Black People and South Africa Essay

The movie invictus portrays a very controversial issue that has been presented throughout history in many ethnic groups and is seen in societies up to these days. The apartheid is clearly pictured in the movie through many of the attitudes and actions that people take towards the other race they live in their day by day. What is more, Mandela constitutes one of the most important figures in South Africa, especially for the black race as he ? liberated them?from the apartheid. From those days Mandela has been recognized worldwide as a major symbol of the rainbow nation; a reality of distinction between the black and the white people and its establishing differe nces. In the movie, it is highly represented the context in which two different races coexist, and how such a popular sport as rugby can actually create a powerful bond between two races, stimulating a feeling of companionship and unity for the population . For instance, one of the most significant examples seen in the movie is that about the rejection towards Nelson Mandela as a color person when he was first elected as president of the republic of South Africa. The staff of the presidential house, for example started to resign at the very moment it was officially proclaimed that the new president, who had been 27 years in prison for the conflict of the segregation, was a color person. Besides all the differences the two races had in the 1990? s, such as economic standards, prohibition in public places, and extremely opposite ideologies , the Spring Boks which were the most popular rugby team, reached the goal to give an end to the Apartheid. This does not only concern the social, as well as political, and ec onomical issues, but rugby also serves as an emotional trigger to what represents the unity, compassion and sets free the passion to reinforce a country. As the Spring Boks managed to win the World Cup, which was firstly asked by the president, the country started to be a better one, a country which had day by day less and less differences between the two races that were facing each other for more than 10 years. The feeling of rejection towards being in the same room with a colour person was vanished, the passion that both ? nations? had achieved for the South African rugby team was found in each of the African member, and what is more, the strength that the country accomplished by the power that Mandela had towards his family, the South African population. The equality that had been formed between the different races was totally represented in the movie in all the aspects of the population, from the economic Maria Eugenia Traibel Senior III West Social Studies Invictus Essay position, to the social, political and ideological one. This can be demonstrated with many situations that were demonstrated in the movie Invictus. On the one hand, I could express the changes in the social aspects with a punctual situation that besides it was shown in the movie, it was a situation tha t was lived in South Africa every day, this one is associated with the prohibition of access of public places such as bathrooms, rugby and football fields, and the feeling of being in the same room with a person of a different race. The social rejection that the population felt towards the black people, and the feeling of revenge that the colour people felt towards the white ones, was such that they couldn? t speak to each other. From the ideological aspect, I could say that it was one of the aspects that were mostly shown especially through the rugby. The black people couldn? t stand or see the symbol of the spring Boks, as it represented to them the segregation, the apartheid, even the children who were given clothes as a gift because they couldn? t have them, they didn?t accept the Spring Boks t-shirts, it made them feel revenge and fear. But as Nelson fought for having a rainbow nation through the rugby, colour people started to change their minds and support their country as they didn? t do before. They lea rned to play the sport; they waved the Spring Boks flag and the South African one and also shared the passion for the game with all the African population. The distrust that the white people had towards Nelson Mandela made a twist when he went directly to the important symbol of them, the rugby. All he learned about the other culture was while he spent time in prison, the strategies that he used to make a better country all came to him with the time, and with the 27 years that he had to think while he was alone in his cell. All in all, the movie Invictus is a great demonstration of the history of apartheid that the Republic of South Africa suffered, and also how the powerful symbol of it, Nelson Mandela, fought to reach the end of it, and to reinforce the country, so they could have a rainbow nation, a nation with equality in their lives.