Slavery’s Interior: Cinema and the Performative Traumas of History

Slavery’s Interior: Cinema and the Performative Traumas of History

Anthony Reed

I would not have readily associated cinema focused on slavery with love and desire, but looking at desire from a completely unromantic standpoint was refreshing. It called to mind an article I came across a few months ago about prisoners finding themselves ill adjusted upon reintroduction to the outside world. (link: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Convictcouldn-thandlebeing-free-2187648.php) The focus was on a prisoner who found himself unhappy and uncomfortable in typical society and opted to perform an act of arson in order to return to the life he knew in jail. This seems to be a common occurrence among newly freed prisoners. When inmates come to face their day of release, they realize that the reality of their freedom does not fit the idealized image they had created. Of course, their desire to return to prison is affected by a number of other factors, including feelings of alienation or an inability to function without the daily structure imposed by life in prison.  

Although I’m not familiar with film in the slavery genre, I took an interest in Reed’s discussion of Django, which used modern societal ideals to build character empathy and convey the tragedy of slavery. The protagonist, Django, is driven by a desire for vengeance and a romantic desire to save his wife. Dr. Reed specifically noted that he seems relatively uninterested in the fate of other slaves or the ‘big picture’ of freedom. I would imagine that in reality, an enslaved person would be driven by the natural desire for freedom, not romance or revenge, but romantic desire is more relatable in current times. Most audience members, myself included, may not be able to identify with the burning desire imposed by such oppression, simply for a lack of similar experiences. Romantic and vengeful desire, however, are incredibly common human experiences and are therefore easily relatable.

A theme that seems common to desire – not only in romantic desire but in other arenas as well – is the act of denying the desires of others as a source of personal empowerment. Depriving Africans of their freedom afforded slave owners the physical and political power they desired. At the time, it was accepted that this deprivation was the only means available to find any sense of fulfillment of this desire. Through a vastly different lens, characters like the Bad Girl and Conchita were similarly fueled by their ability to monopolize what others so desired. We see this theme appear across history and politics, but also in personal and professional relationships. An individual’s desire for power often leads to the withholding of the desires of others.