Comparison of Two Films: Essay

On March 3, 1915 the movie The Birth of a Nation was released at the Liberty Theatre in New York City. This film was financed, filmed, and released by the Epoch Producing Corporation of D.W. Griffith and Harry T. Aitken. It was one of the first films to ever use deep-focus shots, night photography, and to be explicitly controversial with the derogatory view of blacks.

There were many scenes in the film that were meaningful to the theme of racism. One important scene is at the Gettysburg battle location. Here, Coach Boone makes an impacting speech to the players on overcoming

Birth of a Nation uses its histrionic plot to show how tangled destinies of a southern and northern family before and after the Civil War. It willingly portrays southern blacks as spiteful and uncivil, the northern whites as crafty, dishonest, and conceited, and the film’s southern whites as anguish recurrent radical and erotic mortifications at the hands of white northerners and black southerners before factually being saved by the thoughtful, Ku Klux Klan. The film is divided to show the different aspects of those two sides during this historical time. During this time Africans were coming to America and it started the reconstruction on our country. D.W. Griffith made this film to show us the reality of racism at this point in time.

For the past few weeks, I have analyzed the storytelling style of the book and film Big Fish. The biggest difference I noticed was that I thought that the book focused more on the telling of Edwards inane stories, while the film was mostly centered around character development and relationships. I also think that while the book was very euphoric and felt like a children’s bedtime story, the film took a much more mystical and mysterious route, where a childish feel was dormant. Lastly, I thought that in the book the author just threw all the stories together and told them

If a movie of this sort had such an emotional impact on me, it is no wonder people embraced these ideas back then. The use of new and popular media methods in those days was more than adequate in transferring the black inferiority ideas to the general public. Beginning at the early 19th century with the happy, dancing, toothless, drunken Negro with big, bold and white lips to the image of the mid 21st century African-American, the media has always used these images to convey inferiority. These images implied inherent traits in the black community. This whole community was represented in the new media as one who can not be collateralized and integrated in to society without being happily enslaved. Most of these images had great commercial values that made it all the more impossible for the rest of the nation not to embrace the African American stereotypes.

Looking at the surface of the films The Fox and the Hound and Monsters Inc, we probably would not see any similarities whatsoever. This is hardly the case once looking past the animated animals and monsters. The Fox and the Hound, which was released in 1981 by Disney, portrays a fox named Tod and a hound dog named Copper. Even though they grew up together, they are socially supposed to be enemies. They do overcome this stereotype at first as they become best friends and vow to forever. In the end of the film they stay friends, but end up living separate from each other. Each one living in the world that is socially acceptable to each animal. Similarity, Monster Inc., which was released in 2001 by Disney and

The Birth of a Nation, arguably one of the most ambiguous names in the history of cinema, is only about to get more complex and chaotic. The Birth of a Nation was originally the title of D.W. Griffith’s 1915 racist propaganda film about the rise of the Ku Klux Klan who “saved” the South from being dictated by blacks during the Reconstruction era when the North tried to rebuild the South after the Civil War. Now, that title poises a new movie written, directed, produced, and starring actor Nate Parker that dramatizes the 1831 slave rebellion led by enslaved African-American Nat Turner.

In the fourth chapter of The Cultures of American Film, author Robert Kolker, indulges into the legacy of one of the most well-known writers, producers, and directors in early cinema – D.W. Griffith. Kolker dissects the cultural and racial implications of Griffiths most successful film, The Birth of a Nation, as well as, how Griffith impacted film. Griffith’s use of naturalism, parallel editing, and formal methods separated himself from other’s in the film business. We also get a look at how Oscar Micheaux responded to The Birth of a Nation, and became one of the first African-American filmmakers.

Ku Klux Klan also has a main role in this movie. They are very strong together. They are cold blooded murders and just want to get rid of the black people. They have a high status in society, mainly because no one has the courage to do anything to them.

The history of African Americans in early Hollywood films originated with blacks representing preconceived stereotypes. D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film, Birth of a Nation, stirred many controversial issues within the black community. The fact that Griffith used white actors in blackface to portray black people showed how little he knew about African Americans. Bosley Crowther’s article “The Birth of Birth of a Nation” emphasizes that the film was a “highly pro-South drama of the American Civil War and the Period of Reconstruction, and it glorified the role of the Ku Klux Klan” (76). While viewing this film, one would assert that the Ku Klux Klan members are heroic forces that rescue white women from sexually abusive black men. Griffith

Some similarities in the book are, Mason had to sell his horse and also tex’s horse because they needed the money for groceries. Mason said that if they didn't sell the horses then either the horses would starve or mason and tex would. Another similarity is that Tex had to go to the hospital. Tex had to go to the hospital because he got shot when he went to Lem’s friends house. Lem’s friend shot Tex in the hand because Tex was trying to leave. One more similarity was that Mason and Tex were on t.v. They were on t.v because they picked up a hitchhiker, and the hitchhiker had a gun and was trying to shoot mason. If Tex did not take the hitchhiker where he wanted to go then he was going to shoot Mason.

The original 1933 King Kong was created as a movie: to convey a story and entertain and audience. Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake took the foundation for King Kong and expanded upon it in almost every way in order to “make again” the amazement of the original for a modern audience. Audiences received the original King Kong very well. The stop motion sequences of Kong were amazing for their time and the movie grossed $90,000 in its opening weekend. In order to bank upon its success again sequels were made and then in 1976 a remake was made to improve upon the original. Paramount updated the movie to color, changed the story, and cast Jeff Bridges, a well-known actor of the time, as the lead. Although the movie received mixed reviews, it did

The Polanski film Death and the Maiden is a wonderful and intelligent interpretation of Ariel Dorfman's human rights problem play. Polanski has produced, in this film, an exceptional piece of direction, in which his own personal, emotional input is evident. The main theme of the play is an extremely personal one for both playwright (and scriptwriter) and director. Both Dorfman and Polanski have had to face and flee the horrors of dictatorship and human rights violations: Dorfman in Chile, under General Augusto Pinochet, and Polanski in Poland under the Nazis. But despite this similarity in past experience, significannot

Many elements of the film Life is Beautiful can compare to the Bible. For example, Guido, the main character, acts as a Christ figure in that he saves his son, Joshua from the evils of the Holocaust. Another example that compares with the Bible is the tank that is promised to Joshua. Finally, Guido’s death eventually saves Joshua from his own death. Such examples in the movie are comparable to examples in the Bible.

The thought that is running through all our heads when we are in English class is, can 't we just watch the movie? The answer is no, we can 't just watch the movie because the book has many major details that the movie does not include. For our age, reading the book will have a major impact on our life ahead, how we look at the world, and how we look at others. Some of us may be unhappy that we are reading the book and not just watching the movie, but we need to realize, that not only with The Hobbit but with all movies, they are vastly different from the books.