Current Events > Do you think a reversed roles movie about slavery would be impactful?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Or would it bring more turmoil?

Im watching 12 Years a Slave for the first time andyeah its brutal. And while Im watching it I asked myself How would these evil people feel if the roles were reversed? Being separated from your children, beaten and mutilated over the slightest perception of back talk, treated as less than human at every turn, the list goes on and on.

Do you think it would change anything?

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

I voted blue and still lost my livelihood, so I have even less sympathy for these kinds of people. My struggle isnt comparable to others going through much worse, but Im, at the very least, jaded and angry.

Watch White Man's Burden.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114928/

Not about slavey, but there is a (well now) old film called "White Man's Burden" Starring John Travolta and Harry Belafonte where the premises is Travolta (White) is part of the minority class and Belafonte (Black) is part of the majority class.

It's the only film I know of that really committed to the role reversal thing in a meaningful way.... but it was not that popular.

Which to answer the TC's question, a slavery film where black people are whipping their white slaves would not be well received. I could see the black community viewing it as minimizing slavery.

But much more likely the white community just disliking it because it forces them to acknowledge slavery was horrific. They hated 12 years a slave. HELL there was a complaint that some white people hated Spider-Man Homecoming because a character mentioned slaves built the White House.

A film where white people have to view what blacks went through as if it was THEM, not 'the OTHERS' would be met with unbelievable hate.

But I'd watch.

LonelyStoner posted...

Or would it bring more turmoil?

Im watching 12 Years a Slave for the first time andyeah its brutal. And while Im watching it I asked myself How would these evil people feel if the roles were reversed? Being separated from your children, beaten and mutilated over the slightest perception of back talk, treated as less than human at every turn, the list goes on and on.

Do you think it would change anything?

I promise you, they didn't care about "reversing roles." They invented entire forms of theology and science to justify it

There is a reason that when the Civil War began, we have countless letters from Union soldiers and officers going "Only by the merciful providence of God may we heal the wounds this nation has suffered and bring our brothers back into the fold"

And once they see the realities of slavery the letters go "I am the Archangel Michael, I am the cleansing fire of heaven. I will ram the red hot bayonet of abolition down Johnny Reb's bleeding throat"

https://youtu.be/rR3US07S_x4

Sorry to get off topic, but Viola Davis just delivered one of the most haunting lines thus far in the movie.

The curse of the Pharaohs is nothing compared to what awaits the plantation class.

Also show Black people enslaving and beating white people

i. Dont think you thought this one through

I think the people who could stand to learn a moral lesson from a movie like that would be very unlikely to even attempt to watch it.

They're so desperate to be victims they'd probably think it's a documentary

They don't care about being on top of the hierarchy, they care about the hierarchy for the sake of itself. If they're on the bottom, so be it. It's the "natural order". Why do you think there are so many Latin American and Indian white supremacists?

LightSnake posted...

Also show Black people enslaving and beating white people

i. Dont think you thought this one through

Well, others have brought up a movie about it that I was unaware of.

Sometimes a movie is so well made that it invokes a lot of feelings, which 12 Years a Slave has, upon my viewing.

It would somehow be seen as woke and anti-black (because of the presentation) at the same time

LonelyStoner posted...

Im watching 12 Years a Slave for the first time andyeah its brutal. And while Im watching it I asked myself How would these evil people feel if the roles were reversed? Being separated from your children, beaten and mutilated over the slightest perception of back talk, treated as less than human at every turn, the list goes on and on.

They would accept it as long as they had someone underneath them that they can abuse or a socio-legal path towards emancipation. History has already shown this through various slave societies that weren't based on race. It's how the Conservative's mindset works.

LightSnake posted...

And once they see the realities of slavery the letters go "I am the Archangel Michael, I am the cleansing fire of heaven. I will ram the red hot bayonet of abolition down Johnny Reb's bleeding throat"

It helped that the average Northerner had a mental image of black slaves which was shattered when they encountered black slaves who could pass as whites in the South. Many didn't know about the one drop rule that Southern slave masters were exploiting.

hmnut7 posted...

It's the only film I know of that really committed to the role reversal thing in a meaningful way.... but it was not that popular.

Part of the problem was that it wasn't actually a very good movie.

The acting wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, it was a bit heavy handed and preachy. I think it's idea was sound, but could have been executed better.

I think what provokes empathy most is showing the horrors of slavery and having people absolutely kill the shit out of slavers.

Just finished the movie. None of Solomons kidnappers or abusers were ever brought to justice I wonder how many people use those graveyards as bathroom breaks these days

LonelyStoner posted...

Just finished the movie. None of Solomons kidnappers or abusers were ever brought to justice I wonder how many people use those graveyards as bathroom breaks these days

We sadly also don't know what happened to Solomon. He largely vanishes from historical record.

But no, a lot of slavers and Confederates and slave traders never suffered any justice. Most of them didn't. Nathan Bedford Forrest was a slave trader, a war criminal, helped found the KKK for barbaric terrorism and.....nothing bad happened to him

Americans are too thin skinned and would get offended.

Frosted_Midna posted...

Americans are too thin skinned and would get offended.

I'm pretty sure a whole lot Black Americans would be, uh....furious?

LightSnake posted...

We sadly also don't know what happened to Solomon. He largely vanishes from historical record.

But no, a lot of slavers and Confederates and slave traders never suffered any justice. Most of them didn't. Nathan Bedford Forrest was a slave trader, a war criminal, helped found the KKK for barbaric terrorism and.....nothing bad happened to him

I recently heard that the old woman who wrongfully accused Emmett Till, resulting in his horrific death, and her grandchildren were asking people to Please leave us alone. That happened so many years ago.

Like, uhhh, no, it didnt. Idk if shes still alive, but she showed no remorse and deserved to be hounded until the end of her days. Her kids defending her as well.

People would explode, so it'd be funny to see.

Daremo posted...

Watch White Man's Burden.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114928/

This is what i was thinking of

BB_mofo posted...

It helped that the average Northerner had a mental image of black slaves which was shattered when they encountered black slaves who could pass as whites in the South. Many didn't know about the one drop rule that Southern slave masters were exploiting.

I never knew that.
Consider the equivalent if it was all reversed. "White" slaves that would pass as black.

LightSnake posted...

We sadly also don't know what happened to Solomon. He largely vanishes from historical record.

But no, a lot of slavers and Confederates and slave traders never suffered any justice. Most of them didn't. Nathan Bedford Forrest was a slave trader, a war criminal, helped found the KKK for barbaric terrorism and.....nothing bad happened to him

Some places he got his name on schools. My father attended one.

I remember some alternate history from the History channel or somewhere, where it was what if the south won the civil war? The one thing I remember is that the COPS theme was a bluegrass song called Runaway or something along those lines and COPS depicted rounding up runaway slaves.

So MAGAts dont even accept reality now and think theyre some kind of victims or something. Theyd see that and hop right up on the cross with incessant screeching whining even more than they do now.

There's a TV show about this called "Cracka"

I was gonna post the trailer here but ... Uh... I'll pass. You can find it yourself. The YouTube channel is "cracka world"