document_title: Google Traffic

question_text: how do i see traffic on google maps

question_tokens: how do i see traffic on google maps

text: Google Traffic

text: History[edit]

text: Early versions of Google Maps provided information to users about how long it would take to travel a particular road in heavy traffic conditions. Traffic information was based on historical traffic data and was not particularly accurate.[3]

text: In 2004 Google acquired ZipDash, a company specializing in realtime traffic analysis.[4] In 2007, Google integrated ZipDash's technology into Google Maps, offering traffic data based on information gathered anonymously from cellular phone users.[5][6]

text: Crowdsourced traffic data[edit]

text: Cellular telephone companies constantly monitor the locations of user devices.  One tracking method is trilateration, whereby the distance (time delay) to three or more surrounding cell phone towers is measured.  Another tracking method monitors the exact user coordinates determined by a GPS receiver inside the phone.  GPS-equipped cellphones began appearing in 2004,[7] and by 2011, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission required that all new cellular phones be able to pinpoint location to within 50 feet.[8]

text: Soliciting electronic information from a large group of people this way is referred to as crowd-sourcing.

text: Google stated: "When we combine your speed with the speed of other phones on the road, across thousands of phones moving around a city at any given time, we can get a pretty good picture of live traffic conditions".[9]

text: Features[edit]

text: Google Traffic is available by selecting "Traffic" from a drop-down menu on Google Maps.  A colored overlay appears on top of major roads and motorways, with green representing a normal speed of traffic, orange representing slower traffic conditions, red indicating congestion, and dark red (previously red and black) indicates nearly stopped or stop-and-go traffic.  A red and white dashed line indicates a road closure.  If there is no data available, an overlay line will not appear.

text: Users can use the "search" feature to display traffic in a particular area.  For example, a user may type into the search box "traffic near Edmonton, Alberta" to see traffic for that city on the map.  Another feature uses historical data to show users the "typical traffic" for an area based on the time of day and day of the week.  Google Traffic also displays "traffic incidents", such as construction, accidents, and road closures.  In addition, Google Traffic can be viewed while using Google Maps’ "directions" feature.[10]

text: Privacy concerns[edit]

text: Google has stated: "we understand that many people would be concerned about telling the world how fast their car was moving if they also had to tell the world where they were going".[9]  Google built in a number of features to safeguard the identities and locations of users who choose to provide Google with traffic data.

text: Opt-out option[edit]

text: Mobile devices which use Google's Android operating system come equipped with the ability to send location data to Google, while non-Android devices which use Google's map application are also able to transmit their location data to Google.  However, options available in each phone's settings allow users not to share information about their location with Google Maps.[3]  On Google's website, detailed opt-out instructions are available for various devices and operating systems, including Android, BlackBerry, iPhone/iPod, Palm webOS, Symbian S60, Windows Mobile, and Sony Ericsson[citation needed].  Google stated, "Once you disable or opt out of My Location, Maps will not continue to send radio information back to Google servers to determine your handset's approximate location".[11][not in citation given]

text: Anonymity of location data[edit]

text:
Google has stated that the speed and location information it collects to calculate traffic conditions is anonymous.
Google also identifies the start and end points of every trip it monitors, and permanently deletes that data so that information about where each user came from and went to remains private.[9]


document_title: A Star Is Born (1954 film)

question_text: who is jack in a star is born

question_tokens: who is jack in a star is born

root

text: A Star Is Born (1954 film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: Esther Blodgett is a talented aspiring singer with a band, and Norman Maine is a former matinee idol with a career in the early stages of decline. When he arrives intoxicated at a function at the Shrine Auditorium, the studio publicist Matt Libby attempts to keep him away from reporters. After an angry exchange, Norman rushes away and bursts onto a stage where an orchestra is performing. Blodgett takes him by the hand and pretends he is part of the act, thereby turning a potentially embarrassing and disruptive moment into an opportunity for the audience to greet Norman with applause.

tag: p

text: Realizing that Esther has saved him from public humiliation, Norman thanks her and draws a heart on the wall with her lipstick. He invites her to dinner, and later watches her perform in an after-hours club while recognizing her impressive talent. He urges her to follow her dream and convinces her she can break into movies. Esther is surprised that someone of Norman's stature sees something special in her. He offers her a screen test and advises her to "sleep on it," promising to call her the next day. Esther tells Danny McGuire, her bandmate, that she's quitting their upcoming gig to pursue movies in L.A. Thinking her crazy, he tries to talk her out of it, but Esther is determined. Norman is called away early in the morning to filming and then falls ill. He attempts to get a message to Esther but cannot remember her address. When she doesn't hear from him, she suspects he was insincere. Not disheartened, she takes jobs as a carhop and TV commercial singer to make ends meet, convinced she can make it, with or without Norman.

text: Norman tries to find Esther, who's had to move from her apartment. Then he hears her singing on a television commercial and tracks her down. Studio head Oliver Niles believes Esther is just a passing fancy for the actor, but casts her in a small film role. The studio arbitrarily changes her name to Vicki Lester, which she finds out when she tries to pick up her paycheck. When Norman finally gets Niles to hear "Vicki" sing, he is impressed and she is cast in an important musical film, making her a huge success. Her relationship with Norman flourishes, and they wed.

text: As Vicki's career continues to flourish, Norman finds himself unemployed and going downhill fast—an alcoholic in a tough new film business which doesn't put up with it. Norman arrives, late and drunk, in the middle of Vicki's Oscar acceptance speech. He interrupts her speech, rambling and pacing back and forth in front of her. While begging for work from the assembled and embarrassed Hollywood community, he accidentally strikes Vicki in the face.

text: Vicki continues working and tells Oliver that Norman has entered a sanitarium. After supporting him for so long, she worries about the effect of Norman's alcoholism on her, while acknowledging that he's trying very hard to overcome his addiction. Niles is amenable to offering Norman work, a gesture for which Vicki is grateful, thinking this may be just the boost her husband needs. At the racetrack, Norman runs into studio publicist Matt Libby, who taunts him and accuses him of living on Vicki's earnings. The resulting fight prompts the actor to go on a drinking binge. He is eventually arrested for being drunk and disorderly and - even more humiliated - receives ninety days in the city jail. Vicki bails him out and brings him home, where they are joined by Niles. Norman goes to bed but overhears Vicki telling Niles she will give up her career to take care of him. He also hears Oliver say that Norman ruined his own career with his drinking. Finally realizing what he's done to himself, Vicki, his career, and the people around him, Norman leaves his bed, tells Vicki cheerfully that he is going to go for a swim, walks into the ocean—and drowns himself.

text: Despondent, Vicki becomes a recluse and refuses to see anyone. Finally, her old bandmate Danny convinces her she needs to attend a charity function because she constitutes the only good work Norman did and which he died trying to save. At the Shrine Auditorium, she notices the heart Norman drew on the wall on the night they met and for a moment seems to lose her composure. When she arrives on stage, the emcee tells her the event is being broadcast worldwide and asks her to say a few words to her fans. She says, "Hello, everybody. This is Mrs. Norman Maine," which prompts the crowd into a standing ovation.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Judy Garland as Esther Blodgett (Vicki Lester)
James Mason as Norman Maine
Jack Carson as Matt Libby
Charles Bickford as Oliver Niles
Tommy Noonan as Danny McGuire
Amanda Blake as Susan Etting
Lucy Marlow as Lola Lavery
Irving Bacon as Graves
Hazel Shermet as Libby's Secretary
Nancy Kulp as Esther's neighbor (uncredited)
Frank Puglia as Bruno (uncredited)
Strother Martin as Delivery Boy (uncredited)

tag: ul

text: Production[edit]

text: In December 1952, George Cukor was approached by Sid Luft, who proposed the director helm a musical remake of the 1937 film A Star is Born with his then-wife Judy Garland in the lead role.[6] Garland previously had portrayed Vicki Lester in a December 1942 Lux Radio Theater broadcast with Walter Pidgeon, and she and Luft, along with several associates, had formed Transcona Enterprises specifically to produce the project on screen.[7] Cukor had declined to direct the original film because it was too similar to his 1932 What Price Hollywood?, but the opportunity to direct his first Technicolor film, first musical film, and work with screenwriter Moss Hart and especially Garland appealed to him, and he accepted.[8]

