While many were watching the premiere of 'Empire', I caught the premiere of the Canadian series based upon Lawrence Hill's Novel, "The Book of Negroes". Off the top here at a sci-fi social networking site, that may sound like a racist fantasy-adventure tome. But it isn't. Rather TBN is the account of an African Woman named Aminata taken from her homeland by African Slavers and her life as a slave in the 'new world' during the late 18th and early 19th Century.
Though there have been other series and recently the film '12 Years a Slave', TBN in many ways is a chronicle like the original Roots from the perspective of an enslaved woman.
Like with 'Amistad', few punches are pulled with how conditions were aboard a slave ship despite it being a network show. They also showed how many captured slaves plotted and fought to keep from being carried off to who-knew-where for who-knew-what. What I like about the show so far is how they portrayed African people as having perfectly good and reasonable lives without the 'help' of the white man. Even showed how African lives began to suck because of the white man's influence.
So far, they haven't 'romanticized' the situation and I look forward to seeing how they handle Aminata's life as an adult among the whims of her Southern white master and whether the story turns to romanticized mush or if they stay the course and keep it real....
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/the-book-of-negroes-makes-tv-debut-wednesday-on-cbc-tv-1.2891161
Comments