While there is much to praise in film, omissions from Northup's original memoir miss opportunity to break Hollywood mould
The legendary African-American historian John Hope Franklin used to say that black resistance in stories of enslavement tended to be erased in favour of the narratives of domination and degradation. Yet scholars tell us that while there was often acquiescence under the inhumane conditions of American slavery, there was also always resistance.
Take Harriet Tubman, who was born into slavery but deliberately escaped – and went on to help many more people to freedom. "There are two things I've got a right to and these are death or liberty … one or the other I mean to have," Tubman said. "No one will ever take me back alive; I shall fight for my liberty."
But this resistence is almost entirely missing from Steve McQueen's film 12 Years A Slave, which opens in the UK today.
The legendary African-American historian John Hope Franklin used to say that black resistance in stories of enslavement tended to be erased in favour of the narratives of domination and degradation. Yet scholars tell us that while there was often acquiescence under the inhumane conditions of American slavery, there was also always resistance.
Take Harriet Tubman, who was born into slavery but deliberately escaped – and went on to help many more people to freedom. "There are two things I've got a right to and these are death or liberty … one or the other I mean to have," Tubman said. "No one will ever take me back alive; I shall fight for my liberty."
But this resistence is almost entirely missing from Steve McQueen's film 12 Years A Slave, which opens in the UK today.
- 1/10/2014
- The Guardian - Film News
Everett
Whenever I lecture on the science of attention, I hear the same litany of fears from parents and grandparents worried about the distracted state of those born after 1990. Pundits have made an industry of telling us how the Internet has made youth distracted, how their switched-on life is destroying their brain.
Nonsense. There is no convincing experimental evidence that the act of texting or surfing the Internet hurts young people, not on a neurological level or even a behavioral one.
Whenever I lecture on the science of attention, I hear the same litany of fears from parents and grandparents worried about the distracted state of those born after 1990. Pundits have made an industry of telling us how the Internet has made youth distracted, how their switched-on life is destroying their brain.
Nonsense. There is no convincing experimental evidence that the act of texting or surfing the Internet hurts young people, not on a neurological level or even a behavioral one.
- 10/11/2011
- by Cathy N. Davidson
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Everett
It’s the oldest trick in the book: If you have a boring task, make it seem like fun. Maybe others will pitch in. You might even start enjoying yourself. Remember Tom Sawyer living it up while whitewashing the picket fence? The best teachers I encountered while researching “Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn” captivated their students’ attention by providing interactive and collaborative challenges with clear rewards.
It’s the oldest trick in the book: If you have a boring task, make it seem like fun. Maybe others will pitch in. You might even start enjoying yourself. Remember Tom Sawyer living it up while whitewashing the picket fence? The best teachers I encountered while researching “Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn” captivated their students’ attention by providing interactive and collaborative challenges with clear rewards.
- 8/15/2011
- by Cathy N. Davidson
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Since I know I’ll be one of the few people who have actually seen this film, which is getting a small, very limited theatrical release before it’ll eventually come out on DVD, I thought I would at least say a few things about it. So I know that we all have had the experience when someone asks you your opinion about about a recent film and you say: “Yeah…well it was O.K. you know….I mean it’s wasn’t bad but it was….you know….you know….you know…..ah…. It’s all right I guess“ Well that’s how I felt about Blood Done Sign My Name. No bad, not awful, but a perfectly mediocre, tepid movie. It doesn’t stand out in any way, but sort of plods along with no real dramatic tension or drive whatsoever. The kind of film you forget about while watching it.
- 2/18/2010
- by Sergio
- ShadowAndAct
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