Firstly I wanted to define both prejudice and discrimination. Definitions provided by http://www.thefreedictionary.com
prej·u·dice
n.
1.
a. An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts.
b. A preconceived preference or idea.
2. The act or state of holding unreasonable preconceived judgments or convictions. See Synonyms at predilection.
3. Irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race, or religion.
4. Detriment or injury caused to a person by the preconceived, unfavorable conviction of another or others.
dis·crim·i·na·tion
n.
1. The act of discriminating.
2. The ability or power to see or make fine distinctions; discernment.
3. Treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit; partiality or prejudice: racial discrimination; discrimination against foreigners.
The movie ‘Amazing Grace’ portrays the history of William Wilberforce in 18th century England. “Wilberfor
ce was a deeply religious English member of parliament and social reformer who was very influential in the abolition of the slave trade and eventually slavery itself in the British empire” (bbc.co.uk, n.d, p. 1). The movie follows the efforts of William Wilberforce and his small group in their efforts to abolish the slave trade. The slave trade involved “British ships carrying black slaves from Africa, in terrible conditions, to the West Indies as goods to be bought and sold” (bbc.co.uk, n.d, p.1). William Wilberforce ©
I do not want to go into exact details as I do not want to ruin the movie for anyone. However, I feel this movie can be linked to prejudice and discrimination as according to the fourth definition of prejudice “Detriment or injury caused to a person by the preconceived, unfavorable conviction of another or others,” this movie showed the efforts of William Wilberforce and his group to fight the prejudice displayed against the African slaves. Furthermore, the third definition of discrimination “Treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit; partiality or prejudice: racial discrimination; discrimination against foreigners,” is also evident within the efforts of the group as they strived to abolish slave trade. William Wilberforce presented his bill to parliament for 18 years and eventually reached success. I feel this film was a useful example of the prejudice and discrimination which was embedded into society during the 18th century. Although within today’s society prejudice and discrimination is still evident in parts, the efforts of William Wilberforce and his group was a big accomplishment. Furthermore, William Wilberforce is eternally remembered, with a suburb within New South Wales, near Sydney named ‘Wilberforce’ in remembrance.
I would really appreciate any other comments or views on this topic/movie in relation to prejudice and discrimination. I would like to cover more on this topic but at this stage I will withhold until the movie has been running a little bit longer.
I have added a link to the trailer to the movie to encourage everyone to see it. It is a great bit of history and an enjoyable film.
I do not want to go into exact details as I do not want to ruin the movie for anyone. However, I feel this movie can be linked to prejudice and discrimination as according to the fourth definition of prejudice “Detriment or injury caused to a person by the preconceived, unfavorable conviction of another or others,” this movie showed the efforts of William Wilberforce and his group to fight the prejudice displayed against the African slaves. Furthermore, the third definition of discrimination “Treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit; partiality or prejudice: racial discrimination; discrimination against foreigners,” is also evident within the efforts of the group as they strived to abolish slave trade. William Wilberforce presented his bill to parliament for 18 years and eventually reached success. I feel this film was a useful example of the prejudice and discrimination which was embedded into society during the 18th century. Although within today’s society prejudice and discrimination is still evident in parts, the efforts of William Wilberforce and his group was a big accomplishment. Furthermore, William Wilberforce is eternally remembered, with a suburb within New South Wales, near Sydney named ‘Wilberforce’ in remembrance.
I would really appreciate any other comments or views on this topic/movie in relation to prejudice and discrimination. I would like to cover more on this topic but at this stage I will withhold until the movie has been running a little bit longer.
I have added a link to the trailer to the movie to encourage everyone to see it. It is a great bit of history and an enjoyable film.
Additionally, I have also added the link to a study guide for 'Amazing Grace' which includes interesting information surrounding the story.
Thanks!
References:
2 comments:
Thanks very much for this - Zoe - you've got me hooked, I've watched the trailer and I'm reading into it :). It is entirely relevant. It is only in very recent human history and in some societies where racial discrimination has been (arguably) and possibly only temporarily overcome. It remains a huge issue and challenge and I'm looking forward to what can be learnt through the window this film opens into a significant historical achievement. And thanks for all the links, including the education guide.
Technical note: The link to the trailer was too slow for me - I had more success with this youtube version.
Hey Zoe!
After seeing the movie I thought it was inspiring to see such a change in a culture. I think that after seeing movie it is easy to assume that slavery is no more. However, slavery is still happening in society, we as a culture are just not exposed to it. It took a life time of dedication for Wilberforce to change the mindset of his society. His dedication and hardships proved how much it takes to breakdown prejudices. It took one man to take a stand but it took a community to make the difference.
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