Amistad: Film and Book Comparison

Amistad: Film and Book Comparison Jinchen Zhao After watching the film Amistad and read the book of this story, I feel like they are both valuable to study the history of America in 1840s. Meanwhile, from my point of view, the book is more academical than the movie while the movie can give you a quick idea about what is really going on in the story and you can feel the story more directly than the book. Now, lets compare them in different aspects. What can the student more readily learn from the film as opposed to the book? After watching the movie, the first thing that I feel different from the book is the mood that those actors behaved were really shocking. From the movie, we can directly feel the eager of those black people whom lead by Cinque want to regain their freedom.The time that Cinque yelled out Gives us free make me feel the power of those black people and this cant be shown in the book. Furthermore, the visual appeal it emanates to the audience, and we all can feel the frustration as the Africans when they want to say about themselves but they cannot due to they are unable to speak English, meanwhile, we all can feel the happiness when they finally have their freedom back. That is hardly to feel when we only read the book. Do the different mediums tell the same story or are there sufficient reasons to argue they do not? This question is pretty hard to tell, in my point of view, they are neither telling the EXACT same story nor they are telling the different story. First of all, the book is more academical resource of the story, and the book is telling us the story more in direct ways. For example: There are a lot of examples about the effect to people, city, countries if the Africans are freed. E.g. Van Buren was more thinking about the influence about his re-election if he choose to free those African people.(p.47) The Cuban Planters always considering the number of free black people they would like to give as they do not want the uprising of them and at the same time, they want profit. (p.19) All those examples made the book a perfect resource for research and the book gives us more details about the environment in the society as well as introduced many political jargon. On the other hand, the story line in the movie is almost the same as the book. From the uprising to got caught and finally earne d their freedom in the end. Yet there is some difference. As we all know. The movie Amistad is a typical Hollywood film, in this case, there is inevitable changes to the original story in order to let people pay to watch the movie and be entertained by the film. For example:In the book, Roger Baldwin was interested in free the African people before the Amistad trial and he was trying to help them in a previous court base. Yet in the film, thats not what the person is, the film want to make the character: Roger Baldwin, have a good turn-around and make the story more interesting,Roger Baldwin only begin to fight for the African people at the end of the movie, he was more caring about his career advancing in the beginning.(p.37 and film). Cinque did not kill the captain of Amistad in the book(p.25), instead he let his friends strangle him. This can be reasoned as the Hollywood movie usually want to build a hero in the film and that is Cinque. The most different thing about the film an d the book is the procedure of the trial. Although they reach the same conclusion: The Africans earned their freedom, but in the book, there are long long story that they used many words to convince that the Africans should earned their freedom while in the movie, it is more likely that all people are persuaded by John Quincy Adams in a matter of time.(p.193) Since the film version of this historical event cannot contain the same amount of detail as the book version, do the details omitted from the film essentially presented different account to the extent that the history portrayed is essentially different from that depicted in the book? From my opinion, the details that omitted from the film does not produce a different story. They are more likely to be a additional remarks to each other. Basically, the book and the film shows us the same story, from the beginning of the uprising to get caught again and through the trails then finally get their freedom back, the main story line are pretty the same,yet there is still differences. The people in the book are more accurate to describe what they really are, their personality, the thinking, the attitude is clearly described in the book. On the other hand, as the major goal of a film is to make audience pay and make them entertained, there are some difference in the film. But in general, the film cannot be called a different story. Is one medium more suited to academic study? Does this make one medium superior to the other when it comes to teaching history in university? To this question, I think the answer is: Yes, the book is more suited to academic study. First of all, the book is extremely informative as it is based on the research those who are extremely well-known in the Amistad subject, legal materials and records from archives. All this gives Jones plenty of valuable information to write a accurate book and provide a deep analysis about the whole story around Amistad. The detail provided by the book is extremely valuable and this makes the book a much more suited to academic study than the book because when people read the book, they can know that this is what really happen in the past rather than thinking which part is changed in the film in order to make people like the movie more. Jones remains neutral in the book and he only gives us the facts of the story. He clearly described how Amistad trial affect the people who were fighting for black peoples