“12 Years a Slave”: An Analysis of the Film

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The 2013 film 12 Years a Slave proved that slavery is a worldwide issue. Indeed, the film made $150 million outside the United States and $57 million in the U.S., with a production budget of $20 million (Sharf, 2020). The movie was based on the memoir Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup (Ntim, 2020). It tells the story of a free African American man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Solomon spent twelve years away from his family, being traded from one master to another. Fortunately, the protagonist met a person who helped him deliver a message to his family and friends, who came and rescued him. This movie accurately illustrates discriminatory relationships between white slaveholders and black slaves that stemmed from the dysfunctional system in the country and prejudices in people’s mindsets at that time.

The two main ethnic groups presented in this film are White and African Americans, and the three social groups are affluent slaveholders, working for middle class, and enslaved people. The movie starts with the story of a free African American violinist Solomon Northup, living with his family in Saratoga, New York (McQueen, 2013). However, he was abducted by two white men, who tortured the man and sold him into slavery, changing his name to Plat. Before they met, Solomon and these two slave traders belonged to the same middle class. However, the fact that Northup was an African American made these individuals believe that they had the right to withdraw their freedom. The two masters that Solomon had were William Ford and Edwin Epps (McQueen, 2013). The former was kind and religious, while the latter was cruel and sadistic. Since the movie was based on a real story, it indicated that slaveholders had different characters, but all had the wrong perception of race.

Although 12 Years a Slave is a film about slavery, the issues of collectivism and individualism are also raised. Specifically, the main character never identified himself as an enslaved man and continued claiming he was a free citizen (McQueen, 2013). However, his counterparts on the plant had a collective mindset, imprinted in them since childhood, that slavery is normal. These people helped each other because they belonged to the same group. Although Solomon tried to become a part of this community, his individual goal to return home was above the collective values.

The movie also showed prejudice, generalizations, stereotyping, and discrimination against black people. For instance, when Ford brings Solomon and Elisa to his plantation, his wife expresses her sadness that Elisa got separated from her children. However, she also stated that “something to eat and some rest” could help that woman forget her children (McQueen, 2013, 32:47-32:51). This scene demonstrated the common prejudice about slaves that they were not capable of the same feelings as white people. An example of generalization and stereotyping was how Tibeats, a carpenter, became hostile to Solomon when he showed his intelligence and gave Ford advice. In fact, Tibeats believed that Plat would never be more competent than any white individual because Plat was a “nigger” (McQueen, 2013, 36:35-36:37). Notably, before Northup became enslaved, he never experienced discrimination, but when the main character was sold into slavery, discrimination was the only attitude that he could observe.

In summary, 12 Years a Slave depicts the life of enslaved people and slave owners almost two centuries ago. The film narrates a free black man’s life from the moment when he enjoyed his family’s company in the state of New York to his abduction, enslavement, and eventual liberation. Overall, the movie raised such critical issues as discrimination, prejudice, stereotyping, and generalization that allowed slaveholders to maintain this societal structure for a long time.