film and fiction

Question 1

Uncle Toms cabin plot

Answer 1

2 slaves have to be sold
uncle tom - taken to Mississippi by boat (where he saves Eva)
- Eva’s father st clare buys tom
- eva dies and tom about to be set free but father dies and tom is sold to legree who beats tom to death
- Shelby arrives to buy tom and witnesses his death so frees all his own slaves in toms memory
meanwhile Eliza’s story
- flees north hoping to gain freedom in Canada and is helped by quakers

Question 2

who wrote uncle toms cabin and when

Answer 2

harriet Beecher stowe 1852

Question 3

background to uncle toms cabin

Answer 3

1850 compromise to maintain the balance of free and slave states
new fugitive slave act
- $5 reward for every fugitive released (not taken back by the south)
- $10 for every fugitive sent back to the south
north was furious
this book was written in response to the 1850 compromise

Question 4

background to harriet beecher stowe

Answer 4

born in conneticut but rejoined family in cincinatti (bordered Kentucky = first hand accounts from runaway slaves)
child of Lyman beecher (re-nowned preacher and anti-slavery)

Question 5

which newspaper was uncle toms paper serialised in and when

Answer 5

the national era

june 1851-april 1852

Question 6

selling stat for uncle toms cabin

Answer 6

biggest seller 19th century after the bible

Question 7

who famously read uncle toms cabin

Answer 7

Lincoln

‘so this is the little lady who started this great war’

Question 8

negative impact of uncle toms cabin

Answer 8

popularised the stereotype of an ‘uncle tom’ - dutiful long suffering servant

Question 9

how is uncle tom portrayed

Answer 9

pious Christian slave
middle aged man (but pictures depicted him as older as removes anything sexual with eva)
tom saving eva goes against rape stereotype
toms faith is tested and dies an almost biblical death
religious aspect contradicts the old testament justification for slavery

Question 10

how is eliza portrayed

Answer 10

heroine
mother losing her child, harry
easy to empathise with

Question 11

eliza quote

Answer 11

chapter 7
‘if it were your harry, mother, or your willie, that were goin to be torn from you by a brutal trader … how many miles could you make in those, brief few hours, with the darling at your bosom…’

Question 12

fugitive slave quote

Answer 12

‘now jphn, I don’t know anything about politics, but I can read my bible; and there I see that I must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the desolate; and that bible I mean to follow’

Question 13

who wrote gone with the wind and when

Answer 13

Margaret Mitchell, 1936

Question 14

background to gone with the wind

Answer 14

set clayton county and Atlanta, Georgia during American civil war and reconstruction
southern plantation fiction / ‘Anti-tom’ literature
published during the depression and new deal

Question 15

background to Margaret mitchell

Answer 15

born in Atlanta and grew up with stories of the civil war from her suffragist mother

Question 16

plot of gone with the wind

Answer 16

1861 - southern belle, scarlett, lives on tara a large plantation in Georgia
several love stories
civil war begins, Yankees capture tara
after civil war scarlett takes charge of rebuilding tara (against high taxation by northerners)
becomes a shrewd business woman
is attacked by a free a/a and his white companions (is avenged by the kk)
scarlett then returns to tara after Rhett leaves her (daughter dies) and is comforted by her childhood nurse mammy)

Question 17

how many coies of gone with the wind were printed world wide

Answer 17

30 million

Question 18

outcry from a/a over gone with the wind

Answer 18

criticised
NAACP attempted to boycott the film
Walter White helped with the director Selznik to play down some of the racism in the film

Question 19

how does gone with the wind portray the institution of slavery

Answer 19

a benevolent institution
pre-emancipation south is beautiful and idyllic, society functions and slaves are happy
chaos by evil northerners during civil war and reconstruction

Question 20

slavery quote in gone with the wind

Answer 20

chapter 42
‘slaves were neither miserable nor unfortunate. T he negroes were far better off under slavery than they were now under freedom’

Question 21

names of the two slaves in gone with the wind

Answer 21

mammy and prissy

Question 22

how is mammy portrayed in gone with the wind

Answer 22

scarletts a/a nurse
close motherly relationship with scarlett
never given name / own identity
content in her position
belongs to the white family
uneducated