rights(p.27), he told us the divide between the North and South of America during the elect ion, and the problem between Spain and America. On the other hand,   the film did present the story to us, but to be honest, although the main story line are the same, yet the details are inaccurate. In academic study, you want to teach students the truth about history and let students know the details of the whole trial. It is just not quite well to use the film to teach in academic study due to the inaccurate and lack of details. Do both mediums use the same sources? And What sort of sources do the film and the book rely on? In my point of view, they are using the different sources, as I said earlier, the book is based on the professors research of Amistad project, court records from archives and legal materials etc. It is more detailed and accurate while the film is almost totally based on the book and made some adjustment to entertain audiences more while earn some profit in the film. 6. If you would be given the task of teaching the history of this subject, is using one medium more preferable than the other for teaching a first-year university class? In this case, as we are teaching a first-year university class. To be fair, it is not easy for students to read a 280+ page books in a short time. In this case, I would say I will use the movie as the primary resource to teach first year students to let them have a general idea about the story. At the same time, I will tell them that there is some problem with the film which is inaccurate and lack of details, I might assign homework or assignment to let student have a research on the books about the difference between the real story and the story that presented in the film. Of course, I will provide a small range of page on the book to help students quickly locate the main points. E.g. Pg20-25. Meanwhile, it is good to write a small essay around 300-400 words after finish watching a 2 hour film. The film is a perfect resource to let first-year students know the general idea of the story and at the same time, it wont be too hard to understand. Although I do believe that reading the wh ole book is much more accurate and full of details. To be fair, it is still not good enough to be a teaching material as we cannot spend whole term on a single story. In conclusion, Amistad is a good story to study the past of 1840s in America, the book is more detailed and accurate about the history and make it a perfect choice of academic study or research while the movie can let us have a wonderful two and half hours of history feast while still can get the main story line. Both material are extremely valuable, we cannot decline any of those two in the function of helping us learning the past. To best describe the relationship between the book and the movie, I think the movie can be the best attachment to the book. The Gender Imbalance in China: History and Overview The Gender Imbalance in China: History and Overview Introduction Carl Max identified social class as the definitive origin of classism as well as of oppression in regards to women. In respect to China, leaders assumed that the birth of the Republic brought with it the demise of class-based discrimination thereby liberating women. But this is not particularly the case as the new society was characterized by amplified efforts to transform the society through masculinization as women became increasingly pressured to act as well as dress in a manly manner. In this respect, the period encompassing the Cultural Revolution saw â€Å"women who tried to look feminine† criticized â€Å"for their improper attitudes† (Ownby, 351). This submission will seek to â€Å"In China’s Modern Economy, a Retro Push against Women† appearing in the New York Times in regards to the picture it paints in relation to gender in China to ordinary American reader. Based on the course as well as various course materials, the article will be critiqued i n regards to the manner in which it displaces various figures presented by the course. Discussion The economic explosion in China has created an array of opportunities for Chinese women on the one hand, but has equally fostered a renaissance of long-introverted traditional values. Increasingly, men as well as women hold the hold the opinion that a woman’s place in society is confined to the home. In this regard, affluent men take mistresses in what epitomizes a modern resurgence of concubines coupled with increasing pressure for women to marry early. In the workplace and particularly the corporate scene, the Socialist-epoch consensus has been substituted with open sexism, which in some intances is toughened by the law (Tatlow and Forsythe, 1). This summation is consistent with the requirement that women bind their feet as the men did as outlined by predetermined cultural norms as well as practices to in an effort to fulfill the need to use the body as attire and therefore use the body as reflection of the society. â€Å"The body was a signpost that could be rearranged by a person to show political allegiance or defiance. The mass hysteria that enforced conformity to Manchu attire unleashed, in turn, affords new insights into the gendered nature of conceptions of the body† (Ko, 20). Patriarchal Society In regards to the article and the impression created to the general reader in America, China is not the society that has been portrayed in various media. It is not a model state in relation to the place of women in the society in comparison with other parts of Asia. The regime has gone to great lengths to portray women as being equal to their male counterparts by declaring their role in the society as being equal to the half the sky (Tatlow and Forsythe, 2). However, the reality is that women still play second fiddle to men and what the