Glory is a movie that depicts the hardships of war quite well, but it was, to me, a "Hollywood interpretation". It was too smooth, for the (pardon if this sounds a little objectifying and/or racist please) white soldiers seemed to accept the black soldiers rather quickly. Aside from the quick acceptance, the black soldiers' jubilance during their spare time seemed odd - although I'm not sure if this was a fault on the movie, or a fault on my understanding. It also startled me, that the soldiers were overall unfazed about their companions falling dead. Again, I'm unsure if this was simply how the movie depicted battle, or if it was just me.
Personally, the movie did not help my understanding of the blacks' experience in the war. Not that it wasn't accurate, but I felt as though it was very... vanilla. Nothing new, really - it was already clear to me that the blacks were on a 'tighter leash', had less supplies, and were paid less.
The only time that they were welcomed anytime was when they were going into the Fort Wagner. On other times, they had to experience racism until they accept to go to the fort. It might be not seem like long time because it is movie, but I'm pretty sure they experienced racism for several months until they were accepted by White soldiers. They also fought a battle before they attacked the fort. In the movie, they said "[Shaw's] soldiers haven't slept for 3 days." No matter who they are, if they are very tired and volunteer themselves to do a very hard and dangerous task, everyone will accept whoever they are and cheer them.
ReplyDeleteIf you are talking about how the generals give Shaw stuff so easily, it might be. But the fact that the 54th Massachusetts Regiment were assigned for such an important task, they should have done something that deserved them to take such an important task.