Madison Gensurowsky
Film analysis
Steven Spielberg’s film “Lincoln” begins at the time of the Civil War when President Lincoln was demanding the war’s end. Within the first scene the brutality of the war is shown, mainly against black soldiers. Race was a huge issue at the time the film takes place and that was Lincoln’s largest struggle as he tried to keep the nation as one. The film takes place in the 1860’s and reveals that white privilege was a central belief at the time. However, the way that white people are portrayed in the film suggests that not much has changed in that respect.
The idea of white privilege suggests that white people see themselves as just humans, people without a race. Privilege is a way of thinking that “generally allows people to assume a certain level of acceptance, inclusion, and respect in the world, to operate within a relatively wide comfort zone” (Rothenberg, 103). At the time of the civil war, white people took it upon themselves to decide who gets taken seriously and who is accountable to whom for what. They assumed superiority among every other race, as they were humans who had no race, they were simply humans. White people, men in particular, were entitled to any and every freedom that the Constitution allowed. In this film, Lincoln is fighting to pass the thirteenth amendment, which would free the slaves and end the devastation of the Civil War. The white soldiers are praised in the film for the battle that they are fighting, although the battle being fought is not theirs. There is much debate about whether or not the amendment shall be passed among the white congressmen because they do not believe that black people are equal. The opening scene begins with a violent scene where soldiers are attacking one another and many of those being attacked are black. A voice over says that every Negro soldier held hostage was killed