MovieChat Forums > 12 Years a Slave (2013) Discussion > master ford....Spoilers

master ford....Spoilers

posted 10 years ago by maskimx
17 replies | jump to latest

I find myself torn on the master ford character. On one hand, he is a kind person, who goes from trying to buy Eliza's children so they won't be seperated, to treating Solomon with some respect and humanity. On the other hand, Ford is an active component in the slave trade, who in the end DID allow the seperation of Eliza and her children and who refuses to hear Solomon out when he tells Ford that he is a free man. Does anyone else think he was a man torn between beliefs or was just a "kind" slave owner who maybe saw his slaves as something a little more than chattel?

[–] TheMadHattress 9 years ago

To me, Ford represents the typical person. Good, but passive. His character is torn between feeling humanely towards the slaves but also trying to follow the status quo. IMO, most people are like Master Ford. They follow what they 'must' do, what it is 'socially acceptable' to do, even if it is wrong because they are too passive, weak or afraid to do the RIGHT thing.

Even if you boil it down to a smaller level, how many people look away when they see a fight in public? Or a child being bullied? Or a man hitting his dog? How many of us ignore suspicious activity? A woman dragged into a car? (Oh, that's just her boyfriend!) A bag left at a train station (oh, someone will come back for it!)

We kind of assume someone else will step in and do something. Really, the only person that can do something is US. In that sense, Ford was quite a real character.