History YMMV / TwelveYearsASlave

** [[WildMassGuessing Considering their history it's almost fitting...]]

** [[WildMassGuessing Considering their history it's almost symbolic...]]

* TheWoobie: Solomon, first and foremost, but ''especially'' Patsy. In her first few minutes onscreen, Mistress Epps throws a crystal decanter at her face, and she later claws that spot that she hit on Patsy's face.

* CompleteMonster: Edwin Epps is a chilling, living example of the utter horrors of slavery and all that it entails. Epps runs his plantation with an iron fist and any slave who picks less than 200 pounds of cotton a day are [[ATasteOfTheLash given the lash]]. Succeeding is no guarantee of safety, as Epps is liable to fly into violent furies when he's drunk, or [[ForTheEvulz just because he wants to hurt someone.]] Epps forces the slaves out of needed sleep to force them to dance for his amusement in a parody of a Gentleman's Ball and focuses especially on a beautiful slave named Patsey who he calls his Queen Of The Field for her talent with cotton-picking. Epps repeatedly rapes her, saying he can do what he wants with his property. He also flies into jealous furies over Patsy and later in the film forces TheHero Solomon to whip her by holding a gun to Solomon's head. Losing patience, Epps simply takes the whip from Solomon and lashes into Patsy until her back is cut to bloody shreds. And when Solomon is revealed to be a free man, he can only think of the ''[[ItsAllAboutMe monetary loss]]'' this means to him.

* JerkassWoobie: Mistress Epps is a vile, cruel woman and treats poor Patsy horrendously, but her own life is far from fun: her husband is not only blatantly cheating on her but - adding insult to injury - doing the cheating with a slave, and openly states he prefers said slave to her.

* CompleteMonster: Edwin Epps is a chilling, living example of the utter horrors of slavery and all that it entails. Epps runs his plantation with an iron fist and any slave who picks less than 200 pounds of cotton a day are [[ATasteOfTheLash given the lash]]. Succeeding is no guarantee of safety, as Epps is liable to fly into violent furies when he's drunk, or [[ForTheEvulz just because he wants to hurt someone.]] Epps forces the slaves out of needed sleep to force them to dance for his amusement in a parody of a Gentleman's Ball and focuses especially on a beautiful slave named Patsy who he calls his Queen Of The Field for her talent with cotton-picking. Epps repeatedly rapes her, saying he can do what he wants with his property. He also flies into jealous furies over Patsy and later in the film forces TheHero Solomon to whip her by holding a gun to Solomon's head. Losing patience, Epps simply takes the whip from Solomon and lashes into Patsy until her back is cut to bloody shreds. And when Solomon is revealed to be a free man, he can only think of the ''[[ItsAllAboutMe monetary loss]]'' this means to him.

* CompleteMonster: Edwin Epps is a chilling, living example of the utter horrors of slavery and all that it entails. Epps runs his plantation with an iron fist and any slave who picks less than 200 pounds of cotton a day are [[ATasteOfTheLash given the lash]]. Succeeding is no guarantee of safety, as Epps is liable to fly into violent furies when he's drunk, or [[ForTheEvulz just because he wants to hurt someone.]] Epps forces the slaves out of needed sleep to force them to dance for his amusement in a parody of a Gentleman's Ball and focuses especially on a beautiful slave named Patsy who he calls his Queen Of The Field for her talent with cotton-picking. Epps repeatedly rapes her, saying he can do what he wants with his property. He also flies into jealous furies over Patsy and later in the film forces TheHero Solomon to whip her by holding a gun to Solomon's head. Losing patience, Epps simply takes the whip from Solomon and lashes into Patsy until her back is cut to bloody shreds.

* IronWoobie: Solomon. Good lord

** Every slave by default

* TheWoobie: Solomon, first and foremost, but ''especially'' Patsy. In her first few minutes onscreen, Mistress Epps throws a crystal decanter at her face, and she later claws that spot that she hit on Patsy's face.