Chinese authorities are trying to do is present as false picture to the world in order to justify their position as a global leader underlined by the need to achieve gender equity as well as equality. However, this conclusion does not present itself clearly from the article but the underlying theme of the article is predicated on debunking the erroneous myths advanced to the ordinary American reader. Indeed, while the women in corporate America are struggling with the glass ceiling, their counterparts in China are battling a different and more potent form of career discrimination: the sticky floor. Though the glass ceiling does prevail in China, most women do not seem to progress from the point they entered a career in. They will remain there playing a predefined role in order to meet a specific target. The reality presented here is one where the society tries to maintain as well as control traditional values as opposed to promoting the ideals of a modern woman within a contemporary society. To the American reader, having a woman or several of them in on the board of public or private organization is standard practice due to the inherent advantages within the global business context. However, in the Chinese society as presently constituted, this notion is met with misunderstanding and to some extent boredom by business and government leaders. At this point, the question that begs is why this trend is so prominent in China particularly in state-owned organizations where for instance, a majority of the firms making up the CS300 assemblage do not have women directors despite being owned by the state which could simply make an executive order and make it a requirement for the fairer sex to be represented. A closer look at the article reveals a situation where the society as it were tries to justify why women are still being oppressed and confined to peripheral roles within the great economic renaissance sweeping through China. In this regard, women should be blamed for the precarious situation they find themselves in the present society as they have failed to fight for equality (Tatlow and Forsythe, 3). This conclusion could not deviate further from the truth as the society as presently assembled fails to facilitate the creation of a conducive environment for women to demand their rightful place in the social, economic as well as political realm. Take the Leadership of the Chinese Communism Part as a case in point. The party is primarily dominated by the male gender throughout its ranks. In fact, no woman has ever expressed any intention of ascending to its leadership and by extension the leadership of the Republic due to the patriarchal nature of the current political dispensation th at then defines the interactions within the other facets of the society. Further â€Å"the feminine qualities of irrationality, willingness, regret, romanticism, and love of illusion† have been carried forward to the present generation and as such continue to determine the role women play in the society as regards politics (Barlow and Bjorge, 316). Republican China It is important to take cognizance of the fact that the situation presented by the article has not been sustained throughout the entire history of China. It is therefore important to examine the function women have played historically particularly during the initial decades of the twentieth century- an aspect that has not been adequately examined by the authors. In this regard, the Guomindang Civil Code during the last decade of the 20th century recognized the vital role of an individual in regards to legal purposes. Women were consequently accorded passive agency which, enabled them to resist or endure abuse and if their resistance was judged insufficient, they were criminally liable. Consequently, women were regarded as active agents as well totally autonomous and like men; they controlled their own choices in marriage, sought divorce and inherited property. These then laid the foundation of the new republican society in China (Hershatter, 24). This means that the present society in China was build through an appreciation of the critical role that both sexes can play in building a modern society predicated on class as well as social equality. As previously Stated, the leadership within the Republic views women as holding up half the sky and this statement is therefore not as misplaced as the article would like to portray to the common folk in America. The only difference here being that over time and particularly in the years following the Cultural Revolution, the society changed and perceived the role of women as confined to the home setting. This is why women are today encouraged or rather pressured into marrying early and therefore leaving their career to raise children. New Woman versus Modern Girl The change in gender and sexuality in China during the preliminary decades of this epoch, was first and foremost motivated by the recognition that confining women to their conformist roles within the confines of home and away from the work force meant that their potential to add to the revolution required in the country would remain unexploited and consequently restrain the productivity required to build a modern society as well as economy. To realize this nationalistic goal, China had no option but to construct a novel woman- one who would contribute positively to the state as well as the nation. This woman would be detached from conventional female seclusion based on the fact that labor or gender roles were â€Å"linked with family disaster, with hardship, and barely getting by† (Hershatter, 57). However after China achieved its intended goal as regards to creating a new state, it seems that it was widely believed that women had made their contribution and such, would not be required in China