The film Glory depicts the action of the Massachusetts 54th and all the black regiment and their role in the war. The Massachusetts 54th was created by Governor Andrews and was helped by Frederick Douglas. This film tells us the story about the regiment from the beginning of their training until their actual participation in the battle. The civil war was a memorable event for many people especially African Americans. In Glory we watch as these men are forced into slavery and the torturous training they were put through to become soldiers for their country. The film talks about many inspirational leaders and their part in the Civil War. The Massachusetts 54th Regiment was the first regular army regiment of black soldiers appointed in the Civil War trying to fight to gain freedom.
Glory helps give us an understanding of the importance of the Massachusetts 54th. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw was placed in a tough position during this film because the decisions he had to make were depicting his friendships that he would lose of gain. The Massachusetts 54th units were mostly made up of former slaves. Throughout the movie, Shaw reminds us of the injustice in America during the Civil War period. Before he left from Boston, Shaw married Anna Kneeland Haggerty. With her he had no family because his duties called. Governor Andrews, a strong abolitionist was the one who commissioned Colonel Shaw in 1863 to command and instruct the Massachusetts 54th.. The reenactors in this prodigious Civil War movie show tremendous amounts of strength and authenticity. Shaw’s great pride and respect towards his country is shown until the very end of the movie where he is shot in the chest three times and dies at Fort Wagner. When Colonel Shaw had pass...
... middle of paper ...
...he movie is deep into getting the point across in the discrimination between the black soldiers and the white commanders, it addresses the audience with the issue that everyone was going through. At the end of the day, the Massachusetts 54th wanted to win the war white or black, friends or not. The audience gets a look into a reenactment of the Civil war and the look at how difficult it was to train the black soldiers. They also get to see their dedication and how these African American men wanted in any way to serve their country.
Despite the few inadequacies in the film, Glory is a wonderful film depicting the personal experiences of the colored troops and the fight to abolish slavery between the North and the South. This film tells us the story about the regiment from the beginning of their training until their actual participation in the battle.
McPherson’s primary goal in writing this book is to hit three main points: “Initial motivation, sustaining motivation and combat motivation” . Initial motivation “consists of reasons why men enlisted” the next point deals with “factors that kept them in the army and kept the army in existence over time” ; the last point “focuses on what nerved them to face extreme danger in battle” . All of these points are related, to an extent. They all come together to form the foundation of why men fought in the Civil War. McPherson then goes onto finding support for his three points which builds up upon his foundation which in turn, creates this book.
Black soldiers were among the bravest of those fighting in the Civil War. Both free Blacks in the Union army and escaped slaves from the South rushed to fight for their freedom and they fought with distinction in many major Civil War battles. Many whites thought Blacks could not be soldiers. They were slaves. They were inferior. Many thought that if Blacks could fight in the war it would make them equal to whites and prove the theory of slavery was wrong. Even though Black soldiers had to face much discrimination during the Civil War, they were willing to fight to the death for their freedom. In the movie “Glory“ the director focused on the African Americans in the north that fought in the 54th regiment led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. During the time of the Civil War, the African Americans that fought in the 54th regiment were often treated unfairly but there were always nice people that backed them up.
In the movie Col. Robert Shaw, a union army officer, volunteer to lead the Civil War first all-black regiment. However, his task was not easy. He experienced prejudices of both his own Union army and the Confederates. Even with little support from his fellow peers, Shaw was able to train a regiment into a well discipline and cohesive team. Later on in the film, Shaw discovered that his regiment was not allowed to fight for their liberties, but later on in the movie, they were allowed to fight.
I think the movie Glory was well down for the most part and A must watch for anyone interesting in the 54th Massachusetts regiment because the movie gives a good look of what it was like for the African Americans to train in the 54th Massachusetts regiment and fight in the Civil war. I liked the movie and took away a sense of what it was like in the time period. Watching the movie also gave me more of an appreciation for the 54th Massachusetts regiment, even more than I would have of just by reading about them. This has to do with the great directing by Edward
My book “Robert Gould Shaw and the Black 54th Massachusetts regiment” was a great resource to learn more about the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, one of the first official African-American military units of the nation during the Civil War . Often referred as the “swamp angels”, the regiment was created in 1863 by John Albion Andrew, governor of Massachusetts at the time. Led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the unit fought for political freedom, social freedom, and equality of all citizen, including colored people. This text is great because it tells the story of the regiment through the lens of the unit’s leader, Robert Gould Shaw. The book is basically a biography of Robert Gould Shaw. Shaw was born in October 10, 1837, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. He was given birth as a white child and more importantly, wealthy-thus having a lot of privileges at the time.
In “Glory” there are very different meanings to all the unique characters. Matthew Broderick, who plays Colonel Shaw, has many different meanings behind his character. The opening scene when he is lying on the battlefield he is feeling like he is in a living hell. When he is awakened the next morning, the first thing he sees is the sun. The sun looks like a narrow path of light, maybe resembling new life. Colonel Shaw, believing he was in a living hell, was awakened by a new heaven. Shaw, believing that he should of also died for his country, takes the responsibility of leading the first black regime and going back to the living hell for where he once was. Denzel Washington plays the next character, Private Trip. Trip is the rebel of the crew and talks like he has been through everything. Throughout the film, Zwick emphasizes Trip’s feet, which are badly scared, bruised, and cut. The bruised feet symbolize the journey that he has gone through since the age of twelve when he first ran away from home. This is very deep because since the age of twelve he has been on his own and there had to be bigger battles to fight than the war he was in getting himself into at the time. The feet also symbolize all the training that the troops are doing and they are not being rewarded with proper attire such as uniforms. The third main character is Sergeant Major John Rawlins played by Morgan Freeman. He at first is part of the regime and then is appointed Sergeant. He is the i...
