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12 Years a Slave as a Neo-Slave Narrative

2014; Oxford University Press; Volume: 26; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/alh/aju009

1468-4365

Shun Li,

Caribbean history, culture, and politics

Film adaptations of historical texts inevitably raise questions about how true they are to their original sources. What has been lost or gained in the translation to the big screen? Steve McQueen's powerful 12 Years as Slave, based on Solomon Northup's 1853 account of his abduction into slavery, has drawn the scrutiny of historians and literary critics as well as other more vocal detractors who in dismissing it as “torture porn” presume that it privileges sadism over realism.1 McQueen insists that 80% of the film's dialogue comes directly from the book, and in fact many of the most horrific scenes have direct textual corollaries (“Where It Hurts”). When Northup, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, first finds himself in chains, he insists that he is a freeman, drawing the wrath of his captor who beats him with a paddle until it breaks. Similarly, the film's most harrowing scene, the brutal whipping of Patsey, a slave owned by the vicious Edwin Epps, for visiting a neighboring plantation to obtain the soap that her own mistress refuses to give her, is described in painful detail in Northup's narrative. Such parallels demonstrate that the film takes seriously its source material though inevitably there are discontinuities between the two works. These discontinuities are not, as some have suggested, disavowals or trivializations of the historical record that exploit those who suffered in bondage.2 Rather, these differences and cinematic embellishments highlight McQueen's unique vision and his notable concern for exploring the experiences of black women.