Underground, directed and produced by Misha Green, is a TV series that emulates the struggle for freedom black people faced in a country on the brink of a Civil War. This series takes place in Antebellum, Georgia in the late 1800s, where having a slave was considered a white man’s reward. Noah, Rosalee, and Cato are three runaway slaves who are on a mission to seek freedom from their owners. They embark on a treacherous and excruciatingly painful journey to find free territory. Misha Green focused this series not only on slaves, but on the plantation owners, the slave hunters, and most importantly the rare individuals who had goals of protecting and freeing slaves. This tactic and way of storytelling, was very similar to de Beauvoir’s description and theory of the Other. Beauvoir focused her writing and prompts on the idea that someone is always going to hold a higher position than someone else, in this case the slaves versus the masters. The slaves will always be seen as the minority and are considered less than and of no power compared to the white characters. This series displayed clear racism, discrimination, and prejudice to black people in the most hateful way possible, and the struggle for identity and power that these characters faced was heartbreaking.
The fight for power in this series is beyond noticeable, as almost every scene displays the white man’s battle for more money and stature. Plantation owner’s bidding on the most well-rounded slave, full-on fights over who has enough money to win the “prized virgin.” Meanwhile, every black person in this film struggled to claim their own identity. In a specific scene, a young boy named Ben, who was the son of a slave hunter, told Rosalee (the runaway slave), “ I know your name I read it on your slave papers” and she scolded him by saying “ I am not just a name or a price tag, I am a human being worth much more than the 5,000 dollars a white man paid for me.” Rosalee battles this entire series with what she called “ two different faces,” a face for the white men and her own face. The fact that this was something she was taught to stay safe and away from torture is repulsing. She could never be herself because in everyone’s eyes she was nothing but property with no rights, and no voice.
This series has a strong connection to de Beauvoir’s theory of the Other. Through the prominent oppression and racism that takes place in this novel, the black woman and men could be considered the Otherness. They are tortured, beaten, and viewed as nothing but a dollar sign. The slave owners, the plantation owners, and any person who has white skin in this film would be considered the One. They were viewed as superior and the dominant race, describing the owning slaves as a reward to cleanse society and make a profit. I think the main intention of the producer was to emulate the clear racism and injustices that took place in the late 1800s. She wanted the viewers to feel the pain and understand the history of slavery and the cruelty that took place. Green wanted to instill in the viewers a feeling of empathy and hurt when viewing the treatment of the black community during times of slavery. We live in a world now where prejudice, racism, and injustice are still a current topic and issue and I think watching this film makes someone like me angry and hopeful that the black community can be treated equally. It is about time for a change.