America is home to five percent of the world’s population and twenty-five percent of the world’s prisoners (Lee). Starting with explaining that America has the highest leading numbers of incarcerated people in a land that is supposed to be free, the documentary “13TH” goes into…
13th Documentary Essay Examples and Topics
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Brief overview
Reviews
13th Documentary
Documentary
Film Analysis
13th Documentary: the Recorded History of Black Discrimination
1263
“That’s why when someone asks me about violence, I just find it incredible because what it means is that the person who’s asking that question has absolutely no idea what black people have gone through, what black people have experienced in this country since the…
In the mid-1960s, Malcolm X stated, ‘In the event that you stick a blade nine crawls into my back and haul it out three inches, that it not advance. Regardless of whether you haul it such a distance out, that isn’t advance. Progress is mending…
13th Documentary
Documentary
Film Analysis
The Loop Holes in 13th Amendment in 13th Documentary
1080
Documentary films are a powerful tool in spotlighting and drawing attention to social issues and problems. 13TH is a title to Ava Du Vernay’s 2016 documentary that focuses on the exploitation of the lope holes on the thirteenth amendment of America’s constitution by some able…
13th Documentary
Documentary
Racial Profiling
Ava Duvernay and Her Documentary, 13th: Picture of Slavery and Racism
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I was triggered after roughly 10 minutes into the documentary. The constant feelings I had were sadness and anger. I knew some aspects of US history; however, the film opened my eyes more to the subjects; of racism and inequality which people are still experiencing,…
The film conducts a concrete research into the American system and comes up with shocking statistics. The director relies on several liberals and conservatives whom she interviews to (replace-to) dig in about the African American society has been affected by the prison complex in the…
Date
2016
Created by
Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick
Type
Documentary
Genre
Crime film/history
Major Characters
The 13th Documentary features several political figures in the US, activists, public figures, and educators. The major figures featured are Cory Booker, Angela Davis, Van Jones, Michelle Alexander, Jelani Cobb, Bryan Stevenson, And Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Based on
The 13th Documentary is based on the 13th amendment of the US constitution which was ratified in 1865. The amendment abolished slavery and slaves thought they were eternally free but they were wrong. It was the beginning of another form of legal slavery acceptable in criminal punishment.
Symbols/motives
The major political figures, activists, and influential personalities are used as symbols in the 13th Documentary. Figures like Hillary Clinton and Martin Luther are used to provide a persuasive voice to the audiences. Images of the constitution and recordings from the archives have been used too.
Influence
Compared to the global human population, the US makes up 5 percent. Surprisingly, 25 percent of world prisoners are in the US. 40 percent of the prisoners in the US are black. The 13th Documentary looks closely at the inequalities both historical and present.
Plot
The 13th Documentary focuses on historical racial discrepancies in the US. Ava DuVernay particularly focuses on the nation’s prisons. His main issue is the racial inequalities in criminal punishment where the majority of the prisoners are Black Americans.
Why is this topic important
The 13th constitutional amendment is important because it abolished slavery. The 13th Documentary details the contents of the amendment. It provides information that although the amendment freed the slaves, there is widespread slavery in the form of justice. Many black men are in prison due to minor offenses or for no offense.
Main Ideas
The 13th Documentary’s main ideas revolve around issues of mass incarceration in the US, INJUSTICES, and race.
Key Quotes
- Martin Luther King Jnr: “Over delayed justice is justice denied.”
- Michelle Alexander: “The jails have thousands of people right now sitting there just because they are too poor to get out.”
- Barack Obama: “5 percent of the world population is in the US, but it’s home to 25 percent of global prisoners. Think about that.”
Interesting facts
- In the 1970s, the prison population in the US was about 327,000. In 2022, there are more than 2 million prisoners in the USA.
- The US makes up 5 percent of the world population but 25 percent of prisoners in the world.
- The 13th constitutional amendment free slaves but the law created another form of slavery
- The majority of the prisoners today are there due to minor offenses.
Why should this topic be used
The 13th Amendment shows how the US prisons changed following the Civil War. It details how the prison system began to be used as a way to get laborers for free. The amendment freed everyone from slavery except those imprisoned.
Arguments for
The major argument in the 13th Documentary is that imprisonment and mass incarceration are a slavery extension. Criminalization has persistently been part of anti-black racism.
Arguments against
The argument that states prisoners work for the government through state leasing can be argued against. The argument suggests that the prisoners earn income for the government but they earn nothing.