text: Getting the updated film to the screen proved to be a challenge. Cukor wanted Cary Grant, whom he had directed three times before, for the male lead and went so far as to read the entire script with him. Grant, while agreeing it was the role of a lifetime, was more interested in traveling with wife Betsy Drake, and steadfastly refused the role (he also turned down Roman Holiday and Sabrina).[9] He also was concerned about Garland's reputation for unreliability; Cukor never forgave Cary for declining the role. The director then suggested either Humphrey Bogart or Frank Sinatra for the part, but Jack L. Warner rejected both. Stewart Granger was the front runner for a period of time, but he backed out when he was unable to adjust to Cukor's habit of acting out scenes as a form of direction.[10]

text: James Mason ultimately was signed, and filming began on October 12, 1953. As the months passed, Cukor was forced to deal not only with constant script changes but a very unstable leading lady, who was plagued by chemical dependencies, significant weight fluctuations, illnesses, and hypochondria.[11] After considerable footage had been shot, studio executives decided the film should be the first Warner Brothers motion picture to use CinemaScope, necessitating everything be scrapped and filmed again.[7]

text: In March 1954, a rough cut still missing several musical numbers was assembled, and Cukor had mixed feelings about it. When the last scene was filmed in the early morning hours of July 28, 1954, Cukor already had departed the production and was unwinding in Europe.[12] The long "Born in a Trunk" sequence was added after Cukor had left, supervised by Garland's professional mentor Roger Edens.

text: The first test screening the following month ran 196 minutes, and, despite ecstatic feedback from the audience, Cukor and editor Folmar Blangsted trimmed it to 182 minutes for its New York premiere in October. The reviews were excellent, but Warner executives, concerned the running time would limit the number of daily showings, made drastic cuts without Cukor, who had departed for India to scout locations for Bhowani Junction. At its final running time of 154 minutes, the film lost two major musical numbers and crucial dramatic scenes, and Cukor called it "very painful" to watch.[13]

text: A Star Is Born cost over $5 million,[1] making it one of the most expensive films ever made in Hollywood. In its initial release, it did very well and attracted huge crowds. According to Variety, it grossed $6,100,000 in US theatrical rentals.

text: Critical reception[edit]

text: Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote the film was "one of the grandest heartbreak dramas that has drenched the screen in years." He added, "The whole thing runs for three hours, and during this extraordinary time a remarkable range of entertainment is developed upon the screen...No one surpasses Mr. Cukor at handling this sort of thing, and he gets performances from Miss Garland and Mr. Mason that make the heart flutter and bleed...Theirs is a credible enactment of a tragic little try at love in an environment that packages the product. It is the strong tie that binds the whole show. But there is more that is complementary to it. There is the muchness of music that runs from a fine, haunting torch-song...to a mammoth, extensive production number recounting the career of a singer...And there is, through it all, a gentle tracing of clever satire of Hollywood, not as sharp as it was in the original, but sharp enough to be stimulating fun."[14]

text: Time wrote Garland "gives what is just about the greatest one-woman show in modern movie history," and Newsweek said the film is "best classified as a thrilling personal triumph for Judy Garland. As an actress Miss Garland is more than adequate. As a mime and comedienne she is even better. But as a singer she can handle anything from torch songs and blues to ballads. In more ways than one, the picture is hers."[7] When the Oscar for Best Actress went to Grace Kelly instead of Garland, Groucho Marx called it "the biggest robbery since Brink's."

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film received an approval rating of 97% based on 29 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A Star is Born is a movie of grand scope and intimate moments, featuring Judy Garland's possibly greatest performance."[15]

text: Awards and nominations[edit]

text:
Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role—Judy Garland (nominated)
Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role—James Mason (nominated)
Academy Award for Best Art Direction—Set Decoration, Color—Malcolm C. Bert, Gene Allen, Irene Sharaff, and George James Hopkins (nominated)
Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Color—Jean Louis, Mary Ann Nyberg, and Irene Sharaff (nominated)
Academy Award for Best Original Song—"The Man that Got Away" (nominated)
Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture—Ray Heindorf (nominated)
BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress in a Leading Role—Judy Garland (nominated)
Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures—George Cukor (nominated)
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy—Judy Garland (won)
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy—James Mason (won)
Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical—Moss Hart (nominated)

text: 1983 film restoration[edit]

text: For years, Garland fans and film historians expressed great interest in viewing the missing footage from this film. Beginning about 1981, film preservationist Ronald Haver did extensive research of the Warner Bros. film vaults and located some of the missing scenes, including two complete musical numbers, "Here's What I'm Here For" and "Lose That Long Face".

text: In 1983, a 176-minute "restored" (i.e. reconstructed) version was shown in theaters and then released on home video. The project was a collaboration between the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the studio. Some of the missing footage had to be reconstructed using pan and scan of production stills, accompanied by the restored dialogue. The original multi-track stereophonic sound was also restored. Within the next year, more discoveries would follow. In the spring of 1984, the restored "A Star Is Born" was again reissued and shown at The Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City and for this engagement, an outtake of Garland performing "The Man That Got Away' in a different costume and hairstyle was included. Also that year, when PBS was producing its documentary for Great Performances, Judy Garland: The Concert Years, another small piece of footage of "A Star Is Born" was found and shown for the very first time in the program - Garland singing When My Sugar Walks Down The Street, which was deleted from the "Born In A Trunk" sequence.

text: In 2010, an all new restoration kicked off the all new Turner Classic Movies Film Festival. Many were hoping that the film would be the long lost "George Cukor cut" but it was the Ron Haver Restoration.

text: Also in 2010, it was rumored that film restorer (and friend of Liza Minnelli) Michael Arick had a complete print of the film.[citation needed]

text: Remakes[edit]

text: A Star Is Born, a remake itself, was again remade in 1976 with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. The film was remade without permission in Bollywood as Aashiqui 2 in 2013. It also inspired Malayalam film Bharatham.

text: The latest remake of A Star Is Born stars Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, who also created new music for the project. Filming began April 17, 2017, and the movie was released on October 5, 2018.[16]

text: Soundtrack releases[edit]

text: The soundtrack has never been out of print. It was originally released by Columbia Records in 1954 in 10-inch 78 rpm and 12-inch 33⅓ rpm editions, and also on 7-inch 45 rpm records.

text: In 1988, Columbia released the soundtrack on compact disc, taking the overture and the main musical numbers directly from the film's stereo soundtrack due to the fact no stereo pre-recordings for the soundtrack master existed for this number.

text: In 2004, in commemoration of the film's 50th anniversary, Columbia, Legacy Recordings, and Sony Music Soundtrax released a nearly complete, digitally-remastered, expanded edition of the soundtrack. Due to the lack of a complete multitrack version of all songs and score from the film, the CD includes a mix of monaural and stereo elements in order to make as complete a soundtrack as possible.

text: Due in part to the fact that some of the songs were not complete on the film soundtrack, as well as the fact that many of the original music stems had been lost or destroyed subsequent to original mono mixdown, numbers such as "Here's What I'm Here For" and "Lose That Long Face" are taken from the original mono LP masters.

text: Other numbers such as "Gotta Have Me Go with You" are mostly in stereo, save for brief sections where the mono soundtrack album master was used in order to remove various endemic plot-related sound effects from the track. All of the instrumental tracks are in mono as well due to the fact that the original elements have been lost or destroyed.

text: The 2004 soundtrack also includes three vocal outtakes – an alternative vocal for the reprise of "It's a New World" that Esther sings while Norman goes for his final swim; "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street", which was intended to be part of the "Born In a Trunk" sequence, but was deleted for time constraints; and "The Trinidad Coconut Oil Shampoo Commercial", which was taken from the only surviving recording of the complete track, a very worn acetate artist reference disc.

