Slavery By Another Name Movie Analysis Essay Example

After watching the documentary “Slavery By Another Name,” I can confidently say that I would do it again since it exposes the U.S’ untasteful history by showing how White Southerners went against the thirteenth amendment and how Blacks were continuously put through unexistent debts. The thirteenth amendment’s job was to ban the concept of slavery away, but it was merely seen as a small roadblock for White Southerners. There were multiple occurrences as to how the amendment was avoided, such as the convict system and the group of chain gangs, both of which I learned of as I watched this documentary. The motive behind the ignorance was also exposed as they did it because the South was still not financially dependent on things other than slavery. As far as I can see it, our country puts all importance on these amendments as if they could never be avoided, but here we have the history of  White southerners doing exactly that. It should never have been that easy for White southerners to turn a blind eye to and continue owning slaves just because they do not explicitly call them slaves. The documentary also exposes the continuous debt that White Southerners have imposed on Blacks to force them to work under them. In my opinion, it was just another way to exploit the labor of Blacks. The documentary also discussed how the concept of debt was tied in with fear. From what I understand, debt must have been a new financial concept for many Blacks, and the unknown causes a lot of fear. The fear was then exploited and reused nearly infinitely. All in all, the ignorance of the thirteenth amendment and the continuous debt that Blacks were put through were both historical events that I didn't know existed before watching this documentary; as such it appropriately exposes those concepts to the viewers.

The documentary “Slavery By Another Name,” is most definitely a presentation that is worth watching because it does not sugarcoat the past by showing necessary explicit visuals and retelling necessary explicit stories of Black victims. Most documentaries avoid explicit images as they do not want to disturb the audience, but I think that they are vital in getting the information across. The explicit visuals are necessary in showing how gruesome those times were, and the documentary appropriately keeps a fine line between what is shown and the overly horrific things. They showed the conditions that Blacks were put through, such as the mines and barracks, while also getting as explicit as showing hanged Black victims respectfully. The stories of the Black victims were also unique ones that I have never heard of. I’m glad that they did not use the same stories in other documentaries. Ezekiel Archey and Green Cottenham are just two of the new Black experiences that were retold in the documentary that were both new to me. Explicit stories are also unique and ended up grabbing my attention more as they were mostly ones that I had not heard before the documentary. These new stories open your eyes as to how bad the treatment of Blacks was beyond the surface level. In the end, the use of explicit visuals and stories are things that make the essence of a documentary more serious, and this documentary properly does it.