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Thoughts on 12 Years a Slave

Went to see Steve McQueen's 12 Years A Slave the other day.  Before seeing it, I posted this on social media:

About to see 12 years a slave, which is this movie fan's equivalent of "eating your vegetables". It will no doubt be "good for me" and I might even "enjoy" it. But I'm dubious and generally off-put by the need to do it.

There was a decent amount of discussion on the post.  With some folks being of the "nah, I'm not seeing it" opinion and others saying it was a film that needed to be seen.

Here's my executive summary:

• The movie is excellent, it is a work of art of a very high order.
• If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't see it.  I'm not of the opinion that anyone needs to see this film specifically.

This is the first film of McQueen's that I've seen.  He is a true auteur… he tells a powerful story.  The performances in the film are top notch.  [film geekery] There are some badass long takes, great sound design and other such stuff going on in the film. [end film geekery]

To talk about why I wouldn't see it again, I must first say that I had no plans to see it at all.  It was nothing specific to 12 Years..., I just don't like paying money to feel sad.  Here is a select list of "important" films I've never seen, and have no particular plans to see:

• Schindler's List
• Precious
• The Act of Killing
• The Onion Field
• The Impossible

I'm also not inclined to spend money on any number of Magic and/or Numinous Negro films, such as:

• Shawshank Redemption
• The Green Mile
• The Legend of Bagger Vance
• The Blind Side
• etc.

Not criticizing any of those "important" films, they're just not usually my bag.  There is an implicit critique of the Magic Negro stuff… but that is fodder for a different post ;-)

So, why did I need to see 12 Years?  I made a commitment to see it because a respected actor friend of mine said the film had "changed cinema" and implored me to see it so that we could discuss/argue about it at a later date.  I am a man of my word, if nothing else :-)

As I said above, it is an excellent film.  But in my assessment, it hasn't done anything to foster a more meaningful understanding of slavery than did the TV miniseries Roots 30+ years ago.  I want to stress here that to say 12 Years is as good as Roots in that regard is very high praise in my book.

I've been thinking about what's behind the impulse to believe this or that film "needs to be seen".  As it relates to the subject matter covered by 12 Years A Slave, it doesn't take much insight to see that the core sentiment that's really being expressed is that:

  slavery and its impact need to be truly understood by all Americans

And, seeing films such as 12 Years a slave may be useful steps towards that ultimate goal.    

I wholeheartedly agree that slavery and its impact need to be truly understood, but I'd set up a different syllabus for people interested in a journey towards that understanding.

Cliff's "Journey towards understanding" syllabus

History

• Read:  From Slavery to Freedom (9th Edition), by John Hope Franklin & Evelyn Higginbotham
• Read:  Black Reconstruction, by W.E.B. DuBois
• Watch:  Africans in America: America's Journey though Slavery
• Watch:  Eyes on the prize: America's Civil Rights Movement

Today

• Read: Two Nations: Black and White, Saparate, Hostile, Unequal, by Andrew Hacker
• Read: Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools, by Jonathan Kozol
• Read: Racism without racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America, by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva

I know others might have a different syllabus in mind and I'd welcome those comments.

Dramatizations such as 12 Years, Roots, or what-have-you, while powerful, and possibly useful as a step towards greater understanding, are at their heart entertainments.  As substantive as they might want to be, they are limited by the primary goals of entertaining.

And not to put too fine a point on it, but I'm supremely uninterested in engaging substantively with anyone who hasn't done at least 50% of the homework I enumerate above (or something similar).  In the realm of substance, all seeing 12 Years might do is allow a viewer to say very emphatically and with heartfelt emotion, that slavery sucked.  To which my reply would be: "Why yes.  Yes it did."