Friday, October 25, 2013

Glory Reflections



Many African American soldiers enlisted in the Union Army because they saw it as an equalizer.  The idea that they could fire guns against the rebels along with their white counterparts was a moment many of them had waited for.  Furthermore, some black soldiers had been born into slavery, so they saw enlisting as a further leap forward.

After watching Glory (or most of it), how much of the soldiers' hopes were realized?

11 comments:

  1. After watching Glory (most of it) in class, i think that the men who are joining the army come in with really big hopes and dreams. However i think that some of the men think that joining the army in some ways is just all fun and games because the part in the movie where the men are getting their guns for the first time, the camera flashes over to a bunch of guys on the side who are pretending to shoot each other. The dreams that the men come into the army with are that they want slavery to be completely abolished and get some type of revenge on their old life. Now i think that the men are realizing that the army is serious and not just a game. Also when the one man was whipped i think that a lot of the men gained more hope in the war because they are going to fight harder so that they never have to get whipped.

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  2. First of all, in the context of the movie this was the first flank of all black soldiers so they must have been extremely brave. They had to ignore immense adversity just to have the guts to enlist and actually go through with it. They definitely saw it as a step up not just for them but for everyone against slavery as a whole, symbolized in their wanting of the blue suits. They wanted those suits because they're the same ones that the white soldiers get to wear therefore for them to wear it would mean that in the eyes of the war time government they are equal as men. Keyword: war time, meaning that this doesn't necessarily mean that the thought that they're okay with them taking a bullet for the country will transgress into people thinking of them as equal in general. I think the movie brings up an interesting topic when the other officials joke about how their regiment will never get to fight. This definitely reflects the exact ideology of the time because going into battle isn't just being okay with the fact that you might die for a country but the people and the government put soldiers out there as representatives. Therefore, fighting becomes such a bigger deal if you think about it in that sense. They obviously thought that by participating in this would be a big deal if they were okay with the fact that just being there could mean their lives. Everyone saw them as a joke but they're serious and end up prove a lot of people wrong. I've seen this movie and know that they end up not only fighting but become regarded as one of the best regiments, gaining them enough respect to even fight alongside white troops.

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  3. Well I have never seen this movie previously and after watching most of it i've realized how much hope they had to fight and try to show there equality. But once they joined there starting to realize that it is not a game and they will sooner or later have to attempt and kill someone. But some African Americans joined and just try to make themselves look more equal while some joined and try to fight for what they believed was right. But the scene when Lee was shooting the gun in the guys face realized that this is not a game and it is serious. But even some of the soldiers said that African Americans are just as good as white soldiers and might even be better.

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  4. After watching the Glory in class, we were able to interpret what it was really like in the CIvil War. Even though some men joined the army because of the idea that they could fire guns against the rebels along with their white counterparts and because they thought of it as a chance to move up the social latter, some joined the Union Army because they did not know what it was really like since they were not educated properly. However, at last, they were all fighting for one single cause. After the Emancipation Proclamation, many people saw the Civil War, war for abolishment and therefore, blacks took it as fighting for their liberty/race and for their own cause.

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  5. I've never seen this movie but after watching most of it I've seen that most of their hopes were realized. You can tell that the soldiers are all being treated equally within the group. Yes, they are being bossed around, but they are also being treated with respect when they do something well. When Lee was making the African American soldier reload his gun and shoot and reload really fast, and was shooting the gun right in his ear, he was trying to prepare him for how battles would actually be and how fast he would need to be able to reload and shoot again. This shows that the African American soldiers are being helped by the chiefs, and being taught the same ways that the white soldiers would be taught. This shows that their hopes are being realized. Enlisting in the army was something that did help the african american soldiers to "leap forward". I think this because they were taught how to use a gun, and were taught many things that they need to know in order to survive. Also, when the soldier had no shoes and his feet were all bloody and gross, somebody said something to the chief about it. The chief actually did something about it. He went and got them socks and shoes. This shows that he actually cares about his soldiers, and is helping them to stay healthy and become really good soldiers. You can tell that the African American soldiers are becoming really good or even better than the white soldiers, and that they are being taught the right way to do things. Their hopes are being realized.

