Narrative Analysis Of Trailer In 12 Years A Slave

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Part 2: Narrative Analysis of Trailer 12 Years a Slave is a very iconic movie about Solomon Northrup and his being kidnapped into slavery. Northrup was a free man, a professional violinist, and a farmer. After being drugged, he was shipped away from his family and forced to work in New Orleans. During his slavery, he was forced to pick cotton and endure many hardships for 12 years. Eventually, he was freed and returned to his family. The people who captured and enslaved him served no punishment for their crimes since blacks were not allowed to sue white people at that time. Solomon was stripped of all his rights not only as a human, but also as an American and was illegally put into slavery for 12 years. The first scene starts of with a wide …show more content…

These scenes show the real emotions of Solomon and how he wants to be back with his family. He knows he doesn’t belong here but nobody will listen to him. The scene then goes to a slave auction and shows flashes of African Americans being hit and abused. This montage really helps the audience grow a connection with Solomon and the other African Americans making them feel their pain and give sympathy to the character. This part of the trailer is also crucial because “it helps us understand how knowledge, meanings and values are reproduced and circulated in a society” (Gillespie, 2006, p. 82). It helps uncover the past about slavery and shows what the United States was really like years …show more content…

“A narrative begins with one situation and, through a series of linked transformations, end with a new situation that brings about the end of the narrative” (Gillespie, 2006, p. 81). The trailer for 12 Years a Slave does this. It begins with a Solomon getting captured and forced into slavery. He starts to accept his slavery in the beginning, but then as the trailer goes on, he changes his perspective and starts to regain hope and fight for his freedom. The events that knocked him down in the beginning start to make him stronger and start a fire in his heart that cannot be put out by the slave

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