and their place was subsequently their role was confined to the domestic realm. Though a great read, the article fails to take cognizance of these facts in order to give the common reader a lucid picture as to the important contribution made by Chinese women throughput various stages of its illustrious history. What the article does is portray a society that never went through various transformations since the Maoist era where discussing such issues like â€Å"personal life, romantic relationships, or sex was considered bourgeois and hence taboo† (Honig, 143). The new woman created during the creation of the republic therefore differs markedly from the modern girl in the sense that the latter has no role to pray in furthering the goals of the current dispensation as was the case w ith the latter. In this regard, it is important to note that the Cultural Revolution succeeded in creating a modern woman but did not extend the benefits to the modern woman. Positionality in Modern China The current position of women in China is borne out of the realization that the communist regime emphasized gender equality in an effort to unite the two sexes as the nation focused attention on building socialism. The general picture portrayed here is one that depicts gender equality rhetoric that basically epitomizes the reality of inequality in the present society, where women are no more than keepers of the home and therefore cannot play any significant or make any significant contribution to Modern China. Women were only accorded equal status as men in order to for them to get educated and therefore reflect the aspiration of the new Republic. From the article appearing in the New York Times, it is important to examine what being a woman in the current society in China means in regards to the dynamic responsibilities in workplaces as well as the society. The changing social in addition to economic fabric has created numerous opportunities in regards to Chinese women but it is important to interrogate whether these transformations have impacted the roles of women in any significant way. In this respect, a Chinese woman is required by the society, to continue playing her traditional values as espoused by the traditional values esteemed by the cultural stratum while at the same time utilizing the opportunities as well as freedoms presented by the new China (Tatlow and Forsythe, 4). In addition, the growing middleclass living lucratively within the cities is focused on giving their daughter the opportunities they never hand in order to compete effectively with their male colleagues but the idea that women should marry early and consequently leave their careers early in order to raise their children still underlines their perspectives as regards the role of women. This conclusion is supported by fact that even though the Chinese society has changed profoundly in the last few decades, just like other women in the world, they have to strike a balance work and family responsibility if they are going to gain their rightful place in the society (Tatlow and Forsythe, 5). In this respect, a woman can be on the one hand an individual while on the other represent numerous characters. This is markedly different from the manner in which men are viewed as they are only required to be individuals without other characters irrespective of the setting. It is clear that the society under consideration is more opened-minded and continues to recognize the important contribution of women towards social and economic as well as political advancement but societal pressures still persist. Gender differences will therefore continue to influence the way women are viewed and as such, they will never be truly emancipated. Indeed, the powerful assumptions that women are obliged to marry early and consequently focus their energies on families after the birth of a child will account for inherent disparities going forward. More importantly, despite the provisions in law prohibiting discrimination, the vagueness in the writing as well as spirit will continue to maintain the status quo and as such, women will repose as well as reside in the realm of second citizenly from where they cannot make any significant contribution to the future of China (Tatlow and Forsythe, 6). Conclusion The article, â€Å"In China’s Modern Economy, a Retro Push against Women† is great read in regards to painting a true picture of the position women hold in contemporary China. It portrays gender as defining factor in interactions within the society. To the American reader, it depicts are a markedly different situation since the women in the corporate sector there are battling the sticky floor as opposed to the glass ceiling. In essence, the article underscores the need within the society to restrict women to a particular rank without giving them any incentive to progress as societal needs in regards to gender roles must at all times supersede the need to progress career-wise. Works cited Barlow, Tani E and Bjorge Gary J. I Myself Am A woman: Selected writings of Ding Ling. Boston: Boston Press, 1989. Print. Hershatter, Gail. National Countermemories: The Gender of Memory: Rural Chinese Women and the 1950s. Gender and Cultural Memory, 2002: 43-70. Print. Honig, Emily. Socialist Sex: The Cultural Revolution Revisted. Modern China 29.2, 2003: 143-175. Print. Ko, Dorothy. The Body As Attire: The Shifting Meaning of Footbinding in Sebenteeth Century China. Journal of Womens History, 1997: 8-27. Print. Ownby, David. The Gender of Rebels. Du, Shanshan and Ya-chen Chen. Women and Gender in Contemporary Chinese Societies: Beyond Han Patriarchy. Lexington Books, 2013. 385-386. Print. Tatlow, Didi Kirsten and Michael Forsythe. In China’s Modern Economy, a Retro Push Against Women. New York Times, 20th February 2015. Web.