Lupita Nyong'o

As I've repeatedly mentioned in class, I recently saw the film 12 Years a Slave. In the film, actress Lupita Nyong'o plays Patsey, a slave woman who happens to be the sexual plaything of the evil white slave driver. In part of Reid's chapter 5, he writes about how certain films depict "Black female protagonists who were equally intelligent to their white lovers". Although Patsey isn't a submissive character, she has no choice but to give in to the slave driver's desires or face death by whipping. She endures all of his fits and angry outbursts, often acting as a voice of reason—telling him the error of his ways as he carries out the awful deed. One example from the film has to do with Patsey's short absence from the house, a time she used to retrieve a bar of soap from the neighbors. After getting drunk, the slave driver wants Patsey but can't find her. After going into a rage, he intercepts her upon her return and violently confronts her, all because of a bar of soap. This film differs from Reid's perspective in a way. Not only is she a supporting character, but she is portrayed in a more humane way than her white oppressor, a sort of symbol for the endurance of Black people throughout the violent tests of time. He is depicted almost demon like, perfectly embodying the evil, plague-like disease that racism is.