Abstract
This thesis is about the different ways slave ship rebellions and enslaved people have been represented onscreen in four specific films: Tamango (1959), Amistad (1997), Passage du Milieu (1999), and Belle (2013). It is framed in terms of the history of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the slave ship specifically, and the history of slavery as represented in film. It explores questions of visualization and spectacle, representation and humanity, and commodification and audience, among others.