光荣战役

“…But this time, we must make a whole country for all are live here so that they all can speak, before the war began, many of my regiment have never seen any negro…we fight for men and women which poetry has not yet written, but we should presently be as enviable as renowned as any.” This letter was shown at the beginning of the film that Shaw wrote to his mother. The American Civil War is the most important event that affects the development of the United States. On the surface, the American Civil War looks like individuals fight for abolishing slavery and support Lincoln's election. Then, several states in south start proclaiming independence; and the states in the north started a fight for the union. However, looking carefully, individuals might realize that during the election in 1860, Lincoln only got 40% of the votes across the country. Besides Vermont, in most of the states in the north, Lincoln only got 50% to 60% support. Therefore, that is mean if he wants to succeed in the election, he needs to get support from the whole country, and this circumstance leads to a question: is that true that the people who lived in the north really hate the slavery? People can see characters' reaction and movement from the film that claims that they really do not care about if the slavery is abolished or not. This film was showing around 28 years ago; and at that time, people may never think about that after 28 years later, there will have a black president. Moreover, the sound effects and the background music are significant elements that affect audience and historians’ thoughts and feeling. Besides that, these aspects are very important for people to get involve and understand the history. In the ancient world, soldiers fight for glory because they have faith and belief in their mind. Therefore, this film called Glory might have the same meaning. The American Civil War needs a great reason that encourages soldiers to fight for, and the liberate slavery become the most crucial reason that can encourage soldiers to keep up high morale. Furthermore, the film is an autobiography, and most of the autobiography is using the first person point of view. Hence, the scenes that Shaw read the letters that he wrote to his mother is a method to show the first person perspective to the audience. Also, the voiceover helps individuals to get to know the historical event better. Because the movie is also a story of the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry, so the other two main protagonists Trip and John play the important parts.

According to the Constitution of the United States1, they indicate that the Negro has right to join the election, but their vote only counted as third-fifth. As the matter of fact, this rule is disobeyed the constitutional spirit. Perhaps, individuals will think that this rule is made by the southern citizen; however, the southern citizen wants the black people to have the right to vote, and because at that time, black people take a big portion of the population in the south. Hence, their votes become more important. This is true that the causes of American Civil War include slavery, but the basic problem is economy. The diversity of economy between south and north become the origin of the civil war. Besides that, the British play a big part in this situation, and they offered help for the south; and all of these circumstances associated with the economy problem.

Robert Shaw who is a narrative's protagonist was "the son of wealthy Boston abolitionists" and he is "an educated, idealistic young man"2 sometimes he makes people he is relying on his parents too much because he always wrote letters to them and tell them almost everything about himself. The film starts on the battlefield, and it tells the audience the concept and the situation of the story directly.

When he back to home, Shaw "Shaw meets abolitionist Frederick Douglass (Raymond St. Jacques) and Massachusetts Governor John Andrew (Alan North), who offers Shaw the command of a regiment of Negro soldiers, the Massachusetts 54th."3

Shaw started to organize the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry, and Thomas became the first volunteer. Moreover, the film also stressed and emphasized the change, situation, and the growth of Thomas; for instance, what's his inner change. Besides that, the same portrayal and description of the inner heart appear in other character's circumstances. As the matter of fact, the most impressive scenes in the film are their way of fighting. At that time, the southern soldiers are more experienced than the northern soldier, and perhaps the reason is that the southern people just been through the Mexican-American War, and they have some excellent commander left from that war. Furthermore, they have the better weapons that are provided by British. However, the northern soldier looks more inexperienced and younger. During the first battle in this film, these soldiers are using the old-fashioned way to against the enemy.4 they are tidy and keep rank, and move forward till fighting at close quarters. Also, this way of the fight has been continued until the end of the movie. As the matter of fact, the soldiers did not have the machine gun, and they only have the rifle; therefore, they have one more complicated step is to reload the gun; and the most excellent soldier can shoot three times in a minute. Thus, that is mean their way of battle can cause the huge casualty rate. After the last battle in the film, "Shaw is tossed into a mass grave with his men, including Trip."5 Only at this moment, it showed the equal between black people and white people because even though they have different colors, they have the same aim and fight for same thing. Furthermore, "A postscript adds that the 54th "lost over half its number" in the attack, and that President Lincoln credited the 180,000 "men of color" who fought for the Union "with helping to turn the tide of the war"6 This evidence state that what they did is worthy and consequential

