The film, 12 Years a Slave, is based on a true story and adapted from a book about a free-born black man in New York, Solomon Northup, whose father was an emancipated slave; released by will of its owner. Northup became a musician and was offered a gig, but was drugged and kidnapped by two men. Northup was sold into slavery to several plantation owners in Louisiana during his 12 years as a slave. Northup was eventually rescued by his Northern friends and reunited with his family. The film, 12 Years a Slave, was historically accurate by conveying the immorality of slave owners, it added characters to scenes to include more female voices, however, it left out that Solomon was freed earlier than shown in the film, although it taught lessons about slaves. ' hardships and lifestyle of slavery in the 1800s. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The historical accuracy of the film was brutally honest and was true to Solomon Northup's journey as a slave, showing how cruel and immoral slave owners were. When Northup was sold into slavery, during the scene where Northup is forced to declare that he is a slave, he was asked "Are you a slave?" followed by a brutal whipping. Not only was this likely to happen, but it was justified in the film using the Bible, similarly recounted in the Journal of Black Studies: "Preacher Henry Garnet's argument had transformed physical violence from a cardinal sin to a divinely ordained responsibility." This communicated to plantation owners that it was okay to abuse their slaves and was accepted by God. Many plantation owners believed they were doing a permissible thing and justified a horrible action by believing that it was a religious practice and that punishing slaves was a convention given to them by God. This was very prevalent in the 1800's and was used throughout the film to show how well known the act was and how often it happened to all the slaves who worked on the plantations. The film, 12 Years a Slave, included more characters and voices than you might imagine. The original book said it would chronicle more cases of slave abuse. Originally, Mistress Shaw was not a voiced character, however, in the film, they gave her a voice. In the scene where Mistress Shaw sits Northup and Patsey down to have tea with her, she tells Patsey to take comfort because "the Lord will handle them all", referring to Master Epps' sexual abuse of Patsey. Many women were victims of rape and sexual assault by slave owners. According to a former slave interviewed in 1937, “many black women have children of white men. He knows better than to do what he says," and another respondent said in one case, there was a doctor on the plantation "who bought a girl and installed her on the place for his own use, his wife, feeling this, he beat her severely”. These statements reveal that many women were subjected to abuse by slave owners and their wives and in the film, Mistress Shaw understood what had happened and was trying to comfort Patsey. Many slaves were unable to stand up for themselves or even try to disobey the owner as this would lead to further abuse from them or the Mistresses as they would become jealous. According to Solomon Northup, "nothing delighted the lover so much as to see Patsey suffer, and more than once, when Epps had refused to sell her, Patsey tempted me with bribes to secretly put her to death," which explains the dangers that he ran, the slaves passed. They were caught between arguments and. 2019.