Film response for "The Thirteenth". History Essay

Film Response for “The Thirteenth”
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Film Response for “The Thirteenth”
There is one tough problem facing American society as a whole and the society has refused to accept that it exists amongst them is the fact that the black have always been and will always be excluded from the “white American humanity” as they call it. Despite the fact that some Americans may argue that the 13th amendment left an impression that is encouraging and hard to forget with regards to the racial fabric of the society, this has proved to be just a historical and prevalent notion since the problem still remains.
These amendments only show the world what kind of struggle that the black population goes through in their fight for fair treatment in American society. For this reason, Ava DuVernay’s documentary, 13th, serves to echo the reality of the 13thamendment in the history of the American society and to accent the fact that slavery is still an exigent problem. This paper, therefore, reveals some of the facts illustrated in the documentary through the use of storytelling by DuVernay’s.
This documentary by the use of storytelling clearly leans on one side and does not give a chance to criticize both sides of the aisle. In cases such as Ronald Reagan’s “War on Drugs” and Bill Clinton’s “Three-strike” policy, there is an opportunity passed to us to criticize both sides of the aisle unlike in “The Thirteenth” documentary. According to "Ava DuVernay's Documentary: 13th, an Analysis," 2017Ronald Reagan’s and Bill Clinton’s policies, each ones movement was thoroughly analyzed and discussed thereby giving room for the people to have new and different perspectives on each one of them. “The Thirteenth” documentary on its own leans on one side and therefore giving the public one perspective that this problem is neither political nor ideological, but was, and still is a human issue (Sang & Xu, 2010). There is a need to call for a prompt action to demand for change. This change can be in various ways, for instance: through the legal system, lobbying politicians and also being more cautious of beliefs that lack basis that may be inherent.
There are numerous ties of the film to modern day life, making the message more relevant. This documentary dates back to history covering the Civil War drama that took place in the year 1915 while focusing on how the black people were portrayed by the American society. The documentary closes with the broadcast of some nine short videos one after the other all showing the death of a black man in the hands of the police. This exposes the reality that many Americans run from- the fact that they vehemently oppose the inclusion of black people into humanity (Geragos, 2006).
By the help of storytelling in “The Thirteenth”documentary there is evidence of a tradition of slavery not forgetting the 13th amendment. In the doc...