Selma Movie Versus Real Life

Selma

The movie Selma portrays a version of the events that took place in Selma. In the movie and in real life there were three marches. In the movie, the first march featured the beating by the police, the second King turned the crowd back, and the third march was at the end, where the march was completed. These are roughly the real life events. There were subtle differences in the way that the marches were depicted. The first march did result in the beatings. In the second march, in real life King turned the crowd back in respect of a judicial order, where the movie portrays this differently. The movie has King turn the marchers back as being wary of the motivations for the police parting.

Lockett (2014) examined the historical accuracy of the film, and found that in general it was authentic. There were moments when license may have been taken, for example during the private exchanges between King and President Johnson, where it is uncertain what the real nature of those exchanges was. There was dramatic license taken with the deaths of both Jimmie Lee Jackson and James Reeb. Both died days after they were attacked, after being in hospital, but the movie had both dying almost immediately after they were attacked, in order to heighten the drama associated with those deaths, and to ensure that the deaths were portrayed as factors in decision-making of some of the characters. The attacks were, but the deaths were not, because in real life those two individuals did not die right away (Lockett, 2014). Otherwise, however, the movie was relatively accurate in its depiction of the events.

The movie cast the issue of voting rights for black Americans as being a contentious issue for many. Aside from the obvious antagonists, there were two other ways in which this was explored. The first was the political angle, with President Johnson. He was opposing the enforcement of voting rights, but sought to basically justify this as not being his main priority. While it may be true that the President has other issues, he is paid to be able to handle those issues. If not the President, then who? Johnson has whatever political issues he thinks justifies his delays and inaction, but he is definitely presented in the movie as being an obstacle to voting rights.

The mainstream of America is presented as divided. The southern whites are obviously cast as enemies, but the movie touches on the ignorance that most of the country had on this issue, and the role that this played. For people outside of the South, the significance of Selma is the awareness that the violence raised with respect to the status of civil rights in the United States, and the inability or unwillingness of politicians to uphold the law. A key message in the movie was the role that outsiders -- especially whites from the north -- played in changing the tone of the civil rights movement. To that point, it was not an issue for most of America, but the televised violence in Selma changed that.