text: In addition, much of the instrumental portion of the 2004 soundtrack contains partial or whole outtakes. This CD also sees the first CD release of the complete version of "Gotta Have Me Go with You" with the full introduction, as well as "The Man That Got Away" with an expanded introduction not used in the original film.

text: The original Columbia 1954 mono vinyl version of the soundtrack has been released on CD in Britain by Prism Leisure and is also available for digital download. This version includes bonus tracks of Judy Garland's Decca recordings of songs from other films.

text: 1954 soundtrack release[edit]

text:
Gotta Have Me Go with You (Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin)
The Man That Got Away (Arlen and Gershwin)
Born in a Trunk (Roger Edens (music) and Leonard Gershe (lyrics))[17]
Swanee (George Gershwin)
I'll Get By (Roy Turk and Fred E. Ahlert)
You Took Advantage of Me (Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers)
The Black Bottom (Perry Bradford)
The Peanut Vendor (Moisés Simons)
My Melancholy Baby (Ernie Burnett and George A. Norton)
Here's What I'm Here For (Arlen and Gershwin)
It's a New World (Arlen and Gershwin)
Someone at Last (Arlen and Gershwin)
Lose That Long Face (Arlen and Gershwin)

text: 1988 soundtrack release[edit]

text:
Overture
Gotta Have Me Go with You
The Man That Got Away
Born in a Trunk Medley
Here's What I'm Here For
It's a New World
Someone at Last
Lose That Long Face

text: 2004 soundtrack release[edit]

text:
Overture
Night of the Stars (Instrumental)
Gotta Have Me Go with You
Norman At Home (Instrumental)
Passion Oriental (Instrumental)
The Man That Got Away
Cheatin' On Me (Instrumental)
I'm Qutting The Band (Instrumental)
The Man That Got Away (Instrumental)
Esther in the Boarding House (Instrumental)
Oliver Niles Studio (Instrumental)
Esther's Awful Makeup (Instrumental)
First Day in the Studio (Instrumental)
Born in a Trunk Medley
Easy Come, Easy Go (Instrumental)
Here's What I'm Here For
The Honeymoon (Instrumental)
It's a New World
Someone at Last
Lose That Long Face
Norman Overhears the Conversation (Instrumental)
It's a New World (Alternate Take)
The Last Swim (Instrumental)
Finale/End Credits (Instrumental)

text: Bonus Tracks

text:
When My Sugar Walks Down the Street
The Trinidad Coconut Oil Shampoo

text: 2005 soundtrack release[edit]

text:
Gotta Have Me Go with You
The Man That Got Away
Born In a Trunk Medley
Here's What I'm Here For
It's a New World
Someone at Last
Lose That Long Face

text: Bonus Tracks (Judy Garland studio recordings for Decca Records)

text:
Over the Rainbow (Recorded July 28, 1939)
I'm Nobody's Baby (Recorded April 10, 1940)
For Me and My Gal (with Gene Kelly) (Recorded July 26, 1942)
When You Wore a Tulip (And I Wore a Big Red Rose) (with Gene Kelly) (Recorded July 26, 1942)
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Recorded April 20, 1944)
The Boy Next Door (Recorded April 20, 1944)
The Trolley Song (Recorded April 20, 1944)
Meet Me in St. Louis (Recorded April 21, 1944)
On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe (with The Merry Macs) (Recorded July 7, 1945)

text: Home media[edit]

text: Warner Home Video released the 176-minute 1983 "restored" version on DVD in letterbox widescreen format on September 19, 2000. The film was digitally remastered from original CinemaScope elements for superior picture clarity and optimal audio vitality and features an remastered English audio soundtrack in Dolby Digital 5.1 and subtitles in English and French. Bonus features include the network telecast of the September 29, 1954 Hollywood premiere at the Pantages Theatre; highlights from the post-premiere party at the Cocoanut Grove; three alternative filmings of "The Man That Got Away" with additional original recording session music; a short musical sequence that appeared in a test screening but was deleted before the film's official premiere, "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street" (which was to be part of the extended "Born in a Trunk" sequence); and the theatrical trailers for this, the 1937 original, and the 1976 remake.

text: On June 22, 2010, Warner Home Video released the film on Blu-ray and DVD. The original production negative has been restored and transferred to video at 6K resolution,[18] one of the first films transferred at such a high rate, however according to a Warner press release, no new footage has been found. The restoration "has meticulously preserved and restored Ronald Haver's 176-minute version of A Star Is Born to its original luster, bringing back the brilliant, saturated colors and crisp picture."


document_title: Erin Hannon

question_text: who does erin from the office end up with

text: Erin Hannon

text: Biography[edit]

text: Erin Hannon is the receptionist hired to replace Pam Beesly (after Kevin's brief stint in the job) in "Dream Team". She first appears in "Michael Scott Paper Company", and is referred to by her middle name, Erin, to distinguish her from Kelly Kapoor. Although at times rather intellectually challenged, with her cheerful, silly demeanor, and childlike naïveté, Erin is usually the most consistently nice, optimistic Dunder-Mifflin employee. Contrasting with her predecessor, Pam, she not only loves being a receptionist but admires her coworkers including Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute.

text: In a deleted scene from "Niagara", she admits she was born four months prematurely and could not eat hard foods until she turned 6.  "St. Patrick's Day" reveals further that she was sick and in the hospital between the ages of 3 and 6. She grew up in foster families and has said that when she was younger "my hair was my room", i.e., the place she hid from stress and trauma. In "WUPHF.com", she said all of her peers were getting their drivers licenses eight years ago which would give her a birth year of approximately 1986. It is hinted that Erin was brought up in a very religious Christian household, as seen in "Nepotism", when Michael argues with the staff about nepotism and defends it by saying the Person God sent to help Earth was His Son, Jesus Christ, which Erin claims is a "really tight argument", and another example is in "Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager", when she is shocked to learn Gabe is an atheist, and is even more shocked when he states there might be a God, but he does not believe it is just some "guy with a long white beard."

text: She is seen repeatedly following Dwight's insane directions. Dwight and Andy both admit to being attracted to Erin, as does Ryan. Erin seems to have a fun-loving and bubbly personality similar to Kelly Kapoor, although Erin is much more naïve. She admires Kelly's casual Friday outfit, commenting that she looks like J. Lo, and the two restart Michael's Cafe Disco after he shuts it down. The two also ride to Pam and Jim's wedding together with Andy, both listening to their iPods in the backseat.[2] In "Counseling", she took the term "disposable camera" literally as she throws a disposable camera away after taking the last picture, commenting that she thinks disposable cameras are wasteful and you never get to see the pictures.

text: Erin also tells Michael she used to work at a Taco Bell Express but could not keep up when they turned it into a regular Taco Bell. In a deleted scene from "Mafia", Meredith tells Erin that the office will always like Pam better than her, saddening Erin as she does not like conflicts. She also accidentally ruins Pam's painting of the office building while trying to clean it. Later when asking Kelly to help her fix the painting, we find out Erin has a seizure condition—because Kelly demands her medical alert bracelet as payment for her services.[3]

text: Erin may have attended Keystone College, as a pennant for the school can be seen at her desk in "The Boat" and in "Pool Party".

text: Season 5[edit]

text: After Kevin fails miserably as Pam's replacement, Charles Miner hires Erin as the new receptionist, whose first name is Kelly but the office decided to call her by her middle name, Erin, to avoid confusion with Kelly Kapoor. She becomes good friends with Kelly and in "Cafe Disco", they help to generate interest in Michael's "Cafe Disco." Erin greatly admires her predecessor, calling her "a living legend" to DeAngelo Vickers, and often asks her advice on various aspects of the job. However, Pam is at first somewhat impatient with Erin's enthusiasm for a job she never took seriously and often dismisses her requests for approval by saying "it looks great."

text: Initially, Dwight and Andy compete for her attention, but Dwight withdraws in acknowledgment of his new friendship with Andy. For the remainder of the season, Andy awkwardly flirts with Erin.