The movie Glory covers the history of the 54th Regiment that fought on the Union’s side during the Civil War. The regiment is made entirely of African-American soldiers along with a white commander. The movie shows the experience the soldiers must go through as they prepare for the Civil War. We
The reason for this movie was first, to make money, as every Hollywood movie does. However, this movie is a tribute to the 54th and serves as a memorial of the regiment and the bravery each soldier showed to join and fight. Even though the regiment had no large significant battle in the war, it impacted the views of the Blacks and Whites. They influenced blacks to step up and become part of the war, and whites to understanding that blacks could do the same thing as whites. The effecting of that
In the movie ‘Glory’, Pvt Trip joined the 54th-regiment in 1862 led by Col. Robert Gould Shaw. He was seen to be hot-headed, rebellious, but at the same time he’s also strong-willed. Pvt. Trip often gives bad treatment to other African-American soldiers, especially Cpl. Thomas Searles. Trip always criticizes Searles for being a freeman, teasing Searles as “snowflake” because of Thomas’ ‘white-upper class’ actions. Later in the movie, Trip was exposed to be a runaway slave because of his scars on his back. This leads to Trip’s reason why he joined the war. Just like what he told to Shaw when he refused to hold the flag, he is not fighting for Shaw; he has his own reasons to fight the war, which is to kill white people because he suffered being
These were all interconnected because soldiers not only represented the regiment they were a part of, but also represented the states and nation in which they came from. However, this does not mean that blame was placed on one person or state, the soldiers shared blame with their entire regiment. Therefore, when rivalries began between the regiments over their pride, even soldiers who were not cowardice in the slightest were accused of being so. Fortunately, this did help create a sense of unity in the regiments as well as influence improvement and reenlistment. Soldiers wanted to stay with their regiments to protect their honor. A majority of soldiers thought their regiments were so important that they not only would be willing to die for their regiment, but for their regiment’s colors. A regiment’s colors were thought as sacred because they symbolized the pride and honor of the regiment, for which many were willing to die for. By adding this fact in his point, McPherson explains the importance of the American flag, even in present time, and where our traditions surrounding it originated from. Nonetheless, McPherson does not explain the legal terms surrounding soldiers enlisting. Soldier in the Civil war were legally bound to enlist due to the draft Lincoln issued
While watching Glory, there were plenty of myths and scenes that were not portrayed accurately. For example, the film displayed the unit full of fugitive slaves when in actuality, most of the unit was comprised of free men from Massachusetts. According to (insert web link here), “John A. Andrew only wanted to recruit free Black men because he felt that they wouldn’t be easily intimidated or as submissive as enslaved Blacks would be.” Furthermore, the film only portrayed one of the men as educated when a majority of the men of the unit were highly educated and actually much more literate than the Confederate men. Moreover, the dates in the film were not as accurate as the actual events. The film displays the training of the regiment in 1863
The film, Paths of Glory directed by Stanley Kubrick, is a 1950s war drama highlighting the immense absurdity of the First World War. The use of vivid images of corpses, trenches, and inept leadership, prove to be one of the best portrayals of the actual war. During the First World War, ordinary soldiers and officers fought bravely in the face of the enemy, but inept leadership from the top brass proved deadly and incredibly deficient of any real concern for human life. Paths of Glory, follows a French General named Mireau, his subordinate Colonel Dax, the ensuing attack on a German defense, and the court marshal that followed. The film, in black and white, portrays dialogue between the characters in a Shakespearian manner. Decisions that were
Blacks have always been a part of building up this country and it amazed me at how it took World Wars, and Cold war’s to call America on its hypocritical acts. America was going to wars with Communist countries defending their beliefs of fascism but was racist toward the very people that lived in this country. I believe that the film accomplished its goal with giving the black soldiers a positive spotlight. African American troops and civilians have worked hard and dealt with brutal discrimination and deserved to be recognized for their heroic achievements. We are far more capable of being strong, and having the same intellect as any other race. And I was very proud to see blacks being represented as something more than America’s
At the beginning of the battle, the boys are moved into a room where a nude woman is dancing. The “gentlemen” yell at the boys for looking lust faced and hiding their faces from the woman. The men they are showing them all of the benefits of being white skinned could bring, and then telling them that they will never be good enough for it since they were African American. Next they must, play the game, the battle royal. The boys are blindfolded and then they brutally beat one another. This could represent the daily struggle that the African Americans’ fight for equality for the opportunity they see. It stands for the struggle they must endure and will continue to endure. Also what it takes to be accepted as equal persons as our country’s caucasian population after the slavery abolishment. In our ignorance our country’s African American communities battled blindly not knowing what for exactly as the boys fighting in Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal”. The battle is directly represents the extreme cruel style of fighting of 10 boys in a ring having been watched by whites in high social
The movie “Glory” tells the history and the story of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. It became the first black regiment to fight for the North in the Civil War. The Regiment was made up of black soldiers – some were Northern freemen, some were escaped slaves. The leader was General Robert Gould Shaw, the son of Boston abolitionists. The men of the 54th Regiment proved themselves worthy of the freedom for which they fighting, and the respect of their fellow white soldiers.