Thoughts on Slaverys Interior

Out of all the guest lecturers that we have had the pleasure of learning from and engaging with Dr. Reed certainly took the memo of think out side the box to heart. Yes, I will fully admit I was a skeptic when I saw the title of his lecture "Slavery's Interior- Cinema and the Performative Traumas of History" I mean how on earth was this supposed to relate to our love and desire class? Well he accepted the challenge and made it work. Dr. Reed presented a very original view on the subject of desire and how it applies to our world, in the case of his work desire was something people wanted to be in control of and still do. The way he put it was that the act of enslaving another individual was the act of keeping alive someone who would rather die. In essence this describes the enslaver as one who wishes to control the desire of others (his slaves) but ultimately is the victim of his own desires to control others, somewhat of a means of compensation for the lack of self control. In multiple ways the overall idea and theme of slavery can be applied in many ways, such as the traditional sense of slavery which Dr. Reed has analyzed through film for the purposes of his lecture and in the metaphorical sense which is what these films wish to appeal to. In these films on slavery the longing for freedom (the overarching theme of his talk) is the key representative of unfulfilled desire, film makers have been using slavery as a successful medium to capture the audiences longing for their own personal freedoms from self invented slaveries so to speak .To put it plainly after seeing a film like Amistad a mid level cubicle worker may feel justified enough to break free of the bonds of his deadend employment and pursue the finer things in life, however on the other hand you may have the exact same office worker return to his work the next day with renewed fervor for his previously undesirable employment. This train of thought follows suit with what Dr. Reed summed up near the end of the lecture that we see slavery where we want to see it and we also craft freedom where we want it. Just like love and hate can coexist in the same object simply based on the perspective of who is judging it (refer to the text Celestina where the differing views of Calisto and Sempronio on Melibea are examined in detail if you catch my drift) slavery and freedom can also represent a similarly skewed image dichotomy. What is a miserable trapped existence to one person is freedom and joy to another, it all depends upon the perspective, consider the role of Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) in Django Unchained. By modern standards being a house slave to the same family for your entire life and being put in the position of having to discipline other people in a similarly unfair plight would be hell for most, but for Stephen he wanted nothing of any other life but his life long servitude. Perspective plays a larger role in desire then we think it does, although desire persists as something that we all experience it bears a new face in every setting, it can be wanting something badly or loathing something to an extent that you want to be rid of it.