Historical Film Analysis: Selma (2014)
The film called “Selma” is analyzed, a historical drama film directed by Ava DuVernay and released on November 11, 2014. The film is based in Selma during the 1950’s to Montgomery in voting rights. The film actors are David Oyelowo as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Tom Wilkinson as President Lyndon B. Johnson. It was a history of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s campaign to protect equal voting rights through an epic movement from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965.
The movie, "Selma," was an accurate picture of events that occurred in 1965. It followed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as he fought against the government in their chase to reject the “Black Americans” of their American rights. People knew that after blacks were still being denied their right to vote, still being discriminated from public places, and still being abused by white officers for no reason, and them not being annoyed for
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One of them is such as the residents were working on voting rights long before even Martin Luther King Jr. decided to go there. Also, the youth campaigners of the students had almost written off organizing in Selma. In February 1963, he came to Selma and began working with other local residents to help prepare black Selma residents to overcome the walls that region, officials had put in place to deny blacks the right to register. “One of the most significant features of the movie as it relates to present day America are the many barriers that were put forth to block people from exercising their right to vote such as poll taxes, ridiculous qualification tests, literacy exams, morality requirements, property ownership requirements, and voter voucher laws to name a few.” (Bright, Marcus). This is significant because it also happens in these present days of America, there has been a lot of sins related to this. And most of this happens to dark skinned
They were bombed, attacked and had zero rights. Coloured people wanted the right to vote on their own but people thought that they didn't deserve to vote because they were worthless. As shown in the movie, Martin Luther King Jr. and his supporters tried hard to get the president to see that they are people and should get to vote. Unfortunately, the president felt that this matter wasn't very critical to fix. King decided that in order to be heard, they would need to protest. Finally, they were given more rights and the ability to vote on their own. In today’s world, every ethnicity has the capability to vote. The United States even had a black president which would have been unfathomable to people in the time of Selma. Although there have been changes in the world regarding racism, white people still have more privilege and equality for everyone is far from being
“We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools”( Martin Luther King Jr.). Between 1961 and 1964, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) led a voter registration campaign in Selma, Alabama. It was a small town with a record of consistent resistance to black voting and black people in general. Between 17 and 50 people were injured in the first march known as “Bloody Sunday,” with one woman, Amelia Boynton nearly beat to death. Members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) were persuaded by local activities to make Selma’s intransigence to African Americans voting. There were six hundred marchers assembled in Selma on Sunday, March 7. The march to Selma, Alabama was one of the most historically
I think that the movie that Oprah directed, “Selma” can help us to understand some of the struggles that blacks had gone through. Today, I just cannot comprehend what all of these people went through, to validate their constitutional right to
They bring this up in connection to protests going on today and how critics will often state that the protest has gone on long enough and that it needs to people worked years and faced brutality and racism for years in order to get their equal rights. The other changes in the movie are relatively minor and either have a logical reason such as not having the right to copy Dr. King’s words or to create emotional reactions such as having Jimmy Lee Jackson die in his mother’s arms rather than in a hospital. In my opinion, as far as movies go, Selma is more accurate than
The movie Selma is extremely accurate to the events that took place in Selma Alabama. The movie was in chronological order between the time when Martin Luther King Jr. received his nobel peace prize all the way to the third and last march, which was successful, from Selma to Montgomery. The only misleading factor of the movie is how president Lyndon B. Johnson is portrayed in his relationship with Martin Luther King Jr. In the Movie, President Johnson is very opposed to Martin Luther King's ideals of protest and ignores his supplication of giving federal legislation to protect the rights of Negroes to vote in the State of Alabama.
Selma to Montgomery. Violent resistance being inflicted on them by the state and local authorities
Both take place in sections of each man's life with Selma taking place in a three-month window of Dr. King's life as compared the final approximately four months of Lincoln's in his film. Selma did more to focus on narratives outside of Dr. King's though as it opens with the heartbreaking deaths of four young girls and then jumps to a storyline of how Oprah Winfrey's character Annie Lee Cooper is on her fourth attempt at registering to vote. Lincoln does eventually achieve this by connecting us towards Tommie Lee Jone's character Thaddeus Stevens towards the ending reveal about why he has been such an ally to the president but for the main narrative Lincoln is center stage. Roger Ebert touches on this in his review of Selma stating, "There's a reason why Ava DuVernay's film is called "Selma" and not "King". Like Spielberg's "Lincoln", "Selma" is as much about the procedures of political maneuvering, in-fighting and bargaining as it is about the chief orchestrator of the resulting deals."
No matter where in the world or what period in time, there is always someone being oppressed or experiencing some form of maltreatment or discrimination. Throughout history, people have been judged or had their basic human rights infringed upon. That is why movies like Selma are so important because they shine a light on these events and transgressions, that need to be brought to people’s attention. The movie Selma was a real eye-opener in terms of the events that took place during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s. It presented many of its arguments in ways no adaptation of the story had successfully done before. Many of the actor portrayals of historical figures were so veracious it was as if the figures themselves were carrying out the plot of the movie. The overlying themes of the movie were also very apparent and easy to, if not to relate to, at least understand and empathize where the characters were coming from in a sense. Not only the dialogue, or strictly what you see being depicted on screen alone make the movie so gripping and emotionally poignant, things such as the music, or how the movie is put together and laid out to affect the emotions of the viewers.