James Horner makes the sound effect in this film, and the music in the film is grand, magnificent and strikes a deep chord. The sound effect is really important for the film. The theme of the film is dignity and glory; therefore, James Horner used a lot of orchestral music in order to emphasize the background of this period of time. There are several scenes that are very impressive. The first one is when they used canning to punish Denzel Washington, and after he took off this shirt, the old scars are on his back, and all these scars represent the humiliation. He looked at Shaw and finally shed one tear.7 at this part, the director using the close-up shot; therefore, the audience can see the progressive transformation of his face and emotion. Moreover, the second impressive scene is when Shaw volunteered for his regiment, and he said: "There is more than rest and fight, sir, there is a character, there is the strength of heart.”8 Also, at this moment, the director used the same method as the first one, and the close-up shot showed the emotion of Shaw and his strength. Furthermore, the third impressive scene is before Shaw went to the battle, and he told to the journalist: " If I should fall, remember what you see here.”9 Then, he frees his horse. The most time in this movie, Shaw was riding on his horse in order to highlight his noble and different. However, before the last battle in the film, he releases his horse because he finally stands at the same position with his regiment. Shaw and his regiment became the pioneer of throw off the shackles and the forerunner of fighting for freedom. Moreover, the film is more like the growth of Shaw because during the 122 minutes, the Director showed the changes of his thoughts and behaviors, and same as Thomas.

A large number of historians "interested in film reach a large enough mass to begin to create the meetings, essays, journals, and books that indicate a topic is on the scholarly map."10

Films become a new method of learning history. People usually study history from books, articles, literature, documents, etc. films are able to help historians and students understand the history more. Moreover, films have visual effect and sound effect. Therefore, sometimes individuals might not understand the word in the book or literature, but they can understand from the frames.

To sum up, film studies as a new way of learning history help students and historians understand the more circumstances and situations. Also, from the visual and sound effects, individuals can get to know the historical events from the first-person point of view. Besides that, Glory is a really successful film; and there are several impressive scenes that help people get to know the personalities of protagonists.

