CL 3/12

I noticed that in the beginning (before the scenes of the cotton fields) , the film showed the charismatic charm that the family had for one another. They all seemed to live well off, and seemed that there were not a lot of big worries in the worlds. I did pick up on one odd bit where the guy places the cat on to the puppy, and the scene states “hostility”. Then the cat scratches the dog. Was this meant to portray the two totally different animals living under one house as an enemy of sorts. Or two species that had been domesticated over time to live with another but evolve a natural aversion toward one another? (Like blacks and whites were seen at the time). Also, another thing I did notice was that (what I think was) the owner of the plantation was happy to see his slaves dancing during the rest period, but his visiting kin was not. He was shaking his head. Was this an expression of disappointment toward his kin and the owner of the plantation in which he didn’t see as fit to take care of? Or was it on the contrary? Maybe the visiting kin was from the North, and viewed slavery, in general, as something immoral. One last thing I noticed was that at the end, when the slaves were dancing, I think some of those “black people” were actually white people with black paint on their face and arms (like a minstrel show).