text: Season 6[edit]

text: In "Koi Pond", Erin is shown to be self-conscious about being an orphan, and is attracted to Andy, whom she calls "the coolest guy I've ever met." She also does not know who Marlon Brando is, mistaking a reference to him for Marlon Wayans.[4] In "Murder", Andy asks her out on a real date while they are playing characters as a part of the Belles, Bourbon, and Bullets. Erin accepts, but then is disappointed when Andy tells her later there was no real date. It was "just a part of the game", though both wanted to go out. Andy later begs to get Erin as his Secret Santa. He gives her gifts based on "The 12 Days of Christmas". Unfortunately the first four gifts are all birds resulting in harm to herself, geese swarming her car and an incident where her cat ate one of the turtle doves. She asks her secret Santa to please stop. When asked if it is him Andy brushes it off, but later Michael reveals him and he is somewhat surprised to see her legitimately angry at him. At the end of the day, Andy has twelve drummers appear á la the last part of the song. Despite the fiasco of the earlier gifts, Erin easily forgives him and is seen enjoying the drummers and smiling warmly.

text: Erin finally earns Michael's respect in "Scott's Tots" when she points out the benefit of the promise Michael could not fulfill to a group of underprivileged high school students. She eventually figures out Michael's idiosyncratic habits (such as having ants on a log served every day at 2:30 and being spun around in his desk chair until he is dizzy) and, unlike Pam, gladly accommodates them, she seems disappointed when Jim Halpert declines to continue them during his brief tenure as branch manager. She also tells Michael that she would like to be an accountant someday, even though she is bad at math.

text: After Andy's massive effort for Erin's Secret Santa gift, Andy thinks that the "ball is in Erin's court", while Erin assumes that after Andy's last spectacular display involving a band drumline that he will surely be the one to ask. Andy, in "Sabre", then awkwardly confronts Erin about her weekend plans, revealing that she has none. Andy exits with exasperation, hoping that his "hint" would be sufficient for her to ask. Later, in "Manager and Salesman", Andy gives everyone in the office a card for Valentine's Day to mask his affection for Erin. Kelly takes this card to heart and believes Andy is in love with her. Andy makes it clear that he does not love Kelly, and Erin begins to realize Andy really does have feelings for her.

text: In "The Delivery", Erin shows a knowledge of horse racing history as she names the Triple Crown winners to distract Pam before she goes to the hospital. Erin later has lunch with Kevin after Michael lied and told Kevin that Erin liked him. Erin feels sorry for Kevin because Michael told her Kevin had the heart of an actual elephant. Erin later confronts Michael and tells him that she likes Andy. Andy's response is to snoop behind plants and spy on Kevin and Erin. Later in the same episode, Andy gives Erin a fax which asks her on a date. After getting confrontational about it, Andy admits that he wanted to take Erin on a date, which she happily accepts.

text: In "St. Patrick's Day", Erin and Andy are set to go on their first date, but Erin gets very sick, prompting Jo Bennett to tell her to go home. Andy decides to see Erin anyway by showing up at her house. The two enjoy watching TV together until Erin's foster brother Reed comes into the room and steals Andy's spot on the couch next to Erin. Reed behaves with Erin in a way that makes Andy uncomfortable, but when Andy gets ready to leave, Erin kisses him on the cheek.

text: In "New Leads", after Michael distributes the sales leads to rest of the staff, Erin hides Andy's leads. The Hot & Cold game she plays with him in the reception area turns into an uncomfortable situation where Andy almost fondles Erin's chest. At the end of episode, Erin offers a cold Andy her jacket in a landfill where they share their first kiss.

text: In "Happy Hour", Erin and Andy tell the crew that they are trying to keep their relationship a secret because of Andy's aversion to drama. This continues as they go to the Happy Hour with the other members of the Office. After several uncomfortable situations in which they continue to try to keep the secret and a rather animated argument in a photobooth, Andy declares to the entire building that he has been on "two dates with Erin Hannon and they went well and there will probably be more." They tell the crew that they found more drama trying to keep it a secret.

text: In "Secretary's Day", Andy plans the perfect Secretary's Day for Erin, including a lunch with Michael. During the lunch, Michael reveals Andy's prior year-long engagement with Angela, a fact which was previously concealed from Erin. When Erin speaks with Pam at her desk, a Keystone College pennant is visible. At the end of the episode, Erin informs Andy that she needs some time alone from him. Feeling bad over the whole affair, Michael smooths things over a bit with Erin and has a talk with her.

text: And in "Whistleblower", while the characters have not resumed dating yet, Erin does express concern when Andy tells her he is afraid for his safety (because of the fire-catching printers, though he does not directly tell her about them) and she agrees to distribute the "demonstration video" he made with Darryl if anything happens to him. Erin warmly pats Andy on the leg and tells him she thinks he did the right thing, after he is outed for leaking the printer story to a local paper and everyone else in the office shuns him.

text: Season 7[edit]

text: In "Nepotism", Erin reveals that Gabe asked her out over the summer. She only accepted because Gabe was her boss but eventually the two began seriously dating, much to Andy's chagrin. Her relationship with Gabe has been presented as boring and lame, as highlighted by her unsuccessful efforts to defeat him at online Scrabble and avoid watching his favored horror films in "The Seminar", his long-winded Valentine's Day surprise for her that consists mostly of her bonding with Andy and getting a hand-kiss gesture in "PDA", and letting the staff know she and Gabe were late to work because he fell in the shower and had to be rescued by the fire department in "Todd Packer".

text: In "Andy's Play", Andy is performing in a local production of Sweeney Todd.  He pressures the entire office to go, but really just wants to get Erin to attend, in order to spend time with her and win her back from Gabe.  Andy is delighted that Erin is coming without Gabe, however ultimately his plan backfires when she agrees to babysit Cecilia so Jim and Pam can attend.  Ultimately Erin shows up to the play and the two spend time together, however Erin leaves to spend time with Gabe leaving Andy despondent.

text: In "Sex Ed", the Office believes Michael has herpes, and Andy uses the situation to host a Sex Ed class in the office.  The class is in actuality an attempt by Andy to figure out if Gabe and Erin are having sex.  Upset after realizing the two are possibly having sex, Andy throws a tantrum and storms off.  Gabe admonishes Andy later, explaining he only asked Erin out after Andy gave him his blessing.

text: In "Christening", Erin expresses admiration over Michael's spontaneous decision to go down to Mexico to help build a school for local children.  In an effort to impress Erin, Andy goes along with Michael.  After Michael and Andy start having cold feet and get off the bus, Erin picks them up and laughs with them about it.

text: In "Viewing Party", Erin and Gabe are hosting a Glee viewing party at Gabe's apartment.  Andy desperately attempts to get Erin's attention during the party, however ultimately ends up getting sick and is comforted by Gabe.  Meanwhile, Erin attempts to get Michael to bond with Gabe, however Michael's insecurities over Gabe's position cause him to sabotage the party.  After Erin confronts Michael over his hostile feelings for Gabe, Michael angrily questions why she needs his approval as he is not her father.  Erin is silent and Michael has an insightful moment, realizing Erin admires him and views him as a father figure.  The two share a joke as they pointedly make fun of their developing father-daughter relationship.  As he leaves the party, Michael warns Gabe that he will, both figuratively and literally, kill Gabe if he breaks Erin's heart.

text: In "WUPHF.com", Erin is annoyed with Ryan's abuse of company property to fuel his own social networking company, WUPHF.com.

text: In "Classy Christmas", Erin assists Michael in preparing for when Holly returns to Scranton. However, when she meets Holly for the first time, she is disappointed with her appearance after Michael spoke so highly of her. She admits in a talking head that she does not see why Michael is attracted to Holly, and when Holly tries to reason with Michael after he admits being upset with her, Erin shoos her away in defending Michael. She then tries to shoo Holly's boyfriend A.J. away when he arrives to surprise Holly. Erin remains unkind to Holly in "Ultimatum" but finally warms to her when she sees the passionate kiss between Michael and Holly that came at the end of "The Search".