Question 23

how is prissy portrayed in gone with the wind

Answer 23

domestic slave
stupid
squeamish
a liar
hysterical
written as comic relief
caricature which reinforces slave owners claims a/a need to be slaves as they cant function on their own

Question 24

who wrote huckleberry finn and when

Answer 24

mark twain 1885

Question 25

background to huck fin

Answer 25

written 20 years after civil war Mississippi set in plantation era is the sequel to tom sawyer

Question 26

background to mark twain

Answer 26

lived in Mississippi family became impoverished on death of hos father wrote this as an adventure book, not a great somment on civil rights

Question 27

synopsis of huck fin

Answer 27

huck living with a new family and unhappy about cleanliness church and school - pap kidnaps huck and holds him in a cabin fakes own deth and escapes meets jim (slave escaping slavery) unsure whether to help him goes through some adventures with jim and become friends gets caught on the Phelps farm tom sawyer arrives and big stunt to release jim, fails and jim sacrifices his freedom in staying by injured tom tom reveals is all a game and jim is free

Question 28

impact of huck finn - on schools

Answer 28

after Shakespeare most studied book at school | 1957 NAACP removed it from the majority of schools including the mark twain intermediate school Virginia

Question 29

how is jim portrayed in huck fin

Answer 29

at the mercy of white characters white characters ten to be morally inferior to him regularly the butt of the jokes and outwitted by whites portrayed as stupid (eg tom and huck play a trick on jim which they blame on witches and he falls for) language towards him is derogatory (nigga is used over 200 times) reinforces racial stereotypes

Question 30

how huck and his relationship with jim evoloves

Answer 30

at first huck sees socieites rules around slavery as correct but breaks them as has little respect for rules each adventure brings the two closer huck begins to form his own view huck writes a letter to send to miss Watson but tore it up saying 'all right I'll go to hell then' then huck decides to help jim escape slavery huck undergoes a transformation as he stops accepting social norms and instead follows his own beliefs twain encourages people to be like huck can be seen as a metaphor for the civil war

Question 31

who wrote to kill a mockingbird and when

Answer 31

harper lee, 1960

Question 32

background to to kill a mockingbird

Answer 32

set in economic depression in the twon of Maycomb Alabama | 1954 - brown, 1955-6 - Montgomery bus boycott = published at height of the civil rights campaign

Question 33

background to harper lee

Answer 33

born Alabama | at college she wrote a series of short stories on racial injustice

Question 34

plot of to kill a mockingbird

Answer 34

close knit community of Maycomb atticus finch raising two kids scout and jem goes to the defence of a/a tom robinson who has been accused of raping and beating a white woman scout and jem face slurs and discrimination despite atticus overwhelmingly proving tom innocent the all whote jury finds tom guilty atticus inadvertently offends bob ewell (typical white trash) who then vows revenge scout and jem then attacked but are rescued by Arthur boo Radley who kills bob

Question 35

impact of to kill a mockingbird

Answer 35

staple on school reading lists the national education association in 1968 placed the novel on a list of receiving the most complaints from private organizations after little black sambo told through a kids eyes adds innocence and misunderstanding parallels with scotsborough case

Question 36

how is segregation and discrimination portrayed in to kill a mockingbird

Answer 36

Maycomb = small town with two different communities living separate lives side by side typical accusation by a shady white girl of rape against an innocent black man scout and jem faces discrimination

Question 37

quote on discrimination in to kill a mockingbird

Answer 37

'"you aint got no business bringin' white chillun' here - they got their church, we got our'n. It is our church, aint it, miss Cal?"' Zebbo then steps in tells lula she is wrong and scout and jem are welcome

Question 38

how is tom robinson portrayed in to kill a mocking bird

Answer 38

falsely accused of rape portrayed as harmless, innocent, intelligent and hardworking good manners and courtesy come across in the trial refuses to repeat the foul language bob ewell directs at him refuses to accuse mayella, a black servant for lying about him in the court case goes against many racial stereotypes

