Sunday, December 9, 2007
Amistad (Sorry Matt and James!)
The film I have chosen to write about this week is Steven Spielberg’s Amistad (1997), it is about “an 1839 slave rebellion aboard a Spanish ship that is travelling towards the Northeast coast of America. The majority of the story focuses on the trial that took place after the ship arrived in America.” The website I have selected http://www.uni.uiuc.edu/og/arts-entertainment/2007/12/dvd-review-spielbergs-a discusses quite a personal review of what the writer feels is badly represented within the film. I found the website quite detailed, but briefly in describing the major flaws with the movie in how for example, the creation of the character Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman), was made up to reflect the abolitionists viewpoints of this time, even though there were many actual, real people they could have used. The website is easy to read and doesn’t get too in depth, as it is a DVD review. I think that the main flaw with the film is the negative representation of the Africans which could have been discussed at the beginning rather than at the end of the review as that is a major issue of bad representation. I think that the website offers useful facts and advise upon viewing the film to “not watch “Amistad” as a reliable display of what went on in the trial; instead, watch it cautiously and follow it up with some reading.”
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Howdy folks.
How exciting; this is our last week of blogposting....so make sure you do a good job of it, as this is contributing to 20% of your overall grade for this module!
Task for the week:
Lead poster/s: select any other movie depicting an event in American History and find a website/s or a review which engages with the accuracy of its representation. Comment on the issues raised yourself.
Others – join in the discussion and comment on the film selected.
Have fun and I'll see you on Tuesday for our final small group meeting.
Best wishes,
Devon
How exciting; this is our last week of blogposting....so make sure you do a good job of it, as this is contributing to 20% of your overall grade for this module!
Task for the week:
Lead poster/s: select any other movie depicting an event in American History and find a website/s or a review which engages with the accuracy of its representation. Comment on the issues raised yourself.
Others – join in the discussion and comment on the film selected.
Have fun and I'll see you on Tuesday for our final small group meeting.
Best wishes,
Devon
Monday, December 3, 2007
Slaves
www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia
I thought this website was really interesting, it is laid out really clearly and is not hard to navigate round. I think that this website is good because it doesn't come across as bias towards either slaves or the slave owners. It tells us the history and also gives us insite into a persons life from this era. I found the story about Prince Henry the navigator really interesting. The fact that he never acturally went on an exploration i found very surprising. The idea of the 'River of Gold' is a lovely image and i'm not surprised Henry was keen to kind it. The idea that some people would be taken back to Prince Henry not as slaves but exhibits is really interesting. It makes me think what would have happened to these people after they were presented to Henry. Most probably they became slaves, because i can't imagine they would have been sent back to Africa. I think on a whole this website gives a good idea of what was happening in history during the slave times. I think it is a helpful resourse to understanding more about the Slave Trade.
I thought this website was really interesting, it is laid out really clearly and is not hard to navigate round. I think that this website is good because it doesn't come across as bias towards either slaves or the slave owners. It tells us the history and also gives us insite into a persons life from this era. I found the story about Prince Henry the navigator really interesting. The fact that he never acturally went on an exploration i found very surprising. The idea of the 'River of Gold' is a lovely image and i'm not surprised Henry was keen to kind it. The idea that some people would be taken back to Prince Henry not as slaves but exhibits is really interesting. It makes me think what would have happened to these people after they were presented to Henry. Most probably they became slaves, because i can't imagine they would have been sent back to Africa. I think on a whole this website gives a good idea of what was happening in history during the slave times. I think it is a helpful resourse to understanding more about the Slave Trade.
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