Slave

A slave is an individual who is considered the legal property of another person. In the United States, slavery was a common practice, particularly amongst Southern land owners up until the mid 19th century. Slave owners made slaves work on plantations, usually under harsh and violent conditions. All of the slaves in the United States at this time were of African descent, though most of them were actually born in the country. Slavery was abolished following the American Civil War.

In sci-fi, slavery is a common practice among many alien cultures. In the Star Wars franchise, young Anakin Skywalker was a child slave before earning his freedom at the Boonta Eve Podrace in 32 BBY. In a later film, Princess Leia was briefly a slave for alien gangster Jabba the Hutt. She was freed when she used her slave chain to strangle him to death.

In horror, the character known as the Candyman was a former slave who had been killed. His spirit came back to mete out vengeance against those responsible for his demise. In the 2000 comedy Scary Movie, director Keenen Ivory Wayans also played a slave in the faux film trailer Amistad II. In vampire sub-culture, many vampires keep human revenents that they consider their slaves. Through the use of enhanced mental abilities, vampires can generally get their mortal followers to obey their every command. The most infamous example of a human enslaved to a vampire is the character of Renfield from the Dracula novel and film adaptations.

Another term that could be applied to a slave is Coolie. Coolie is an old form informal term referring to slaves or indentured servants found in the regions of South Asia such as China and the Philippines. In the 1935 film Werewolf of London, Doctor Wilfred Glendon employed a group of "coolies" guide him through the mountains of Tibet in search of the elusive wolf flower, Mariphasa lupine lumina. Members of the team, which appeared to be of Cantonese origin, discussed matters relating to Doctor Glendon's work, while also shepherding the camels across the rough terrain.