History Film / Antebellum

Antebellum is a 2020 horror thriller Written and directed by Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz. It stars Music/JanelleMonae, Creator/GaboureySidibe, Creator/JenaMalone, Creator/KierseyClemons, Lily Cowles, Eric Lange and Jack Huston.

* TheOner: The film opens with a sweeping tracking shot that begins coming across the lawns to the idyllic façade of the plantation manor house. The shot continues--growing darker both in lighting and subject matter--sweeping past the house and through the Confederate troops and house slaves, to the back the property where the field slaves labor, finishing with Captain Jasper swigging from his hip flask as he prepares to ride down a runaway slave.

* [[AngryBlackMan Angry Black Woman]]: Discussed by Eden/[[spoiler: Veronica during her speech at the inclusivity ceremony. She states that black women are expected to be quiet, or they get dubbed as being angry and irrational. By the end of the movie, she has become a far more victorious and ''very'' well-justified version of this trope.]]

* ArbitrarilyLargeBankAccount: After TheReveal, it's clear that [[spoiler:there's no way the villains can actually be selling the cotton they're forcing people to harvest by hand. They have enough money and resources to fund kidnapping, feeding, maintaining, and guarding people who, unlike their counterparts 200 years ago, aren't making them money in return and growing and harvesting crops that can't make a profit. They're wealthy enough to support a plantation-lifestyle not only without relying on slave labor to contribute to the funds but to keep slaves anyway for fun instead of profit, even to directly pay for the pleasure of doing so.]]
** [[spoiler: Then again, considering the expanse of the park, it’s likely that some of the “soldiers” could be paying for maintenance in exchange for acting out their fantasy.]]
* UsefulNotes/AntebellumAmerica: In the trailers, Veronica is depicted as living as a slave in the Antebellum South as well as modern day America.

* AxCrazy: DaddysLittleVillain Elizabeth, already a racist zealot shows just how unhinged she is when chasing after an escaped Veronica.

* BigFun: Veronica's friend Dawn is BigBeautifulWoman and SassyBlackWoman who makes no secret of the fact that she intends to use their night out to get laid ''and'' text Veronica all of the details as it is happening.

** Deconstructed with "Him", who forces Veronica to live with him despite being horrifically racist and abusive to black people. Although “crush” might be giving him too much credit, since he’s all but directly stated to rape her and only values her as an object. [[spoiler: In fact, he actually jeopardized his full-scale re-enactment of slavery by specifically choosing to kidnap Veronica.]]

* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler: PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Elizabeth has been running a plantation staffed by kidnapped slave labour so she can live life as it it was the antebellum South. She dies while [[WhatADrag being dragged behind Veronica's horse]] and her head slams into the base of a statue of General Robert E. Lee.]]

* FishOutOfTemporalWater: [[spoiler:Subverted! What seems on the surface like modern day African American people being sent to the past to be slaves is in actuality racist zealots abducting and enslaving them in modern day in a hidden area of a Civil War reenactment Park.]]

* ForTheEvulz: Plantations in Antebellum America were driven by {{Greed}}, dehumanizing, abusing, and exploiting innocent people to make the owners money. [[spoiler: This plantation is driven by sheer sadism, dehumanizing and abusing innocent people for no practical reason except they find it fun. Given that none of the "soldiers" are actually real, there's no Civil War, and they are simply racists acting out their fantasies of power, it's justified.]]

* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: Despite being on a plantation full of other slaves [[spoiler: who are also modern day trafficking victims rather than generations-in-bondage slave mentalities]], none of them did much to change anything before Veronica.
* MarkOfShame: After he latest attempt to run away fails, the General brands his slave mark on Eden's back to identify her as his property.

* TheOner: The film opens with a sweeping tracking shot that begins coming across the lawns to the idyllic facade of the plantation manor house. The shot continues--growing darker both in lighting and subject matter--sweeping past the house and through the Confederate troops and house slaves, to the back the property where the field slaves labour; finishing with Captain Jasper swigging from his hip flask as he prepares to ride down a runaway slave.

* WhatADrag: During her escape, Veronica manages to lasso [[spoiler:Elizabeth]]. Following their hand-to-hand fight, Veronica jumps on her horse and gallops off; still holding the rope. [[spoiler:Elizabeth]] gets dragged only behind Veronica's horse before suffering DeathByIrony when [[spoiler:her head slams into the base of a statue of General Robert E. Lee]].

** Names. [[spoiler: Veronica is forced to change her name to "Eden, and all of the other slaves do the same. This is just another way for the "soldiers" to dehumanize her. Once she starts fighting back, she declares her true name. "Him" is also not given a name as clearly because he is so unrepentantly awful that he doesn't deserve it.]]

* {{Dehumanization}}: Par for the course for [[spoiler: fake confederate soldiers acting out forced slavery role-play with kidnapped black folk.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: Julia after a rough night of abuse from a confederate soldier causes her to lose her unborn child.

