A Film Review on 13th
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” — the 13th amendment of the United States Constitution.
The 13th amendment created a massive loophole in the treatment of individuals, especially people of color in the United States. The amendment legally makes slavery a punishment for crime. 13th by Ana DuVernay on Netflix is a documentary analyzing the criminalization of African Americans and the era of mass incarceration in America. This Oscar-nominated film is a part of the Black Lives Matter collection on Netflix and has won Best Documentary at the Emmys, BAFTAs, and the NAACP Image Awards. This film was very educational and focused on the U.S. prison system, the history of African Americans in the United States and how the system has always been against them, and how the United States has a major incarceration issue. This film invokes feelings of outrage as the viewer learns the full story and history behind how the United States is truly no better than how we once were in the past. The propaganda of this film inspires us to want to make a change and advocate for a new America where African Americans are not seen as criminals and are targeted by our law enforcement system.
The film begins with Barack Obama in a voice-over stating that the United States is home to 5% of the world’s population but home to 25% of the world’s prisoners. Right away we are painted with the problem that the United States has a mass incarceration issue. The United States is also mentioned in the documentary that we have the highest rate of incarceration in the world and that 1 in 4 African American men will end up in prison at some point in their lifetime. Ana DuVernay interviews a variety of scholars, activists, and politicians. The interviewees provide an important perspective on prison themes and the history of African Americans in the U.S.
We are provided with history on when slavery ended, the 13th amendment and the way it is a loophole in our system in regards to the treatment of African Americans, lynching, Jim Crow, Nixon’s presidential campaign, ALEC, and its involvement with lawmaking and corporations, Regan’s War on Drugs, Bill Clinton’s sentencing laws and facts on how the United States prison system generates capital for private companies. In the documentary right away, we are presented with the fact that in 1972 there were only 300,000 people in jail in the United States, and today we have 3.2 million people in our country’s jails. The timeline we are taken on in the documentary shows how history has shaped this outcome.
“Propaganda appears in a variety of forms as strategic and intentional communication designed to influence attitudes, opinions, and behaviors. Propaganda can be beneficial or harmful. It may use truth, half-truths, or lies. To be successful, propaganda taps into our deepest values, fears, hopes, and dreams” (Hobbs, 2021, p. 125). In this documentary, we are presented with propaganda to bring awareness and perspective to the situation going on in our country. The cultural context in this work centers around the Black Lives Matter movement and how we are at a place of needing reform and change in our nation. We are shown images of police brutality and how we see how the injustice from long ago is not gone it is only reshaped into something that is unfortunately tolerated in our country. Every movie, article, podcast, etc. have some form of propaganda.
Propaganda is important as it invokes certain feelings in viewers to influence response. Personally, I felt saddened and angry by watching this film. I feel more educated on the topic of how this issue affects every one of us in America. I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary and have already recommended it to friends and family. This film has a lot of value as it is a major step to making the injustices African Americans face in our country known and how mass incarceration of Americans, especially African Americans needs to end.
Works Cited:
Hobbs, Renee. Media Literacy in Action (p. 125). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Kindle Edition.
