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Survival and Fight for Freedom in the Films Selma and 12 Years a Slave

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According to films such as Selma and 12 Years a Slave, humans of color biggest objective seem to be survival and fighting for freedom. This is their daily motivation and what makes them survive each day. Hope of one day being able to escape and receive privilege. These humans are very persistent. Martin Luther King continuously took action and fought for equality while Solomon Northup was determined to get his old life back as a free man. Solomon understood that cooperation was the best way to survive. As a slave, you have to do what you are told in order to maintain safety.

Religion appeared to have given King the strength he needed through his voyage as he often prayed in tough situations and used religion in order to prove many of his objectives. There are humans out there who care about doing what is right. The carpenter who worked with Solomon showed much concern about his freedom and the treatment he was facing. He wanted to live by what was morally right and showed nothing but good intentions. Melancholia shows how individuals deal with traumatic situations. In the second half of the movie it is clear that the planets are coming closer together and the earth is going to end very soon.

One of the characters, Justine is going through lots of issues and seems to not care about the ending of the world. From my perspective she seems to be sunk deeply into depression and therefore wants to die. This must be ideal for humans whom aren’t happy with their life. If they can’t solve their problems they just go off the deep end. I also notice that humans seem to have much sympathy and worry regarding children. Justine clearly is too sad with life to care about death but she does show concern for her sister’s son Leo as they both worry about what will happen to him and contemplate on the idea of him not being able to grow up. Many human beings struggle with the trait of fear. Claire’s husband John shows that he is quite the coward by taking a bunch of pills to kill himself. He pretended to act brave and told his wife she had nothing to worry about but then makes the decision to commit suicide.

Perks of Being a Wallflower brought me to realization that humans have quite the desire of wanting to fit in and feel accompanied. Since the main character Charlie struggles so much with fitting in he instead watches others socialize from a distance. After finally finding his own group of friends and fitting in he felt very content and happy. When Charlie ended up losing his friends for a brief moment he felt empty and extremely sad. To make his situation even rougher, he isn’t shown any attention or love at home either. I notice that most humans don’t enjoy the idea of being alone. It seems that Charlie suffered from depression and anxiety so I assume that the reason he wanted to feel like he belonged was because he wanted to avoid being forced to confront his own thoughts.

Whether you are ready for it or not, a test of bravery is something every human will come across and this was well presented in the Wiz. Dorothy was not yet ready to take a journey on her own but she still managed to do it because she understood this was the only way she would be led back home. Believing in oneself is one of the strongest traits that humans possess. Dorothy was reminded by the good witch to do so plenty of times throughout her journey. It was quite ironic that she was able to share this special information with the scarecrow but struggled to take this advice for herself. The film also brought me to realization that family is important and seems to be the biggest motivation for some humans. Dorothy quickly grasped the idea that there is truly no place like home. Home is where her heart truly belonged and she wanted to desperately get back there.

Mulan is another film that emphasized the importance of family. Mulan made a huge sacrifice for her family by pretending to be a young man so she could replace her father in the war. Her love and passion for her father is what motivated her while she was at training camp for the war. It was extremely tough on her and she almost failed during the process but somehow found the will to make it through. The film helped me to understand that gender equality must be the number one thing that angers women in the world. She seemed to have faced quite a bit of discrimination and less value as a human being all because she was a woman. It is quite fascinating that she was treated this way because she eventually proved to everyone that a woman is capable of doing many things that a man is able to do.

The two prisoners in the film the Shawshank Redemption were very thoughtful of the life they once had and realized there were many simple, everyday activities that they took for granted. These humans truly care about living a life of meaning because despite being imprisoned, Andy Dufresne finds it within himself to attain hope as well as keep a high spirit. An observation I made was that humans understand time cannot be spent being sad and worried, but instead they have to keep fighting when they are faced with difficult situations. When put in life situations that have a cautious affect on them, they understand that strategy is important in order to make it. While in prison, Andy stayed focused on things that were intriguing to him like carving and building which turned out to have a positive impact on him in the long run.

Why We Fight suggests that humans are all about revenge and if a person does something to upset them that’s exactly what will happen. The United States is all about attacking others countries that attack them which is going to remain a repetitive cycle. This act seems to be done out of anger. With the brutality involved in war, it leaves many humans frightened about what could potentially happen to one of their loved ones or they become so angry they want to hurt the ones who caused harm to the ones they loved.

Brother’s Keeper shows that humans tend to have much compassion when it comes to other human beings who face disabilities. This film greatly proved so when a brother was portrayed as victim for killing his younger brother. Whether it was true or not people were going to show remorse for Delbert, the victim, because he was struggled with a disability and couldn’t understand and handle everyday tasks the way an average person would. Justice seems to be an important characteristic to humans. The idea that Delbert could have possibly been having sexual relations with his brother and that caused his death was an important issue. For this reason, he was put on trial for his potential actions.

After viewing each of these films it is clear that virtually all humans have a desire to live a life of fulfillment and purpose. They have an instinct to want to protect themselves from all dangerous and life threatening situations although it isn’t always possible to do so. Humans will have to adjust to the reality that life is unjust and will always have moments of both sorrow and joy.

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Survival and Fight for Freedom in the Films Selma and 12 Years a Slave. (2022, Dec 07). Retrieved from https://samploon.com/survival-and-fight-for-freedom-in-the-films-selma-and-12-years-a-slave/

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