In the movie Selma, directed by Ava DuVernay showcases a lot of social injustice during the 1960 's. The portion of the film that I focused on in Selma was the migration scene, which is about seventy minutes into the movie. Within the migration scene from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, several cinematic devices play a pivotal role in understanding why white supremacist attacked black people during the 1960 's. The scene showcases a group of African Americans that band together from the city of Selma and wants to march in a peaceful manner to Montgomery, Alabama. However, their movement was halted when police block the town 's bridge. The townspeople decide not to back down and want to continue their migration; however, the police argue that if they do not return home, the cops will assault them. This leads to the simple assault of African Americans by white supremacist American cops, which was documented by an undercover news reporter. The scene cuts back and forth between the rioting between the blacks and police and shouting and yelling of Caucasian supremacist bystanders that proudly showcase their Confederate flag and racial slurs. During the whole debacle, the song "Walk with Us" by Martha Bass is played and has considerable importance for African Americans at this time. This scene shows that there is a long-standing racism against African Americans from white supremacist Southerners and only became more riled up with the equal rights movement in the 1960 's. Ava
The film directed by Ada Devernay, “Selma”, portrays the fight that the Black leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., members of the Student Non-Violent Committee (SNCC) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) had in the road to convinced President Lyndon Baines Johnson to help approved by the Congress and signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965. The motion picture makes an emphasize in the events that marked the 1960s´ decade, where the African American population in the United States was trying to gain the right to vote and end discrimination in order to be treated as Whites were treated. Moreover, find a way the own government could accept colored people and stop opposing to the cause the Black group was fighting for. In addition, important incidents of that period are portrayed
Equality and Justice - false promises a nation was created to protect. The historical drama, Selma (2014), directed by Ava DuVernay, depicts some of the struggles African-Americans faced in the pursuit of equality and justice during the mid 1950’s to 1960’s, and the role Martin Luther King Jr. played in his attempt to overcome such inequalities. Even before its release, Selma received backlash from critics who claimed it falsely depicted Lyndon B. Johnson at odds with Martin Luther King Jr, and alleged that the murder of the four girls at the Birmingham Church occurred in September 1963, rather than at the end of 1964, which the film suggests. Regardless of such claims, the film, Selma, does depict a historical event set forth by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965. During this time period, racial segregation was prominent, especially in the southern states. The government justified such segregation based on the 14th Amendment’s wording of “separate but equal”. However, many African-Americans were dissatisfied and demanded true equality. It was not until the mid 1960’s, after Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, that racial tension began to decline. Although Martin Luther King Jr.’s role was invaluable in the Civil Rights Movement and required great courage, Selma aims to portray a complex side of King, mixing his bravery and determination with self-doubts and internal conflicts in his pursuit of justice and equality.
The movie Selma is about 1965 campaign by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to protect the equal voting right for African-American citizens. So the main theme of this movie is that every citizen should have a right to vote and all citizens should have equal voting rights. This movie is likewise loaded with religious and profound themes in regards to the power of love, encounter with insidiousness and abhors, the power of confidence, the power of religious groups, boldness, and freedom. Selma demonstrates a significant occasion in current U.S. history and with remedies for its deception identifying with President Johnson, can upgrade a unit on the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and additionally
Like the Native Americans, the African-Americans have a long history of survival and hardship in Mississippi. Brought to Mississippi as slaves to work on the big plantations in the Delta and along the Mississippi River, African-Americans had to fight for freedom and the rights given other Americans. Although activism started long before the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s, the focus in usually on that time period. The NAACP started in the 1950s to bring change by voter registration. Robert Moses, the voice of the SNCC, came to Mississippi in 1960 for a conference and ended up starting voter education programs that taught African-Americans the voting progress. A young, Marion Barry, the one-time mayor of Washington, D.C. came to Mississippi to urge young black men and women to get out the vote to make changes to the way Mississippi did business. Mississippians like, Herbert Lee, lost their lives so that the young people in Mississippi today have the right to live, work, and vote in Mississippi. Things did change but there was still work to be done. Protests, sit-ins, and rallies were the targets of the KKK and other white men and woman who did not want African-Americans to vote, eat at “white only” restaurants, ride buses other than in
The happenings in Selma, Alabama during the year 1965, served as a catalyst to the Voting Rights Act, which eliminated any discrimination at the polls all over America, and the catalyst for these happenings in Selma was Jimmie Lee Jackson. The historical drama, Selma, tells the story of Selma, Alabama in 1965. It is not a documentary therefore, some details were changed, exaggerated or left out due to the fact that this is a historical drama. The movie, Selma, serves the purpose of showing the events in Selma and how they influenced the conclusion of the movie, the passing of the Voting Rights Act by Lyndon B. Johnson. This film is considered a drama therefore, some things are dramatized to compel the audience to feel a certain way, however,
Selma is based on a true story that happened in 1965 in Selma, Alabama. Selma was the city that ended suffrage for African Americans because of Rev Martin Luther king and the help from his Christian family. The movie has some intense violence and a lot of foul language, but overall is mainly about Christian and moral content. Even though the Civil Rights Act of 1964 desegregated in certain areas. It made it more difficult for black to register to vote. In 1964 Rev Martin Luther king receives a Noble Pace Prize. The Civil Rights Act was outlaw segregation in all 50 states, but African Americans where still having trouble at that time. Martin decides voting should be there next fight. So, they march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.