revolution inspired people to fight for the rights of slaves. Finally, in 1865 slavery was abolished in America.
Theoretical Context
The theoretical contexts in which “12 years a slave” can be explained are the concepts of racism, racial discrimination, and social stratification. The belief in the superiority of one race over another has always resulted in violence, desire for power, and war. People are different from one another. Their social background is shaped by factors like religion, ethnicity, race, culture, and economy. These differences sometimes result in conflict and one race dominating the other race. The concept of slavery found its basis in racism due to such circumstances. The film “12 years a slave” presents a number of instances in which these theoretical concepts were presented.
One of the main theoretical contexts of this film is the highlighting of the type of slavery practiced in South America in the nineteenth century: sexism. McQueen shows that slavery is about the owner’s domination over the body of his slave. Enslaved women often endured sexual assault by the hands of their male masters. The film highlights such treatment of enslaved women. For example, the owner of Solomon, Edwin Epps, on the one hand, rapes his slave Patsey, and on the other hand, enjoys whipping her. This shows the social environment that existed in Southern America before slavery was abolished in 1865. Moreover, the film also highlights social jealousy that exists among human beings. Edwin Epps’ wife Mistress Epps is jealous of Patsey. She cannot hide her anger towards her. She blames the victim for her husband’s behavior. These instances give a meaningful understanding of the past horrors and tell people how victimization or violence against slaves was rationalized.
Moreover, the film explicitly portrays the racial discrimination that exists even in the contemporary world. In a scene, Edwin Epps discusses the matter of slavery with Bass and offers a drink as a respite from the heat under which Bass was working for Edwin Epps as white labor. The tone of Epps is very friendly and sympathetic towards Bass. Bass denies the offer and continues to finish the job he is paid for. However, this scene clearly shows the racial discrimination that existed during that time. Bass and other black people are relatively having the same occupations and, to be exact, working for the same person but the discrimination between them can be easily understood.
In addition, racial discrimination in a society often leads to social stratification. In such a society, the dominant race or group has access to power, resources and social position. Although slavery is also a type of social stratification, the film portrays scenes in which Solomon is not a slave and yet does not have access to social justice. First, Solomon is a free man but he cannot prove it without documents. Second, after the film finishes a script displays that Solomon sued Hamilton and Brown, the people who drugged him and sold him to slavery. However, he lost the case and could not receive justice. Moreover, there are many instances in which it can be seen that although slaves work day and night for their masters they are not given enough food or wages for their labor. Thus, the film gives a lot of insights into the understanding of the concept of racism and its historical development and what it means to be African American in the United States in the contemporary world.
Adaptation
“12 years a slave” has been adapted from the book “Twelve years a slave” narrated by Solomon Northup (1853). The screenplay of the film is written by John Ridley. The film connects the percepts of visual images and the concepts of mental images. It shows as well as tells the narration of Solomon Northup. It resurfaces respect for the literary work of Solomon. Since the nineteenth century, film and novels have been the most popular modes of narrating the events. McQueen’s this masterpiece has adapted some of the instances, characters, and script from the original but has pivoted from the original book on a number of occasions which is understandable because it would be impossible to include all the material from the book. However, one of the most important things about the film is that it remained loyal to the book in a contextual sense.
In the adaptation of a literary work, one of the most important elements is the degree of loyalty the adapted work portrays to the original work. While analyzing the film’s loyalty to the original text the following similarities and differences between the book and the film are worth mentioning. In the film, Northup had two kids but in the book, it has been stated that he had three kids. Second, in the film, Northup explains to his first master Ford that he was a free man, but Ford, although kind to slaves, states that he cannot hear this. But in the book Northup explains that he never revealed to Ford that he was a free man. Moreover, in the film, Ford gives a violin to Northup, but in the book, there is no mention of how Northup got the violin. On the other hand, the film tries to create a logical historical flow of events just like narrated by Northup.
Nonetheless, the film has shown considerable loyalty to the original book. The director, instead of changing the original narrative, has just condensed and simplified it in order to fit it into a film. Most of the scenes played are identical to those presented in the book. For instance, the violent nature of owners and their tyranny against their slaves has been honestly predicted in the film.
Undoubtedly, the film gives an image of a modern interpretation of more than 150 years old document. The adaptation of Northup’s narration also elaborates on the notion that many literary works have been long forgotten. The memoir of Northup offers the same instances. For instance, McQueen states that he himself had no knowledge of the existence of Northup’s memoir before 2009. In 2014, McQueen said that he hoped that his film would draw attention to this important book of courage. The film received the Academic Award for Best Motion Picture of the year, and the overall response to the film was very impressive. Such a positive reception of the film is the reflection on the portrayal of slavery which was originally sustained by Solomon Northup.
Works Cited
Bensaid, Hakim and Belmeliani Mohamed. Slave Narratives as part of the American Literary Canon; 12 Years a Slave from the Book to the Movie. 2016. University of Tlemcen, Algeria, Master’s Degree thesis.
Brody, Richard. “Should a Film Try to Depict Slavery?” The New Yorker, https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/should-a-film-try-to-depict-slavery
Gates, Henry Louis, and Steve McQueen. “12 Years a Slave.” Transition, no. 114, 2014, pp. 185–196. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/transition.114.185.
Larsen, Mikkel Hill, Nynne Malou Jessen, and Pelle Imlau-Jeppesen. Twelve Years a Slave: A study in Racial Discrimination in the U.S through a Thematic Reading of Selected Works by African-Americans. 2015. Roskilde University, Module Project.