Question 39

how is atticus portrayed

Answer 39

the character who breaks the racial divide knowing full well the all white jury will convict tom he still defends him in his summing up to the court he powerfully states yes all black people lie and yes they are basically immorl beings but he insists the truth is there has never been a person who has not told a lie and not a man living who hasn't looked at a woman with desire

Question 40

white trash

Answer 40

apart from atticus and his kids all whites in the novel are portrayed much more inferiorly to blacks ewells - white trash, ignorant and full of racial prejudice

Question 41

who wrote beloved and when

Answer 41

toni Morrison (female + the only a/a on the course) 1987

Question 42

background to beloved

Answer 42

powerful civil rights laws had been passed but a/a still hadn't gained social equality watts riot 1965 Newark riot 1967 watts riot 2 1992 beloved made powerful as its portrayal of race relations reflected what was happening in contemporary America on a side not cincinatti was where harriet beecher stowe grew up

Question 43

plot to beloved

Answer 43

two stories run side by side, 'present day' 1873 and 1850 paul d visits sethe and they begin to recall their earlier lives as slaves they try to escape a racist slave owner 'schoolteacher' who cathches and rapes sethe paul ends up in a chain gang in Georgia sethe is cared for by the only nice white character amy Denver schoiolteacher comes back to get sethe so shes tries to kill her children as not to let them into slavery but only kills one in the present the ghost of sethe's daughter 'beloved' appears. she becomes increasingly abusive and sethe goes rapidly downhill. the book ends with a warning that this is not a story to pass on

Question 44

impact of beloved

Answer 44

references to the fugitive slave act + cincinati (beecher stowes home town) 2006 in a new York times pol of 200 critics, writers and editors Beloved was named the single best work of American fiction published in the last 25 years staddles history and fiction

Question 45

how sethe is portrayed in beloved

Answer 45

slavery has destroyed much of her identity | would prefer her children to be dead then in slavery

Question 46

who wrote and when the help

Answer 46

Kathryn Stockett, 2009

Question 47

background of the help

Answer 47

set in Jackson Mississippi 1962-4 during the height of the civil rights movement where geographically there was much civil rights action (Meredith, freedom summer, voting drives) references to Medgar evers, an NAACP leader assassinated outside her home in Jackson

Question 48

plot of the help

Answer 48

tells the story of the relationship between the help and their white employers how skeeter writes a book "the Help' based on the testimony of 12 slaves in a fiction town of nicetown but is in reality all about the white employers of jackson

Question 49

impact of the help

Answer 49

too early to say as was written 2009 but was published in first year of Obamas presidency highlights the separate lives the black and white communities lead jim crow laws shown reveals little has changed since 1860s mammy character in gone with the wind (has its own mammy character which the kid loves more than her own mother) lynchings

Question 50

harpers weekly

Answer 50

new York based periodical 1857 - 1916 produced heroic depictions of a/a particularly during the civil war and reconstruction periods eg 54th Massachusetts volunteer infantry attempted to depict a fictional idyllic life for a/a living in the south

Question 51

some well known pintings of a/a

Answer 51

Eastman johnsons 'negro life at the south' 1859 - brought the artist immediate celebrity + was valuable as captured a time in American life that was altered by the civil war Anshutz 'the way they live' depicted an a/a women tending to a meagre cabbage patch

Question 52

how many copies of uncle toms cabin in first 3 months

Answer 52

300,000

Question 53

how many copies of huck finn every year

Answer 53

200,000

Question 54

how many copies of gone with the wind sold by 1939

Answer 54

2 million

Question 55

how many copies of to kill a mockingbird worldwide

Answer 55

30milion

Question 56

how many weeks did the help stay on the new York times bestseller list

Answer 56

100 weeks

Question 57

brief plot summary of birth of a nation

Answer 57

two halves looking at life in the south during civil war and then reconstruction heroes are kkk who in the final scene save the day and reunite two couples in the 'second coming of the prince of peace and his angels in the city of god stand in their approval over the scene' saving the south and southern belles from the largely evil a/a

Question 58

date of birth of a nation

Answer 58

1915

Question 59

impact of birth of a nation

Answer 59

Hollywood sensational film first full-length silent film premiered at a grand gala with expensive ticjets president Woodrow Wilson had a private screening at the whithouse and is said to have enjoyed it NAACP protested against it helped with the reforming of KKK led to the biggest deterioration in race relations in the usa due to a film

