HIST 4379 History

Our second film was released in 1975, the same year that the last U.S. troops left Vietnam, and one year after Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency. The late 1960s and 1970s was the height of the sexual revolution, and during these same years the nation experienced the rise of the counterculture, where many Americans openly experimented with new ways of thinking and looking at things, and they questioned many of the norms and values of the American way of life. In other words, this film appeared during a time of great social change in American society. Most important, this film came after more than twenty years of the contentious Civil Rights Movement, which not only challenged the morality and decency of post-war America, but it also forced the nation to reexamine the harsh realities of the American past. And a major component in that reexamination was the history of race relations, as well as slavery and the Old South. In this essay, you will need to make an argument assessing the historical accuracy of Mandingo. How was the Old South depicted in this movie and what historical arguments do you think the director was trying to make? In your essay, you should likewise consider what effect, if any, the time period in which this film was made impacted its depiction of the Old South? Finally, you should discuss how the portrayal of the Old South in Mandingo differed from that in Gone with the Wind, which appeared roughly thirty-five years earlier? What do you think accounts for this transformation in interpretation, and what does that say about American popular culture in 1975? In sum, you will need to discuss what you believe to be the historical accuracy of Mandingo, and based on historical evidence, explain why you believe or question its accuracy