text: In "Michael's Last Dundies", Erin starts avoiding Gabe at work because she does not feel attracted to him anymore.  Erin reveals how she feels to Pam and Jim, with Pam encouraging her to tell Gabe to avoid leading him on.  She then breaks up with Gabe while accepting her Dundie in front of everyone at a packed restaurant.  Gabe tells everyone he is upset with Erin but tries to joke it off, only to reveal he is genuinely upset and leaves the award show.  Later she joins the rest of the office in serenading a teary-eyed Michael with a song.

text: During "Goodbye, Michael", a distraught Gabe is tenacious in trying to win Erin back, even following her into the women's bathroom.  Erin later has a heart-to-heart conversation with Michael about her love life, and admits that she might be in love with Andy.  Michael dismisses both Gabe and Andy and advises Erin that the right guy will come along and she will know it.  Michael then tells her that he is just a phone call away in Colorado if she needs advice, and kisses her on the head before walking away.

text: At the end of "The Inner Circle", when Deangelo escapes the hospital and returns to the office, Jim asks Erin to call 911. She asks who should she say is calling, causing Jim to give her a deadpan look while flatly saying her name.

text: In "Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager", Erin and Andy are shown hanging out together again. However, after Gabe invites Andy to go to the conference room to speak in private, Gabe breaks down, and Andy promises he will not date Erin again. Later, at reception, Gabe confesses his love to Erin again, but it does not win her back. In a talking-head interview, Erin says she is taking a break from dating, and she admits that while Gabe was a great guy with many wonderful qualities, "it was a challenge being touched by him". When Dwight accidentally fires the gun right by Andy, causing him temporary hearing loss, Erin is the most worried about him, and tries to accompany him to the hospital, but is stopped by Gabe, who, as an excuse, says that she needs to stay for her receptionist duties. When Andy comes back from the hospital, he and Erin hang out in the kitchen, only for Gabe to confront Andy with the promise, but Andy stands up for himself and embarrasses Gabe by describing Gabe's crying fit to Erin. When asked whether or not he wants to date Erin, he does not give a straight answer, and eventually claims that it is between him and his diary.

text: In "Search Committee", Erin and Phyllis await the results of a DNA test to see if Erin is the daughter previously given up by Phyllis in high school. After some advice from Phyllis, Erin tells Andy in front of the entire Office that she still has feelings for him.  Andy denies her, later stating to the camera that he is still hurt from being dumped in favor of Gabe. Phyllis finds out the results are negative, but holds off telling Erin and continues to show maternal affection toward her.

text: Season 8[edit]

text: In Season 8, Erin is on Robert's loser side of the list. She helps Andy out with his challenges of being manager and is the only one to congratulate him on his new job.

text: In "Lotto", she helps out in the warehouse and suggests easier ways to move the boxes. In "Spooked", Erin is in charge of the Halloween party, but is forced to make it more adult when co-workers think the decorations are childish. She also finds out that Andy is in a relationship with someone.

text: During "Christmas Wishes", Erin finally meets Jessica, Andy's girlfriend. Erin tells her that she is welcome to the office and the party, but later on Robert California talks Erin into being an "adult woman and a free spirit" and having a drink. But this does not just stop at one, Erin tells Andy that she has had "a thousand". Later that night, she tells Andy that she wants Jessica dead and that was her Christmas wish, which shows she still has feelings for Andy. She later gets a ride home from Robert, who tells her to take some aspirin and get some rest. Later on, Erin remains hopeful that Andy will end things with Jessica and reunite with her (and it becomes clear Andy still has feelings for her) but she later decides that this is not going to happen. As a result, when she ends up assigned to the team joining Dwight on the Sabre Store project in Tallahassee, she tells the camera that she is never returning to Scranton. In "Test the Store" Erin meets an elderly woman, Irene (Georgia Engel), and she becomes her live in maid. In "Get the Girl", Andy goes to Florida, to try to win her back. Erin initially wants to stay, but the two get back together and travel back to Scranton to find Nelly Bertram in Andy's office. Andy then gets fired and Erin supports him

text: For the rest of the season, Erin is seen supporting Andy in his attempts to move on, and eventually reclaim, his job at Dunder Mifflin.

text: Season 9[edit]

text: This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2012)

tag: table

text: Erin is excited to have Andy back from his Outward Bound program, but is surprised to see a more confident and cocky Andy. A new love interest for her is introduced in the new guy Pete. In the episode "The Boat", Erin and Pete go out for drinks. There are multiple other instances in the beginning of season 9 in which Pete and Erin bond while Andy is on his boat trip. In the episode "Customer Loyalty", Erin seems to miss Pete when they are split up by Nellie. Erin decides to break up with Andy prior to his return, but when he returns she cannot find the confidence to break up. After telling Pete and giving him a kiss, she runs back up to Andy's office and breaks up with him. By the time he decides to quit his job and seek fame and fortune, though, Erin feels kinder towards him and gives him sound advice before being greatly moved by his farewell rendition of "I Will Remember". In "Finale", she is reunited with her birth parents, who had seen the documentary and showed up at a Q&A forum with the office members. It is indicated that she is still dating Pete, as they are shown dancing at Dwight and Angela's wedding.

text: Behind the scenes[edit]

text:
"Being on set with them is like being in a dream, except the dream is real and I can reach out and touch them. Except I am trying not to touch them too much, because I was raised right."
—Ellie Kemper, on The Office[5]

tag: div

text: Starting in the fifth season of NBC's The Office, Kemper was cast in a supporting role as the Dunder Mifflin office receptionist Erin Hannon. Kemper described herself as a "huge fan" of the show and was thrilled to be cast.[5]

text: In May 2009, The Office screenwriter Jennifer Celotta described Kemper as a "fun addition" to the show.[6]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Critics and fans have commented on Kemper's addition to the show, mostly positive. Joshua Ostroff of Eye Weekly described Erin as one of the best new television characters of the 2008–2009 season and said, "Erin’s high-grade adorability, up-for-anything attitude and sheer niceness is unlike anyone else in the office, adding a welcome new wrinkle for next season."[7] Andy Shaw of TV Fodder said she "adds some freshness to the cast"[8] and Josh McAuliffe of The Times-Tribune in Scranton, Pennsylvania, said he liked Erin's "cheerful, appealingly goofy personality".[9]

text: Her performance was notably praised during the show's eighth season, where she was the highlight of the season for many critics. Myles McNutt noted that "regardless of how down I was on this or any other episode, Ellie Kemper really has been tremendous all season."[10] In addition, Kemper's performance in the episodes "Spooked,"[11][12] "Christmas Wishes,"[13] "Pool Party,"[14] and "Special Project,"[15] in particular, were praised by critics.


document_title: 12 Years a Slave (film)

question_text: where did 12 years a slave take place

question_tokens: where did 12 years a slave take place

text: 12 Years a Slave (film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: In 1841, Solomon Northup is a free African-American man working as a violinist, living with his wife and two children in Saratoga Springs, New York. Two white men, Brown and Hamilton, offer him short-term employment as a musician if he will travel with them to Washington, D.C. However, once they arrive they drug Northup and deliver him to a slave pen run by a man named Burch. Northup proclaims that he is a free man, only to be savagely beaten with, at first, a wooden paddle, then, a leather belt. Northup is later shipped to New Orleans along with other captive African Americans. He is told by the others that if he wants to survive in the South, he must adapt to being a slave and not tell anyone he is a free man. A slave trader named Freeman gives Northup the identity of "Platt", a runaway slave from Georgia, and sells him to plantation owner William Ford. Tension grows between Northup and a plantation overseer which ends with Northup savagely beating and whipping the overseer. To save Northup's life, Ford sells him to another slave owner named Edwin Epps. In the process, Northup attempts to explain that he is actually a free man, but Ford tells him he is too afraid and that he cannot help him now.