* FlatCharacter: All of the villains are seemingly one note raving racists.[[spoiler: Given that the re-enactment park is specifically catering to people who want to role-play as confederate soldiers and abuse the black "slaves", their almost cartoonish villainy is justified.]]

Antebellum is a 2020 Horror thriller Written and directed by Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz. It stars Music/JanelleMonae, Creator/GaboureySidibe, Creator/JenaMalone, Creator/KierseyClemons, Lily Cowles, Eric Lange and Jack Huston.

** [[spoiler: Then again, considering the expanse of the park, it’s likely that some of the “soldiers” could be paying for maintenance in exchange to act out their fantasy.]]

* BecomingTheMask: By the climactic ChaseScene, Elizabeth seems to have thoroughly confused fantasy with reality. She uses a horse and primitive pistols [[spoilers:instead of a modern vehicle or weapons]], calls to "Eden" as if she's actually a runaway slave [[spoiler:instead of a 21st century kidnap victim]], and tells her she's good for nothing but picking cotton [[spoiler:despite the fact that the cotton picking isn't real and not practiced that way anywhere else. She talks as if her lifestyle on the plantation is real and practicable and as if there isn't a legal system in place to protect her victim, so she has nowhere to go]].

* UsefulNotes/AntebellumAmerica: In the trailers Veronica is depicted as living as a slave in the Antebellum South as well as modern day America.
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The Plantation Veronica is kept on is patrolled by Confederate soldiers despite taking place before the American Civil War, and one of the slave women has a septum piercing. [[spoiler:Deliberately [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] as the Plantation is actually a theme park in the modern day.]]

* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler: PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Elizabeth has been running a plantation staffed by kidnapped slave labour so she can live life as it it were the antebellum South. She dies while [[WhatADrag being dragged behind Veronica's horse]] and he head slams into the base of a statue of General Robert E. Lee.]]

* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler: PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Elizabeth has been running a plantation staffed by kidnapped slave labour so she can live life as it it were the antebellum South. She dies while [[WhatADrag being dragged behind Veronica's horse]] and he head slams into the base of a statue of General Robert E. Lee]]

* EvilIsPetty: [[spoiler:Elizabeth]] messes up Veronica's hotel suite for no reason than to mess with her mind. This includes leaving strands of her hair in Veronica's bed, stealing Veronica's lipstick, and using the toilet and not flushing.

* FlatCharacter: All of the villains are seemingly one note raving racists.
* ForTheEvulz: Plantations in Antebellum America were driven by {{Greed}}, dehumanizing, abusing, and exploiting innocent people to make the owners money. [[spoiler:This plantation is driven by sheer sadism, dehumanizing and abusing innocent people for no practical reason except they find it fun.]]

* TheJailer: [[spoiler:Senator Denton and his daughter Elizabeth are a slave camp where kidnapped black people are forced to live and as slaves in the antebellum South.]]

* SassyBlackWoman: Veronica's friend Dawn has a 'take no shit' attitude and no issue with taking task a restaurant hostess who tries to seat them at the worst table because they are black.

* AintTooProudToBeg: Jasper ends up [[spoiler: pleading for his life with Vernoica, even calling her by her real name, when he realizes he's about to be burned alive]].

* AnAxeToGrind: Eli takes a hatchet along with him during the final escape attempt, and uses it in a fight against the General who is wielding a sabre. During the NoHoldsBarredBeatdown that follows, both men drop their weapons and [[spoiler:the General winds up grabbing the hatchet and killing Eli with it]].
* BigBad: [[spoiler:Senator Denton/“Him”, a racist politician trying to preserve the Confederate way of life in secret.]]

** "Him" forces Veronica to live with him despite being horrifically racist and abusive to black people. [[spoiler: In fact, he actually jeopardized his full-scale re-enactment of slavery by specifically choosing to kidnap Veronica.]]
** Daniel is also implied to be one of these, as he [[spoiler:chooses to act out the role of a Confederate soldier]] but is also bashful and tongue-tied around Julia. [[spoiler:When she tries to appeal to this part of his personality, though, he brutally rapes and tortures her.]]

* SouthernBelle: Elizabeth is a "mauvais" version, what with [[spoiler:kidnapping black people and helping to run the plantation park]] while lording it over them on the actual plantation. The DeadHorseTrope is also intentional in this case, although [[spoiler:it's not a period piece.]]

* CreepyChild: Elizabeth's daughter, who treats the slaves like life-size dolls, is creepy enough in the segments set during the Civil War. When she shows up in Veronica's hotel in the modern day--still dressed in period clothes--the effect is multipled. There is even a shot of her framed in the hotel corridor outside Veronica's room in a ShoutOut to ''Film/TheShining''.