Recently, I thought about Twelve Years a Slave and how it was the most painful movie experience I’ve ever sat through. This is not a negative thing, of course. Any remotely realistic movie about slavery should be painful. At any rate, I finally worked up the nerve to watch it again, and I was struck by the scene in which Patsey takes a break from the grueling labor of cotton-picking to make corn husk dolls. On the surface, this scene appears to be a respite from the horrors we’ve witnessed so far. We see Patsey enjoying a moment of solitude, humming to herself as she creates a family of dolls. But even this serene moment is marred – Patsey’s cruel, jealous, violent mistress, Mrs. Epps, watches her from a window of the big house.
Corn Husk Dolls & Play Amidst Oppression
Corn Husk Dolls & Play Amidst Oppression
Corn Husk Dolls & Play Amidst Oppression
Recently, I thought about Twelve Years a Slave and how it was the most painful movie experience I’ve ever sat through. This is not a negative thing, of course. Any remotely realistic movie about slavery should be painful. At any rate, I finally worked up the nerve to watch it again, and I was struck by the scene in which Patsey takes a break from the grueling labor of cotton-picking to make corn husk dolls. On the surface, this scene appears to be a respite from the horrors we’ve witnessed so far. We see Patsey enjoying a moment of solitude, humming to herself as she creates a family of dolls. But even this serene moment is marred – Patsey’s cruel, jealous, violent mistress, Mrs. Epps, watches her from a window of the big house.