Stereotypes In Uncle Tom's Cabin

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In 1852 the book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was published and went on to become revolutionary. If the same book were published today – 155 years later – it may bring about absolute outrage.
The classic “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” should not be dramatized – which isn’t to say that movies touching on slavery shouldn’t be produced, just that something written during the time period by someone who wasn’t directly affected (a white, privileged woman) is inappropriate. Many of the characters in Uncle Tom’s Cabin are very stereotypical in order to invoke sympathy from white audiences of the time. Characters such as Topsy, Eliza, and even Uncle Tom would not translate well to screen without being wildy offensive. Topsy is described as “pigeon toed”, “googly eyed”, and as having hair sticking up …show more content…
A book written by a white, privileged woman would not only likely fail to draw sympathy from the audience but would also place a false twist on history and present it as fact. It would make far more sense to make a movie about the subject written by a person of color, directed by a person of color, and with a cast majorly made up of people of color. A great example of this same logic is the idea of a man writing and directing a movie about sexism towards women: he wouldn’t have the experience required, he wouldn’t be able to tell the story with true emotion, and it would ultimately make a weak movie.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a beautifully written book and brought about a lot of positive change during its time. However, society changes, people grow, and some things are better left in the past as classics rather than attempted to bring back to life. I would far sooner watch a movie written and directed by a person of color about slavery rather than a movie based on a book written over 100 years ago by a privileged white

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