Question 60

date of in the heat of the night

Answer 60

1967

Question 61

where is in the heat of the night set and why is this significant

Answer 61

Mississippi during the 60s was centre of the civil rights movement with james Meredith's attempt to get into old miss and the voting drives / freedom summer

Question 62

plot of in the heat of the night

Answer 62

``` murder mystery phillip Colbert is murdered Gillespie is the police chief ends up arresting then working with virgil tibbs eventually solves the murder ```

Question 63

significance of in the heat of in the heat of the night

Answer 63

shows Gillespie and mr tibbs gaining respect for each other over the course of the film mr tibbs is more intelligent + earns more in a week then Gillespie earns in a month shows different atmospheres in north and south (quote) when Endicott slapps tibbs for his insolent questioning mr tibbs slaps him back (one of the first times this happened on screen)

Question 64

name quote in the heat of the night

Answer 64

'"Well, you're pretty sure of yourself, ain't you, Virgil. Virgil, that's a funny name for a nigger boy to come from Philadelphia. What do they call you up there?" Virgil: "they call me Mister Tibbs."

Question 65

when was Mississippi burning

Answer 65

1988

Question 66

plot of Mississippi burning

Answer 66

based on real events 3 civil right activists who were helping a black registration drive in Mississippi disappeared (2 are white and one is black) 2 white FBI agents investigate trick KKK into confessing

Question 67

criticism of Mississippi burning

Answer 67

misleading depiction of the civil rights movement black characters play a minor role movie focuses on two FBI agents who in reality took little interest in the civil rights movement when the film was released coretta scott king criticised the film for ignoring the role of both black and white civil rights activists

Question 68

when was roots aired on American television

Answer 68

eight evenings in 1977 and seven evenings in 1979

Question 69

how did American tv tend to deal with a/a in the 50s and 60s with some examples

Answer 69

reinforced stereotypes often only given supporting roles 'I spy' - portrayed a/a a few times as poorly educated, comic actors 'good times' - portrayal of teenager JJ as stupid

Question 70

viewing fact about roots and stat

Answer 70

most widely watched miniseries in US television history | 140 million American saw all or part of the two series

Question 71

story (BRIEF) of roots

Answer 71

traces kunta kinte being captured in west Africa, made slave and his family till present day

Question 72

why was roots so popular

Answer 72

history of a/a was personalised many of hollywoods finest whote actors played the roles of racists and slave owners style led itself to popular discussion - brought a story to life in a way no documentary could ever do

Question 73

when was Malcom x the film

Answer 73

1992

Question 74

plot of Malcolm x

Answer 74

plots life of Malcolm X's early life, conversion to islam, role as a civil rights activist, and assassination

Question 75

impact of Malcolm x (negatives)

Answer 75

limited as was not really a box office success came 32nd on the list of top-grossing films of 1992 predominantly black audiences Ashley clark wrote in the guardian he never thought Hollywood would support a movie as unapologetically supportive of a radical, controversial black figure

Question 76

impact of Malcolm x positives

Answer 76

a film was made and supported by Hollywood depicting such a radical man at time of Rodney king murder by police

Question 77

when was the wire

Answer 77

2002-8

Question 78

where is the wire set and why is this significant

Answer 78

Baltimore, Maryland northern town most set in south

Question 79

themes of the wire

Answer 79

``` illegal drug trade seaport system city gov and bureaucracy school system print news media ```

Question 80

why was the wire so significant

Answer 80

for the first time of a major cable channel the lives of an urban black underclass were shown in detail - and is shown through their eyes

Question 81

what did the daily telegraph say about the wire in 2009

Answer 81

arguably the greatest television program ever made

Question 82

why did the wire not have an impact on race relations

Answer 82

pretty low viewing stats as was on HBO = expensive plot complexity and language often was easily understood by white audiences also just like beloved, white audiences didn't want to be educated on black problems

Question 83

some themes to consider when analysing film and fiction (6)

Answer 83

``` education empathy scale stereotypes pro or anti civil rights shock factor ```