This paper analyzes key characters and themes in the 1997 film Amistad, directed by Steven Spielberg. It examines how contemporary audiences perceive Cinque as a heroic figure, shaped by modern attitudes toward race and justice. The paper also explores the character of Joadson, whose psychological journey reflects a growing awareness of systemic injustice, and attorney Baldwin, whose latent morality is awakened by the horrors of the slave trade. Additional sections draw a parallel between the Amistad Africans' group solidarity and student social dynamics, and conclude by evaluating the film's dual value as both historical drama and academic reference material.
Despite the fact that the societies we contemporarily inhabit and interact within are highly complex and advanced entities, incidents comprising such social woes as racism and other forms of discrimination continue to emerge to one degree or another. There has, however, been a marginal decline in the prevalence of strong anti-African-American racial discrimination within the United States as compared to the degree to which it soared during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The Amistad case and its dramatization in film offer a valuable lens through which these enduring tensions can be examined.
People living within contemporary society prevalently perceive the character of Cinque as rather heroic, primarily due to the comparative decline of racism within modern societal parameters. The protagonist's strong sense of survival — which later becomes the metaphoric crucible for the determination that eventually induces him to devise and execute a plan for resisting his oppressors — is more than enough to ensure that contemporary viewer opinion will strongly favor Cinque as a hero.
It is, however, also apparent that a certain faction of viewers, probably as a result of deeply ingrained racial biases within their worldview, will see the character of Cinque as immoral, villainous, and evil. This division in audience reception reflects broader, unresolved tensions around race and agency that persist in American society.
There is indeed a certain group within the college environment that, in striving to maintain an obviously separate existence from the collective student body, ostensibly adheres to guidelines and social parameters relevantly similar to those observed by Cinque and his companions. What makes this attempt at differentiation more obvious is that, just as Cinque and his companions observed separate customs and maintained separate hierarchies — being of different ethnic groups and speaking different languages — this real-world group similarly draws sharp boundaries between itself and others (Hadden, 1998).
This particular group consists of approximately twelve musicians who, perceiving themselves as superior to other students on account of their musical talent, strive to remain aloof. There is also a broader perception among them of belonging to a somewhat distinguished social stratum, which reinforces their collective separation from the wider student community.
"Joadson confronts injustice and undergoes moral transformation"
"Baldwin's latent humanity awakened by Amistad horrors"
"Film evaluated as drama and academic historical resource"
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