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This problem is compounded by having the Africans speak Mende, a West African language, with English subtitles. On a historical level, Hopkins' crusty, curmudgeonly John Quincy Adams . The arraignment is day after tomorrow. : Hounsou was not able to learn all his lines in Mende and those he could not were broken down and spoken phonetically, except for the most important scenes which he knew he needed to understand every word being spoken. A majority of the Amistad justices, after all, were still on the Supreme Court in 1857 when, in the Dred Scott decision, it prohibited Congress from barring slavery from the Western territories and proclaimed that blacks in the United States had no rights which a white man is bound to respect., The films historical problems are compounded by the study guide now being distributed to schools, which encourages educators to use Amistad to teach about slavery. : What are a few outstanding elements of character, tone, and gesture which the actor Morgan Freeman brings into the role of Theodore Joadson? State to what extent you consider it appropriate. Eventually, John Quincy . Theodore Joadson Sir? They are released and can return to their homes in Africa. Second, their presence created a carnival-like atmosphere, which the white abolitionists took advantage of by putting the Africans on display like animals in a zoo. Incongruous as it may seem, it was perfectly possible in the nineteenth century to condemn the importation of slaves from Africa while simultaneously defending slavery and the flourishing slave trade within the United States Amistads problems go far deeper than such anachronisms as President Martin Van Buren campaigning for re-election on a whistle-stop train tour (in 1840, candidates did not campaign), or people constantly talking about the impending Civil War, which lay 20 years in the future. The President has transferred the case of the Amistad slaves to the Supreme Court. Tappan . Moreover, the movie offers a good opportunity to teach and discuss cinematic as well as rhetorical conventions in connection with the speech at the end of the film. Van Buren is discredited by his failure to prevent the release of the Africans, and loses the 1840 election to William Henry Harrison. As in Glory, an earlier film about black Civil War soldiers, Amistad's black characters are essentially foils for white self-discovery and moral growth. I am embarrassed to admit that I was under the misconception that our Executive and Judicial Branches were separate. Describe the conversation between Cinque and Baldwin. easy canvas painting with black background. To preclude this possibility, Van Buren replaces the judge with a younger man, Coglin, whom he believes will be easier to manipulate. : "Amistad" boasts a star-spangled cast that includes Nigel Hawthorne as pro-slavery President Martin Van Buren, Anna Paquin as the pubescent Queen Isabella of Spain, and Morgan . | This was far more typical of the governments stance toward slavery than the Amistad affair. Yeah? Theodore Joadson Monologues. Amistads problems go far deeper than such anachronisms as President Martin Van Buren campaigning for reelection on a whistle-stop train tour (in 1840, candidates did not campaign), or people constantly talking about the coming Civil War, which lay twenty years in the future. The U.S. Supreme Court is the highest court in the land and has the ultimate legal authority in interpreting the U.S. Constitution. DVD. But he (Spielberg) wanted to make a point and I understood that. To just about everyone's surprise, Baldwin successfully manages to shift the basis of the case from murder and mutiny to a matter of ownership and eventually wins the slaves' acquittal. It contains many rhetorical devices which should be analyzed. There remains one task undone. Filming & Production And it fallaciously proclaims the case a "turning-point in the struggle to end slavery in the United States." Joadson is an African American . Morgan Freeman as Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman) "I am embarrassed to admit that I was under . A majority of the Amistad justices, after all, were still on the Supreme Court in 1857 when, in Theodore Joadson, rather than real historical figures, And it fallaciously proclaims the case a "turning-point in the struggle to end slavery in the United States," Most galling, however, is the assumption that a subject does not exist until it is discovered by Hollywood, The guide ends with He had some parts that were almost dead on like the role of Joseph Cinque. Their silence prompted Frederick Douglass to say, "What a world of inconsistency, as well as of wickedness and how strange and perverse is that moral sentiment which loathes, execrates, and brands as piracy and as deserving of death the carrying away into captivity men, women, and children from the African coast; but which is neither shocked nor disturbed by a similar traffic carried on with the same motives and purposes, and characterized by even more odious peculiarities on the coast of our Model Republic. . Maybe, in this era of budget cuts, some of that $75 million could have more profitably been spent on our public libraries. : Chase-Riboud filed a $10 million lawsuit of copyright infringement. This chapter is a flashback. Then there are also other roles that were complete fiction like Theodore Joadson. (Posted March 1998). Theodore Joadson is a (fictional) African-American abolitionist (and former slave) who joins his friend Tappan and plays an essential role in convincing Adams to defend the Africans in the Supreme Court. Apart from the intrepid Cinque, the Africans' leader, we never learn how the captives responded to their ordeal. . Watch the scenes again in which Van Buren meets with his counselors. The answer is obvious: he is necessary to maintain a racial quota. Its consensus reads, "Heartfelt without resorting to preachiness, Amistad tells an important story with engaging sensitivity and absorbing skill. . To the movie's credit it does present a few powerful, perhaps unforgettable, scenes of the horrors of the Middle Passage. In the U.S., slavery peaked in the nineteenth century, when the slaves mainly worked in the fields to meet the increased demand for sugar, cotton and tobacco. About forty of them, including four or five children. I believe they were. And thus he declares the Africans free. Summarize the standpoints of