I wanted to come at this prompt from a slightly different angle. There are many brilliant freedom songs , protest songs and celebratory songs.
I have chosen Queen and “I want to break free” I am not sure exactly what they were saying in this song but I get a very strong message from the lyrics. The lyrics tell me we need to break away from the ties of convention, from gender rolls, from controlling people and how we are expected to act.
Freedom from war and oppression is very important but also freedom from personal oppression and being tied down by society’s expectations is very important and is often swept under the carpet.
From the young girl trapped in an arranged marriage, to the partner in a mentally abusive marriage, to anyone trapped in the wrong sex, to lesbian and gay rights , to anyone being bullied young or old to anyone who needs to spread their wings and fly.
Okay I have ranted on enough, who knew I felt so strongly on the subject.
I want to break free I want to break free I want to break free from your lies You’re so self satisfied I don’t need you I’ve got to break free God knows, God knows I want to break free.
I’ve fallen in love I’ve fallen in love for the first time
And this time I know it’s for real I’ve fallen in love, yeah God knows, God knows I’ve fallen in love.
It’s strange but it’s true I can’t get over the way you love me like you do But I have to be sure When I walk out that door Oh how I want to be free, baby Oh how I want to be free, Oh how I want to break free.
But life still goes on I can’t get used to, living without, living without, Living without you by my side I don’t want to live alone, hey God knows, got to make it on my own So baby can’t you see I’ve got to break free.
I’ve got to break free I want to break free, yeah I want, I want, I want, I want to break free
Today’s theme is Freedom, so I have found what I feel expresses freedom in all it’s for. Freedom of love , the mind , the soul and the body.
I hope I have dug deep enough. The posts should be self explanatory.
Freedom Fortunes
cry Freedom
Cry Freedom is a 1987 British drama film directed by Richard Attenborough, set in the late 1970s, during the apartheid era
of South Africa. The screenplay was written by John Briley based on a pair of books by journalist Donald Woods.
The film centres on the real-life events involving black activist Steve Biko and his friend Donald Woods,
who initially finds him destructive, and attempts to understand his way of life. Denzel Washington stars as Biko,
while actor Kevin Kline portrays Woods. Cry Freedom delves into the ideas of discrimination, political corruption, and the
repercussions of violence. read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cry_Freedom
Roots
Colonial times[edit]
In The Gambia, West Africa, in 1750 Kunta Kinte is born to Omoro Kinte (Thalmus Rasulala), a Mandinka warrior,
and his wife, Binta (Cicely Tyson). When Kunta (LeVar Burton) reaches the age of 15, he and a group of other
adolescent boys take part in tribal manhood training, ending with a ceremony, after which they become recognized
as men and Mandinka warriors. While trying to carry out a task to catch a bird and take it home unharmed, Kunta
sees white men carrying firearms, along with their black collaborators. Later, while fetching wood outside his
village to make a drum for his younger brother, Kunta is captured by black collaborators under the direction of white men.
He is then sold to a slave trader and placed aboard a ship under the command of Capt. Thomas Davies (Edward Asner) for a
three-month journey to Colonial America. During the voyage a group of rebels among the human cargo try but fail to stage
a mutiny and to take over the ship.
The ship eventually arrives in Annapolis, Maryland, where the captured Africans are sold at auction as slaves. John Reynolds
(Lorne Greene), a plantation owner from Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near Fredericksburg, buys Kunta and gives him the name
Toby. Reynolds assigns an older slave, Fiddler (Louis Gossett Jr.), to teach Kunta to speak English and to train him in the ways
of living and working as a chattel slave. Kunta, in a persistent struggle to become free again, makes several unsuccessful
attempts to escape. Additionally, to preserve his Mandinka heritage and maintain his Mandinka roots, he does not want to change
his name. An overseer, Ames (Vic Morrow) gathers the slaves and directs one of them to whip Kunta after his latest attempt to
escape and to continue whipping him until he finally acknowledges his new name.
read more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roots_(TV_miniseries)
For events that occur in 1775, between the above period and the post-Revolutionary War, where the next section begins,
see Roots: The Gift
