History Unchained, the visual representation of Slavery in mainstream Hollywood Cinema

Abstract: Through Hollywood film history there have been several, mostly inconvenient topics, that have been kept away from public conscience through the film industry and governmental censorship. Amongst the genocide on Native Americans and homosexuality, the topic of american slavery has been underrepresented in mainstream Hollywood. Using the theories of contemporary theorists such as bell hooks and Tim Wise, on racism and racial equality in the United States, as well as current television shows, this thesis aims to find out what political changes have caused this topic to be more prominent in mainstream Hollywood cinema today, as well as how the depiction of slavery has changed since 1915. The thesis deals with the concept of cultural memory as well as how visual input contributes to the shaping of cultural memory, making clear how important it is to understand the role of modern cinema in order to understand society. Using contemporary film theories and following a fixed set of questions to analyze five movies from Birth of a Nation in 1915 to Django Unchained in 2012, this thesis aims to make clear how the depiction of slavery has changed in the last century and how this may affect the cultural memory of american society.