* JerkassWoobie: Mistress Epps is vile and treats poor Patsy horrendously, but her own life is far from fun: her husband is not only blatantly committing adultery but - adding insult to injury - doing it with a slave, and openly states he prefers said slave to her.
** Arguably Epps as well, if Michael Fassbender's {{Love Makes You Crazy}} interpretation is to be believed--his alcoholism and inner rage can stem from being in love with Patsy and not being able to express it either from self-hatred, social stigma, and life setting.. May be a complex and controversial form of {{Truth in Television}} as the psychological term for this is called reaction-formation--in which "unacceptable emotions and feelings are mastered by exaggeration of the directly opposing tendency."(i.e. He reacts with hate towards what he hates in himself, such as a repressed homosexual campaigning against open homosexuals.) Still doesn't justify the things he does, and both Epps' are terrible people.

* JerkassWoobie: Mistress Epps is vile and treats poor Patsy horrendously, but her own life is far from fun; her husband is not only blatantly committing adultery but - adding insult to injury - doing it with a slave, and openly states he prefers said slave to her.
Arguably Epps as well, if Michael Fassbender's {{Love Makes You Crazy}} interpretation is to be believed--his alcoholism and inner rage can stem from being in love with Patsy and not being able to express it either from self-hatred, social stigma, and life setting.. May be a complex and controversial form of {{Truth in Television}} as the psychological term for this is called reaction-formation--in which "unacceptable emotions and feelings are mastered by exaggeration of the directly opposing tendency."(i.e. He reacts with hate towards what he hates in himself, such as a repressed homosexual campaigning against open homosexuals.) Still doesn't justify the things he does, and both Epps' are terrible people.

* TearJerker: The entire ending.

* JerkassWoobie: Mistress Epps treats poor Patsy appallingly, but her husband is not only blatantly committing adultery but - adding insult to injury - doing it with a slave.

* TearJerker: The entire ending.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The "slavery is bad" moral may seem like an obvious one, but it needs to be remembered that the original memoir was written in a world where slavery was still a cornerstone of the American economy, and going strong. The 2013 film's writers and producer want to shake the audience's sensibilities, and [[PoliticallyCorrectHistory our perception of slavery in the modern era.]] Particularly in light of HateDumb above.

* CompleteMonster: Edwin Epps essentially invokes this, showing in no uncertain terms the absolute worst of what slave owners are capable of. He gets off on [[ATasteOfTheLash whipping his slaves repeatedly]] [[ForTheEvulz on practically a whim]], making them get up dance for his own sadistic amusement, and repeatedly raping a teenage slave, also making no secret about the latter and reveling in how Patsy is his sex-toy. This is all to say nothing for his [[AxCrazy violent episodes]]. He never shows any regret over his actions and doesn't believe them at all wrong, since in his own words "a man does what he wants with his property".

* NightmareFuel / ParanoiaFuel: The idea that in one night, your entire identity could be taken away from you, and every time you try to profess who you are, you either aren't believed or you put your life in danger.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Slavery is bad. ... Wow, shocker.
** SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The original memoir was written in a world where slavery was still a cornerstone of the American economy, and going strong. The 2013 film's writers and producer want to shake the audience's sensibilities, and [[PoliticallyCorrectHistory our perception of slavery in the modern era.]] Particularly in light of HateDumb below.

* NightmareFuel: The idea that in one night, your entire identity could be taken away from you, and every time you try to profess who you are, you either aren't believed or you put your life in danger.

** SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The original memoir was written in a world where slavery was still a cornerstone of the American economy, and going strong. The 2013 film's writers and producer want to shake the audience's sensibilities, and [[PoliticallyCorrectHistory our perception of slavery in the modern era.]]

** SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The original memoir was written in a world where slavery was still a cornerstone of the American economy, and growing stronger all the time. The 2013 film's writers and producer want to shake the audience's sensibilities, and [[PoliticallyCorrectHistory our perception of slavery in the modern era.]]

* Anvilicious: Slavery is bad. ... Wow, shocker.