The Film, A Respectable Trade

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The Film, A Respectable Trade

In the film, A Respectable Trade, the account of slavery is different than usually seen. With an English backdrop, the cruelty of the trade was concealed. The slaves were not laboring in fields, but were being trained in house maintenance. On the streets there are no slaves, they are rerouted to the United States where they are traded.

Although the slaves in the film are generally absent from the physical atmosphere, they are vital to the economic growth of Bristol, England. Josiah Cole exemplifies the plight of the struggling businessman. His dream of a better life is echoed in today’s capitalist society. His constant drive is to move out of his father’s small home and into a bigger house in a better section of town. He is a shroud businessman who works hard to be innovative and find a new demand for his product. The economy of Bristol seems to revolve around one product, which is traded and sold. This description of Bristol doesn’t seem very different from many of today’s capitalist societies. The one difference is the product that is being sold and traded. The humans that are being treated as cargo change the whole system from a thriving capitalist society to one of slavery. The town of Bristol becomes the economic center for slave trading. The slaves are seldom seen, but the money gained from their trading is essential to the town. Cole is taking a business risk by bringing the slaves to Bristol; most of the slaves are traded for other goods by the time they reach the port. He is refining the product he trades in hope that it will fetch him a higher price. The more refined the slave is, the higher price he can charge. This simple business venture is made complicated by social standards because he is trading human beings. Watching this class process of slavery now, from a different societal standpoint, seems foreign. But to the slave traders, such a Josiah Cole, they ignored the fact that they were buying and selling human beings and avowed that they were involved in, A Respectable Trade.

A Respectable Trade, portrays slaves in a unique light. Most scenes of slavery in film show slaves working in the fields of southern states in the 19th century.

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