Captive , which comes from the Latin captīvus , is an adjective used to describe a human being or animal that, for some reason, is not free . The concept refers to someone who is in captivity .
For example: “Investigators believe that the businessman was held captive two days before being murdered” , “When the young man opened the door of his house, he was caught by the kidnappers, who took him captive in a black van” , “The army entered the embassy by force and, after an intense shootout with the terrorists, managed to rescue the captives.”
The notion is usually used to name the person who was captured by kidnappers, terrorists, invaders or enemies. “The Captive” , in this sense, is the title of an extensive poem by the Argentine writer Esteban Echeverría , where he details the kidnapping of a woman and her husband by a group of indigenous people.
The term that concerns us now also plays an essential role within Holy Week. And there are images called like that. Perhaps in Spain the most important is the one that responds to the popular name of “El Cautivo”. It is from Malaga, it is called Nuestro Padre Jesús Cautivo and it is a sculpture of Jesus Christ that dates back to the 1930s. Specifically, it was made in 1934 by José Gabriel Martín Simón from Granada.
He performs his penance station on Holy Monday and is in the Church of San Pablo. It has become one of the most important images of the entire Andalusian city.
It has a height of 177 centimeters, is made of polychrome wood and represents Jesus Christ bound, sad and with his head bowed. It should also be noted that it has gold powers, a scapular and a white tunic.
Captive animals , for their part, are those that are caged or that do not live freely in their natural habitat due to the action of man . The specimens found in a zoo, therefore, are in captivity.
The idea of a captive market , on the other hand, refers to the situation that exists when, in a market , there is no competition due to barriers that prevent the entry and participation of other actors. The captive market functions as an oligopoly or a monopoly .
There are different methods to create a captive market. Bureaucratic obstacles, excessive technical demands or the payment of very high tariffs are some of these mechanisms.
Within the field of cinema, we find several films that use the word in question in their titles. This would be the case, for example, of “The Captive,” which hit the big screen in 2015.
Jerry Jameson is the director of this feature film, starring actors such as Mimi Rogers, David Oyelowo and Kate Mara. It tells the story of a woman who, when she is overcoming a serious drug addiction, is kidnapped from her own home. The kidnapper will be none other than a man who flees from justice after having ended the life of a judge.