Twelve Years A Slave

Compare Solomon Northup’s 1853 memoir with Steve McQueen’s 2013 film. How did McQueen adapt Twelve Years A Slave for twenty-first century audiences? What details did McQueen omit, include, exaggerate, or modify? Were these choices aesthetic or political? In the end, which makes for a more compelling portrayal of American slavery: Northup’s memoir or McQueen’s film?