text: At the plantation, Northup meets Patsey, a favored slave who can pick over 500 pounds of cotton a day, twice the usual quota, whom Epps regularly rapes and abuses. Some time later, cotton worms destroy Epps's cotton. Unable to work his fields, Epps leases his slaves to a neighboring plantation for the season. While there, Northup gains the favor of the plantation's owner, Judge Turner, who allows him to play the fiddle at a neighbor's wedding anniversary celebration and to keep his earnings. Northup is also raped by a female slave in the middle of the night. When Northup returns to Epps, he uses the money to pay a white field hand and former overseer, Armsby, to mail a letter to his friends in New York. Armsby agrees and accepts Northup's saved money, but immediately betrays him to Epps. In the middle of the night, a drunken Epps wakes Northup and questions him menacingly about the letter. Northup is narrowly able to convince Epps that Armsby is lying and Epps relents. Solomon then emotionally burns the letter he intended to give to Armsby.

text: Northup begins working on the construction of a gazebo with a Canadian laborer named Samuel Bass. Bass is unsettled by the brutal way that Epps treats his slaves and expresses his opposition to American slavery, earning Epps's enmity. Northup overhears the conversation and decides to reveal his kidnapping to Bass. Once again, Northup asks for help in getting a letter to Saratoga Springs. Bass agrees to send it. One day, the local sheriff arrives in a carriage with another man. The sheriff asks Northup a series of questions to confirm that his answers match the facts of his life in New York. Northup recognizes the sheriff's companion as Mr. Parker, a shopkeeper he knew in Saratoga. Parker has come to free him, and the two embrace, though an enraged Epps furiously protests the circumstances and tries to prevent Northup from leaving. Northup gives an emotional farewell to Patsey and rides off to his freedom. Patsey faints as Northup leaves.

text: After being enslaved for 12 years, Northup is restored to freedom and returned to his family, leaving behind the other slaves. As he walks into his home, he sees his wife with their son and daughter (fully grown) and her husband, who present him with his grandson and namesake, Solomon Northup Staunton. Northup apologizes for his long absence while his family comforts him. The film's epilogue displays a series of graphics recounting Northup's unsuccessful suits against Brown, Hamilton, and Burch, along with the 1853 publication of Northup's slave narrative memoir, Twelve Years a Slave. The memoir describes his role in the abolitionist movement and the mystery surrounding details of his death and burial. Patsey and Northup never met again.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup / Platt
Michael Fassbender as Edwin Epps
Lupita Nyong'o as Patsey
Sarah Paulson as Mary Epps
Paul Dano as John Tibeats
Benedict Cumberbatch as William Ford
Alfre Woodard as Mistress Harriet Shaw
Adepero Oduye as Eliza
Garret Dillahunt as Armsby
Scoot McNairy as Merrill Brown
Taran Killam as Abram Hamilton
Christopher Berry as Burch
Chris Chalk as Clemens Ray
Paul Giamatti as Theophilus Freeman
Brad Pitt as Samuel Bass
Michael K. Williams as Robert
Bryan Batt as Judge Turner
Bill Camp as Ebenezer Radburn
Tom Proctor as Biddee
Jay Huguley as Sheriff

text: Quvenzhané Wallis and Dwight Henry have small roles as Margaret Northup[9] and Uncle Abram,[10] respectively.

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: After meeting screenwriter John Ridley at a Creative Artists Agency screening of Hunger in 2008, director Steve McQueen got in touch with Ridley about his interest in making a film about "the slave era in America" with "a character that was not obvious in terms of their trade in slavery."[11] Developing the idea back and forth, the two did not strike a chord until McQueen's partner, Bianca Stigter, found Solomon Northup's 1853 memoir Twelve Years a Slave. McQueen later told an interviewer:

text: I read this book, and I was totally stunned. At the same time I was pretty upset with myself that I didn't know this book. I live in Amsterdam where Anne Frank is a national hero, and for me this book read like Anne Frank's diary but written 97 years before – a firsthand account of slavery. I basically made it my passion to make this book into a film.[12]

text: After a lengthy development process, during which Brad Pitt's production company Plan B Entertainment backed the project, which eventually helped get some financing from various film studios, the film was officially announced in August 2011 with McQueen to direct and Chiwetel Ejiofor to star as Solomon Northup, a free African-American who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South.[13] McQueen compared Ejiofor's conduct "of class and dignity" to that of Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte.[14] In October 2011, Michael Fassbender (who starred in McQueen's previous films Hunger and Shame) joined the cast.[15] In early 2012, the rest of the roles were cast, and filming was scheduled to begin at the end of June 2012.[16][17]

text: To capture the language and dialects of the era and regions in which the film takes place, dialect coach Michael Buster assisted the cast in altering their speech. The language has a literary quality related to the style of writing of the day and the strong influence of the King James Bible.[18] Buster explained:

text: We don't know what slaves sounded like in the 1840s, so I just used rural samples from Mississippi and Louisiana [for actors Ejiofor and Fassbender]. Then for Benedict [Cumberbatch], I found some real upper-class New Orleanians from the '30s. And then I also worked with Lupita Nyong'o, who is Kenyan but she did her training at Yale. So she really shifted her speech so she could do American speech.[19]

text: After both won Oscars at the 86th Academy Awards, it was reported that McQueen and Ridley had been in an ongoing feud over screenplay credit. McQueen reportedly had asked Ridley for shared credit, which he declined. McQueen appealed to Fox Searchlight, which sided with Ridley. Neither thanked the other during their respective acceptance speeches at the event.[20] Since the event, Ridley has noted his regret for not mentioning McQueen[21][22] and denied the feud.[23][24] He spoke favorably of working with McQueen, and explained that his sole screenplay credit was due to the rules of the Writers Guild of America.[25] McQueen has not commented on the alleged feud.[20][22][23][24]

text: Filming[edit]

text: With a production budget of $22 million,[26] principal photography began in New Orleans, Louisiana, on June 27, 2012. After seven weeks,[27] filming concluded on August 13, 2012.[28] As a way to keep down production costs, a bulk of the filming took place around the greater New Orleans area – mostly south of the Red River country in the north of the state, where the historic Northup was enslaved.[29] Among locations used were four historic antebellum plantations: Felicity, Bocage, Destrehan, and Magnolia.[30] Magnolia, a plantation in Schriever, Louisiana, is just a few miles from one of the historic sites where Northup was held. "To know that we were right there in the place where these things occurred was so powerful and emotional," said actor Chiwetel Ejiofor. "That feeling of dancing with ghosts – it's palpable."[31] Filming also took place at the Columns Hotel and Madame John's Legacy in the French Quarter of New Orleans.[32]

text: Cinematographer Sean Bobbitt, the film's primary camera operator,[33] shot 12 Years a Slave on 35 mm film with a 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio using both an Arricam LT and ST. "Particularly for a period piece, film gives the audience a definite sense of period and quality," said Bobbitt. "And because of the story's epic nature, widescreen clearly made the most sense. Widescreen means a big film, an epic tale – in this case an epic tale of human endurance."[34]

text: The filmmakers avoided the desaturated visual style that is typical of a more gritty documentary aesthetic.[35] Deliberately drawing visual comparisons in the filming to the works of Spanish painter Francisco Goya, McQueen explained:

text: When you think about Goya, who painted the most horrendous pictures of violence and torture and so forth, and they're amazing, exquisite paintings, one of the reasons they're such wonderful paintings is because what he's saying is, 'Look – look at this.' So if you paint it badly or put it in the sort of wrong perspective, you draw more attention to what's wrong with the image rather than looking at the image.[36]

text: Design[edit]

text: To accurately depict the time period of the film, the filmmakers conducted extensive research that included studying artwork from the era.[37] With eight weeks to create the wardrobe, costume designer Patricia Norris collaborated with Western Costume to compile costumes that would illustrate the passage of time while also being historically accurate.[38] Using an earth tone color palette, Norris created nearly 1,000 costumes for the film. "She [Norris] took earth samples from all three of the plantations to match the clothes," McQueen said, "and she had the conversation with Sean [Bobbitt] to deal with the character temperature on each plantation, there was a lot of that minute detail."[39] The filmmakers also used some pieces of clothing discovered on set that were worn by slaves.[40]