前两天看了《光荣战役》（Glory）这部片子，本来头一天看了1/3感觉节奏比较慢不想看了，结果第二天晚上接着看发现还挺有意思，居然一鼓作气看完了，对这部电影有几点思考。 大时代·小人物 影片讲述的故事其实很简单，南北战争期间，一名出身优越的白人军官，克服种族矛盾的重重阻力，率领一支全部由黑人组成的54号部队，全力以赴去战胜南方军、推翻黑奴制度的故事。 男主角马修·布罗德里克彼时也是刚刚出道，只有27岁，很符合主人公的人设。影片一开始他就被任命为上校军衔，主要还是由于他家庭出身比较显赫。即便在现在，我们依然能发现，美国是一个非常认出身的社会，也就是说，你的阶级决定了你的命运，如果出身好，稀缺资源自然而然就会集聚到你身上，富人将一直富有，穷人则很难逆袭。然而，主人公金玉其外、高冷莫测的外表下，其实隐藏着一颗非常纯洁柔软的内心，这个我们在后续的情节都可以看出来。 男配角之一是丹泽尔·华盛顿饰演的一名反抗黑奴制度投奔到军队来的老愤青，影片基本上从开头到快结束，他一直都是一个“端起碗吃饭，放下碗骂娘”的形象，但就是这样一个愤世嫉俗、不讨人喜的破坏分子，其实他对南北战争的本质以及根深蒂固的种族矛盾的观察都是非常准确的，所以他会当逃兵，他还会对听话的士兵嗤之以鼻，他还会主动挑衅白人士兵。总之，丹泽尔·华盛顿把这个角色演活了，彼时，丹泽尔已经35岁，标准的老愤青年龄，他正是凭借这个角色力克群雄，得到了奥斯卡最佳男配角奖项，可谓一战成名。 另一个男配角摩根·弗里曼饰演的就是一个比较老实忠诚可靠的老军长，在军队中也比较有威望，深得白人长官和下属们的信任。老戏骨的表演我也是很喜欢的，他无论演谁都有一种不怒自威的感觉，也没少教训丹泽尔演的那个老愤青。其中有一个细节我印象很深，就是丹泽尔有一次在进军途中与败退的白人士兵起冲突，弗里曼老军长调解未果，另一个白人长官经过明显看出主动动手的是白人士兵，勒令其报上自己姓名，说要报上去。这时候，弗里曼老军长站出来说，“我看，无此必要吧。”把这个场给圆过来了，看似是怕惹事儿，其实是很有大局观的做法。军队，团结很重要。 仁者无敌 白人军官的性格还是很nice的，虽不健谈，也没有和黑人士兵们打成一片，但从几个细节看出，他身上与生俱来的品行，促使他最终和这支部队完全融合在一起。这里举几个例子： 1. 黑人发小眼镜男碰巧成了他的下属，本来可以从中照顾、任人唯亲，但这个白人军官就是铁面无私，无论是公开场合还是私下里都不给特殊照顾，以上下级相称。帅才就是帅才，这种自律能力真的是很必要的。 2. 一开始这些黑人士兵都是没有受过正规训练，散兵游勇，枪法都不行，换子弹速度很慢。白人军官见识过正规军的作战能力，他的目标是带领这支队伍上真正的战场，所以他很焦躁。有一次，在普通军事训练中，对其中上子弹速度和枪法最好的士兵大发雷霆，勒令下属加强训练强度，这显示出一个真正领导者为达成目的的决断和强硬。个人认为马修·布罗德里克这一段演得有点稚嫩，但其实这是一个军官非常重要的品德，对下属严加管教、从严训练，这是赢得战斗的不二法宝。 3. 54部队在资源上备受挤兑，由于全部是黑人士兵，白人下等士兵就可以为所欲为克扣资源，比如很多士兵脚都烂了也得不到像样的鞋子。白人军官一开始也是忍辱负重，后来忍无可忍，直接找了一个机会把白人军士“修理”了一顿，成功地给所有士兵穿上好鞋子，这极大提升了他的威望，从此迅速增粉。 4. 由于黑人拿的薪水只有10美元/月，而白人却有两倍，丹泽尔不依不饶，煽动全体黑人士兵拒领薪水，表示抗议。白人军官此时按理说应该维护军队的权威，以儆效尤，但是他没有，他先朝天开了几枪，大家都镇住了以后，他定了定神，说了一句话：“如果你们不领薪水，我们也不领”。说着就把领薪单给撕掉了。简直是教科书级的率先垂范啊！ 5. 最后终于派上用武之地了，攻打瓦窑堡。白人军官奋勇当先，与黑人士兵一起去战斗，在上战场前也没有什么激情演说，只是淡淡对少年仪仗队说了一句，“现在，我宣布解除你们的职务”，然后又对随行记者说，“如果我战死了，我希望你能为我们记录下这真实的一刻”。最后，当他中弹倒下的那一刻，士兵们群情激愤，奋不顾身冲上去，响起壮烈的战歌。我想，这时候，白人军官已经与这支队伍紧紧融为一体了。 几点启示 1. 这部影片其实主要笔墨不在描写战争场面，更多的是刻画南北战争种族间的矛盾，但白人军官所代表的军人的美德，不仅有效化解了这种矛盾，也很好地把一支队伍融合在一起，最终化为一道金光，照耀自由之路。战死沙场，才是一个军人的无上光荣。最后，影片也很好地呈现了这一点。 2. 这部影片也是一部关于领导力(Leadership)的经典案例教学课，白人军官在这种时代背景和环境中，很容易陷入种族之间不可调和的矛盾，但是他通过自己的亲历亲为，有效地解决了这个问题，实打实地和黑兄弟交朋友，带队伍，我觉得这个真不是装就能装出来的，正是由于他心中有正义感，才有可能由内而外地释放这种领导力。 3. 最后，有一句台词打动了我，在战斗前一天篝火会，黑人士兵们都在颂主，轮流祈祷，轮到丹泽尔了，他以前曾认为这场战争没有意义，最终还是会有种族矛盾，有压迫，但现在，他只说了一句，“54部队，我爱你。”也许，这就是看清了生活的全部真相，依然存有内心的热爱吧。我们的工作生活难道不是一样吗？