Joadson and Adams during their conversation. Compared with most Hollywood megafilms, Amistad must be considered a step forward: its about slavery, not exploding volcanoes or rampaging raptors. The scene culminates in Cinque calling Give us free! After the different parties have been heard, the judge retreats. One possible way of preparing students for this episode in American history is by viewing a movie that deals with the topic of slavery both from an emotional and a legal point of view. Theodore Joadson was born into a family of black slaves, but he was later freed, and went on to become an abolitionist and . Amistad never departs from a strict one-to-one ratio between black and white lead characters. The Africans have been given clothes. An early Matthew McConaughey is quite good as the lawyer and future politician Roger Sherman Baldwin, and an ever-reliable Morgan Freeman submits fine work as the abolitionist Theodore Joadson. Baldwin, unable to converse directly with his clients due to the language barrier, suspects the slaves are not Cubans but Africans who have been kidnapped and transported illegally as part of the banned transatlantic slave trade. Give a short account of how the translator is found and compare it with the approaches you had thought of. for cotton, sugar, cocoa and tobacco) drove the trade. Theodore Joadson New York abolished slavery in 1799. Release Dates This distortion is brought about in part through Theodore Joadson, a fictional character played by Morgan Freeman, who is supposed to represent a composite of black folks in New England during . Several characters are altered or added for the sake of the films dramatic effect. Would you personally choose anyone else to play this part? In October 1841, in an uncanny parallel to events on the Amistad, American slaves being transported from Virginia to Louisiana on the Creole seized control of the ship, killing some crew members and directing the mate to sail to the Bahamas. One vital task the Founding Father's left to their . : The Christians sing again. [13], Many academics, including Columbia University professor Eric Foner, have criticized Amistad for historical inaccuracy and the misleading characterizations of the Amistad case as a "turning point" in the American perspective on slavery. John Quincy Adams Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today summed up the feelings of many reviewers when she wrote, "as Spielberg vehicles go, Amistad part mystery, action thriller, courtroom drama, even culture-clash comedy lands between the disturbing lyricism of Schindler's List and the storybook artificiality of The Color Purple. Theodore Joadson Amistad is a true story about 53 African slaves mutinying aboard a Spanish slave ship off the coast of Cuba in 1839. First, they spent almost their entire two years in America behind bars. Summarize what happens in this scene (in writing or orally). Circuit Court which referred it to the (lower) District Court as a civil case. they are unbothered by the movie's invention of the black abolitionist Theodore Joadson because, as they see it, he is just a stand-in for the real-life black abolitionist J.W . [11] Prior to release, a legal battle ensued between Spielberg's DreamWorks Pictures and novelist Barbara Chase-Riboud, the latter who claimed that specific details from her 1989 novel Echo of Lions were lifted for the screenplay. John Quincy Adams (Vocabulary: to rid oneself of evidence, inventory, provisions required for a journey, ghastly arithmetic, poundage, to have no merit, thorough reflection, utmost faith, to misrepresent sth., on the charge of), Analyze the different camera angles and movements throughout the court room scene and comment on their effect. In the end, most of the Mende dialogue ended up on the cutting- room floor. [9], Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun also appears in the film as Justice Joseph Story. Scars? In 1839, the slave ship Amistad set sail from Cuba to America. The abolitionist Joadson is fictional as is the crypto-Catholic Judge Coughlin that President Van Buren allegedly hoped to improperly influence. 35, No. [exhales and looks confused]. Instead, they are taken to Connecticut, where they are brought to trial for murder. For fifteen years, American Secretaries of State unsuccessfully badgered British authorities to return the slaves as both murderers and the recognized property of American citizens. I had a moment of err, during the killings. Amistad Movie Analysis. During the film's development, John Quincy Adams, the African lawyer, was the first to file a brief in support . John Quincy Adams He explains in metaphorical language why this case is so exceptional. Theodore Joadson ", Even the main hero of the movie, John Quincy Adams, had such a solid record of political indifference and callousness toward the plight of black Americans that abolitionists in his own state dubbed him the "Madman of Massachusetts.". Why, Georgia, sir. Thomas Gedney, Richard Meade, naval officers Why, they're um they're from west Africa. Explain their effect. I do . [7] Hounsou auditioned with the hope of landing just a small role[6] and said he was not aware of the story before securing the role. Theodore Joadson was an African-American abolitionist printer, businessman, and ex-slave. The Meeting between John Quincy Adams and Cinqu 3. Therefore, it has been divided into chapters (as they appear on the display of the DVD player) in the proposed lesson plan. Instead, Mr. Spielberg devoted most of the two and a half hours to the jumbled aftermath in the U.S. justice system, where white lawyers defend the poor Africans. : _____ PART B (DURING VIEWING) /60 points Task One /5 points What are a few outstanding elements of character, tone, and gesture which the actor Morgan Freeman brings into the role of Theodore Joadson? . Introduction. It does contain a few visually compelling moments, such as the scene on a slave ship that viscerally conveys the horrors of the Middle Passage. . . (The students might be upset by the violence shown if they see it without preparation.) By 1804, the anti-slavery movement, which was started by the Quakers in 1775, had succeeded in the North. Lomboko is stormed by Royal Marines under the command of Captain Fitzgerald, and the slaves held there are freed. Theodore Joadson The decision is upheld by the Circuit Court of Appeals. Insatiable consumer demand (e.g. It begins with Cinqu a Mende tribe . :