text: Music[edit]

text: The musical score to 12 Years a Slave was composed by Hans Zimmer, with original on-screen violin music written and arranged by Nicholas Britell and performed by Tim Fain.[41] The film also features a few pieces of western classical and American folk music such as Franz Schubert's "Trio in B-flat, D471" and John and Alan Lomax's arrangement of "Run, Nigger, Run".[42] A soundtrack album, Music from and Inspired by 12 Years a Slave, was released digitally on November 5 and received a physical format release on November 11, 2013, by Columbia Records.[43] In addition to Zimmer's score, the album features music inspired by the film by artists such as John Legend, Laura Mvula, Alicia Keys, Chris Cornell, and Alabama Shakes.[44] Legend's cover of "Roll, Jordan, Roll" debuted online three weeks prior to the soundtrack's release.[45]

text: Historical accuracy[edit]

text: African-American history and culture scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. was a consultant on the film, and researcher David Fiske, co-author of Solomon Northup: The Complete Story of the Author of Twelve Years a Slave, provided some material used to market the film.[46] Nevertheless, news and magazine articles around the time of the film's release described a scholar alleging some license that Northup could have taken with his book, and liberties that McQueen definitely took with Northup's original, for dramatic, modernizing, or other reasons.

text: Scott Feinberg wrote in The Hollywood Reporter about a September 22 New York Times article that "dredged up and highlighted a 1985 essay by another scholar, James Olney, that questioned the 'literal truth' of specific incidents in Northup's account and suggested that David Wilson, the white amanuensis to whom Northup had dictated his story, had taken the liberty of sprucing it up to make it even more effective at rallying public opinion against slavery."[47] According to Olney, when abolitionists invited an ex-slave to share his experience in slavery at an antislavery convention, and when they subsequently funded the appearance of that story in print, "they had certain clear expectations, well understood by themselves and well understood by the ex-slave, too."[46]

text: Noah Berlatsky wrote in The Atlantic about a scene in McQueen's adaptation. Shortly after Northup's kidnapping, he is sent on a slave ship. One of the sailors attempts to rape a female slave, but is stopped by a male slave. "The sailor unhesitatingly stabs and kills [the male slave]," he wrote, stating that "this seems unlikely on its face—slaves are valuable, and the sailor is not the owner. And, sure enough, the scene is not in the book."[48]

text: Forrest Wickman of Slate wrote of Northup's book giving a more favorable account of the author's onetime master, William Ford, than the McQueen film. In Northup's own words, "There never was a more kind, noble, candid, Christian man than William Ford," adding that Ford's circumstances "blinded [Ford] to the inherent wrong at the bottom of the system of Slavery." The movie, however, according to Wickham, "frequently undermines Ford."[49] McQueen undercuts Christianity itself as well, in an effort to update the ethical lessons from Northup's story for the 21st century, by holding the institutions of Christianity up to the light for their ability to justify slavery at the time.[50] Northup was a Christian of his time, writing of his former master being "blinded" by "circumstances"[49] that in retrospect meant a racist acceptance of slavery despite being a Christian, a position untenable to Christians now[51] and to Christian abolitionists of the 19th century but not contradictory to Northup himself. Valerie Elverton Dixon in The Washington Post characterized the Christianity depicted in the movie as "broken".[50]

text: Emily West, an associate professor of history at the University of Reading who specializes in the history of slavery in the U.S., said she had "never seen a film represent slavery so accurately".[52] Reviewing the film for History Extra, the website of BBC History Magazine, she said: "The film starkly and powerfully unveiled the sights and sounds of enslavement – from slaves picking cotton as they sang in the fields, to the crack of the lash down people's backs. We also heard a lot about the ideology behind enslavement. Masters such as William Ford and Edwin Epps, although very different characters, both used an interpretation of Christianity to justify their ownership of slaves. They believed the Bible sanctioned slavery, and that it was their 'Christian duty' to preach the scriptures to their slaves."[52]

text: Release[edit]

text: Initial screenings[edit]

text: 12 Years a Slave premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2013;[53] it was later screened at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival on September 6,[54] the New York Film Festival on October 8,[55] the New Orleans Film Festival on October 10,[56] and the Philadelphia Film Festival on October 19.[57] On November 15, 2011, Summit Entertainment announced it had secured a deal to distribute 12 Years a Slave to international markets.[58] In April 2012, a few weeks before principal photography, New Regency Productions agreed to co-finance the film.[59] Because of a distribution pact between 20th Century Fox and New Regency, Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired the film's United States distribution rights.[60] However, instead of paying for the distribution rights, Fox Searchlight made a deal in which it would share box-office proceeds with the financiers of the independently financed film.[61] 12 Years a Slave was commercially released on October 18, 2013 in the United States for a limited release of 19 theaters, with a wide release in subsequent weeks.[62] The film was initially scheduled to be released in late December 2013, but "some exuberant test screenings" led to the decision to move up the release date.[63] The film was distributed by Entertainment One in the United Kingdom.[64]

text: Marketing[edit]

text: Due to both the film's explicit nature and award contender status, 12 Years a Slave's financial success was being watched closely. Many analysts compared the film's content to other drama films of a similar vein such as Schindler's List (1993) and The Passion of the Christ (2004), which became box office successes despite their respective subject matters.[31][61] "It may be a tough subject matter, but when handled well ... films that are tough to sit through can still be commercially successful," said Phil Contrino of Boxoffice Magazine.[65] Despite its content, the film's critical success has assisted its domestic distribution by Fox Searchlight that began with a limited released aimed primarily towards art house and African-American patrons.[66] The film's release was gradually widened in subsequent weeks, similarly to how the studio had successfully done in years prior with films such as Black Swan and The Descendants.[67] International release dates for 12 Years a Slave were largely delayed to early 2014 in order to take advantage of the attention created by awards seasons.[68]

text: During its marketing campaign, 12 Years a Slave received unpaid endorsements by celebrities such as Kanye West and P. Diddy.[69] In a video posted by Revolt, Combs urged viewers to see 12 Years a Slave by stating: "This movie is very painful but very honest, and is a part of the healing process. I beg all of you to take your kids, everybody to see it. ... You have to see this so you can understand, so you can just start to understand."[70]

text: Home media[edit]

text: Following its cinematic release in theaters, the Region 1 Code widescreen edition of the film was released on DVD in the United States on March 4, 2014. Special features for the DVD include; a Closed Caption option, The Team - Meet the creative minds assembled by Director Steve McQueen and bring Solomon Northup's journey to life bonus selection, and The Score - Follow film Composer Hans Zimmer creating his dramatic score feature.[71] In supplemental fashion, a widescreen hi-definition Blu-ray Disc version of the film was also released on the same day. Special features include; a historical portrait from Director Steve McQueen's documentary feature, cast and crew interviews, The Team special feature, and The Score selection.[72] An additional viewing option for the film in the media format of Video on demand has been made available as well.[73]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: 12 Years a Slave earned $187.7 million, including $56.7 million in the United States.[3] During its opening limited release in the United States, 12 Years a Slave debuted with a weekend total of $923,715 on 19 screens for a $48,617 per-screen average.[74] The following weekend, the film entered the top ten after expanding to 123 theatres and grossing an additional $2.1 million.[75] It continued to improve into its third weekend, grossing $4.6 million at 410 locations. The film release was expanded to over 1,100 locations on November 8, 2013.[3][76] In 2014, 12 Years a Slave was the 10th most-illegally downloaded movie, with 23.653 million such downloads, according to Variety.[77]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: 12 Years a Slave received near-universal acclaim by critics and audiences, for its acting (particularly Ejiofor, Fassbender, Paulson and Nyong'o), Steve McQueen's direction, John Ridley's screenplay, its production values, and its faithfulness to Solomon Northup's account. Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 96% of critics gave the film a "Certified Fresh" rating, based on 315 reviews with an average score of 8.9/10, with the site's consensus stating, "It's far from comfortable viewing, but 12 Years a Slave's unflinchingly brutal look at American slavery is also brilliant -- and quite possibly essential -- cinema."[78] Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 96 (out of 100) based on 56 reviews from mainstream critics, considered to be "universal acclaim". It is currently one of the site's highest-rated films as well as the best reviewed film of 2013.[79] CinemaScore reported that audiences gave the film an "A" grade.[80]