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  6. Many of the African American soldiers' expectations were not at all like the reality of war. Some of them saw join the war as an equalizer because they would be able to fight alongside the white soldiers. However, in one scene of the fat ugly colonel, he tells Robert that he was not going to let the African American soldiers fight. In a couple of scenes in the movie. you can tell that some of the soldiers didn't take war seriously. They thought of it like a game. Robert realizes this and really tries to prepare them. For example, Robert sees that one soldier is a good shooter, but when he shot a gun into the air right by his ear, and yelled at him to reload his gun faster, the soldier was unable to do it. Robert was preparing the soldier for real battle, where hundreds of gun shots would be heard. Also, when the African American soldiers first receive their guns, they mess around with them and playfight. The soldiers definitely realized that their imagination of war was not accurate when they actually began to train. It was hours of marching and their feet became bloody and ripped apart. Also, the commanders and other higher positions were extremely tough on them. However, as Robert says in the movie, the African American soldiers learned quicker than anyone he had ever seen and they were extremely brave. With the exception of a couple scenes, the treatment of the African American soldiers surprises me. Some of the commanders saw them as real men. Robert says that he respects the black soldiers because they are fighting for their freedom, and he wants to prepare them as best as he can.

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  7. I believe these soldiers' hopes were realized to some extent. A large portion of them had either been slaves at some point in their life or maybe their parents were. Fighting in the Union Army gave them a purpose and also, some would say, a chance to shoot at their old masters. I watched the whole Glory movie. Although the black soldiers were firstly used for manual labor, they were given a chance to show their courage and skill in battle.

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  8. After watching most of the movie "Glory", I can say that many of the black soldiers went to fight with the Union Army without knowing what it would be like, thinking that it would be like a "game". The main reason why the went there was because it was their only last hope to be treated as everyone, they saw it as an equalizer. In the army, they realized what the real war involved, they realized it was not a game at all. But I was surprised how the black soldiers were treated because they were treated as white soldiers. Obviously it was tough being in the army because the commanders had to prepare them for the real war (in that way they could not be affected by things like hearing shots everywhere or seeing men dying around them). Anyways, the most important is that they were treated as white soldiers and for most of them, since they had been slaves, it was the first time that someone besides their families cared about them, and the first time that someone spent time for them. That's why I believe that their hopes were realized or at least a really big part of their hopes.

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  9. After watching most part of Glory, I think most of their hopes do get to be realized because different black soldiers may have different dreams. During the civil war time, slavery was still very common in a lot of states. My guess is after the emancipation proclamation, African Americans enlist the union army to create equality between black and white race. To fight the rebellion states or even slavery alone with the white soldiers in the same uniform is a craze act for slaves to think. If this is what they hope that fighting in war amount equality regardless the how crucial it is, then their dreams come true. Of course, some black men were free men. Their dreams may be completely over throwing slavery, equal between black and white. So it depends on the person as well. Although they might lose their life in battles, I think most of them do get their dreams come true.

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  10. The African-Americans who enlisted most likely did so expecting it to be a glorious and equalizing experience. They thought it would be great to fight for their freedom. As we saw in the movie Glory, the character with glasses signed up with a smile on his face. But he quickly learned that the army was not at all how he expected it to be. Also, the character from the same tent who enlisted with youthful innocence quickly lost his cheerfulness when put under cruel pressure from the Colonel. So the movie made it seem like the African-American soldiers did not have the military experiences that they were expecting. But, perhaps the freedom that they acquired outweighed the hardships that they faced.

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  11. I think that going into the war, the group of black soldiers that the movie focused on, had much different ideas about how war was going to be compared to how it was. I think that they had the idea that by joining the war they were going to be fighting for equality, but I think that they naïvely misinterpreted the meaning of war. When the men were practicing shooting and the general pulled one man out of the group who claimed he had such good aim from shooting squirrels, I felt like that man felt a sense of accomplishment from being recognized for his aim. After the general starting shooting behind him and telling him to move faster, he realized that war wasn’t going to be like shooting squirrels, there were going to be gunshots behind him and violence all around him and he could die at an moment but he has to keep reloading faster and faster. The pride that he had before this realization disappeared then. Also, when they got their guns and they were play fighting and messing around, I felt like they were all there for the same reason, to fight for the equality that they all sought after, but they had the wrong mindset. When their superiors began progressing (like getting them shoes, etc) i think is when their hopes began to become fulfilled. This example of progress I feel really stood out to the soldiers as a step forward to what they were fighting for. Having not seen the rest of the movie, I am not exactly sure how it all works out in the end, but I admire their self perseverance for a cause that the soldiers believed in.

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