text: Richard Corliss of TIME heralded the film and its director, Steve McQueen, by stating: "Indeed, McQueen's film is closer in its storytelling particulars to such 1970s exploitation-exposés of slavery as Mandingo and Goodbye, Uncle Tom. Except that McQueen is not a schlockmeister sensationalist but a remorseless artist." Corliss draws parallels with Nazi Germany, saying, "McQueen shows that racism, aside from its barbarous inhumanity, is insanely inefficient. It can be argued that Nazi Germany lost the war both because it diverted so much manpower to the killing of Jews and because it did not exploit the brilliance of Jewish scientists in building smarter weapons. So the slave owners dilute the energy of their slaves by whipping them for sadistic sport and, as Epps does, waking them at night to dance for his wife's cruel pleasure."[81] Gregory Ellwood of HitFix gave the film an "A-" rating, stating, "12 Years is a powerful drama driven by McQueen's bold direction and the finest performance of Chiwetel Ejiofor's career." He continued by praising the performances of Fassbender and Nyong'o, citing Nyong'o as "the film's breakthrough performance [that] may find Nyong'o making her way to the Dolby Theater next March". He also admired the film's "gorgeous" cinematography and the musical score, as "one of Hans Zimmer's more moving scores in some time".[82] Paul MacInnes of The Guardian scored the film five out of five stars, writing, "Stark, visceral and unrelenting, 12 Years a Slave is not just a great film but a necessary one."[83]

text: Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly praised it as "a new movie landmark of cruelty and transcendence" and as "a movie about a life that gets taken away, and that's why it lets us touch what life is". He also commented very positively about Ejiofor's performance, while further stating, "12 Years a Slave lets us stare at the primal sin of America with open eyes, and at moments it is hard to watch, yet it's a movie of such humanity and grace that at every moment, you feel you're seeing something essential. It is Chiwetel Ejiofor's extraordinary performance that holds the movie together, and that allows us to watch it without blinking. He plays Solomon with a powerful inner strength, yet he never soft-pedals the silent nightmare that is Solomon's daily existence."[84] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, gave the film a four-star rating and said: "you won't be able to tuck this powder keg in the corner of your mind and forget it. What we have here is a blistering, brilliant, straight-up classic." He later named the film the best movie of 2013.[85]

text: Manohla Dargis wrote, in her review for The New York Times, "the genius of 12 Years a Slave is its insistence on banal evil, and on terror, that seeped into souls, bound bodies and reaped an enduring, terrible price".[86] The Daily Telegraph's Tim Robey granted the film a maximum score of five stars, stating that "it's the nobility of this remarkable film that pierces the soul", while praising Ejiofor and Nyong'o's performances.[87] Tina Hassannia of Slant Magazine said that "using his signature visual composition and deafening sound design, Steve McQueen portrays the harrowing realism of Northup's experience and the complicated relationships between master and slave, master and master, slave and slave, and so on".[88] David Simon, the creator of the TV series The Wire, highly praised the movie, commenting that "it marks the first time in history that our entertainment industry, albeit with international creative input, has managed to stare directly at slavery and maintain that gaze".[89]

text: The film, however, was not without its criticisms. Stephanie Zacharek of The Village Voice was more critical of the film. While praising Ejiofor's work, she stated: "It's a picture that stays more than a few safe steps away from anything so dangerous as raw feeling. Even when it depicts inhuman cruelty, as it often does, it never compromises its aesthetic purity."[90] Peter Malamud Smith of Slate criticized the story, saying, "12 Years a Slave is constructed as a story of a man trying to return to his family, offering every viewer a way into empathizing with its protagonist. Maybe we need a story framed on that individual scale in order to understand it. But it has a distorting effect all the same. We're more invested in one hero than in millions of victims; if we're forced to imagine ourselves enslaved, we want to imagine ourselves as Northup, a special person who miraculously escaped the system that attempted to crush him." Describing this as "the hero problem", Malamud Smith concluded his review explaining, "We can handle 12 Years a Slave. But don't expect 60 Years a Slave any time soon. And 200 Years, Millions of Slaves? Forget about it."[91] Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of The A.V. Club opined that McQueen is "essentially tone-deaf when it comes to performance, and skirts by on casting". The film "lacks a necessary emotional continuity. I don't think it's something the movie is denying in the way it intentionally denies so many other conventions; it's still structured around an ending that's supposed to function as a release, but because it can’t organize that sense of catharsis it so badly needs, it just feels as though McQueen is scurrying for an exit. Also: The cast is wildly uneven."[92] At The Guardian, black Canadian author Orville Lloyd Douglas said he would not be seeing 12 Years a Slave, explaining: "I'm convinced these black race films are created for a white, liberal film audience to engender white guilt and make them feel bad about themselves. Regardless of your race, these films are unlikely to teach you anything you don't already know."[93]

text: Timothy Sneed said in U.S. News & World Report the year after the film was released, "Doubts still lingered about its ability to truly bring about a newfound racial consciousness among a national, mainstream audience ... The film also was a period piece that featured a happy ending ushered in by a 'white savior' in the form of Brad Pitt's character."[94]

text: Accolades[edit]

text: 12 Years a Slave has received numerous awards and nominations. It earned three Academy Awards, including Best Picture.[95] It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama.[96] The film also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film, while Ejiofor received the Best Actor award.[7] In addition, the motion picture has been named as one of the best films of 2013 by various ongoing critics, appearing on 100 critics' top-ten lists in which 25 had the film in their number-one spot. This is both the most of any film released in its production year.[97]

text:
1st – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
1st – Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
1st – Tom Brook, BBC
1st – Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
1st – Eric Kohn, Indiewire
1st – Manohla Dargis, New York Times
1st – Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic
1st – Scott MacDonald, The A.V. Club
1st – TV Guide
1st – Yahoo! Movies
1st – Jake Coyle, Associated Press
1st – Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
1st – Brian D. Johnson, Maclean's
1st – Mike Scott, Times-Picayune
1st – Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News
1st – Katey Rich, Variety
1st – Keith Phipps, The Dissolve
1st – Rafer Guzmán, Newsday
1st – Bob Fischbach, Omaha World-Herald
1st – Steve Persall, Tampa Bay Times
1st – Bruce R. Miller, Sioux City Journal
1st – Wesley Morris, Grantland
1st – Genevieve Valentine, Philadelphia Weekly
1st – David Chen, Slashfilm
2nd – A. O. Scott, New York Times
2nd – Lou Lumenick, New York Post
2nd – Peter Debruge, Variety
2nd – Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News
2nd – Luke Wulfensmith, Freelance
2nd – Sasha Stone, Awards Daily
2nd – Glenn Sumi, NOW Magazine
2nd – Andrew O'Hehir, Salon
2nd – James Rocchi, Cinephiled
2nd – Stephen Schaefer, Boston Herald
2nd – Ty Burr, Boston Globe
2nd – Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
2nd – Christopher Orr, The Atlantic
2nd – Sam Adams, The A.V. Club
2nd – Barbara Vancheri, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
2nd – David Ehrlich, Film.com
2nd – Film School Rejects
2nd – Connie Ogle, Miami Herald
2nd – Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News
2nd – Joe Reid, The Wire
2nd - Andrew Saladino, NothingButFilm
3rd – Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly
Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – David Denby, The New Yorker
Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Stephen Whitty, The Star-Ledger
Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – James Verniere, Boston Herald
Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times