Essay about Hollywood's Take on the Civil War

The film Birth of a Nation was released. The Ku Klux Klan was reborn. In January 1923, Fannie Taylor accused a black man of coming to her home and viciously beating her. A fugitive was originally accused. Aunt Sarah worked for Fannie & James Taylor. On New Year’s morning Aunt Sarah & her granddaughter witnessed a white man visiting Fannie. He visited a lot while James Taylor worked. People gossiped that they were having an affair. A posse gathered to find the black man who hurt Fannie. Jesse Hunter, a fugitive from another town was under suspicion. Aaron Carrier was arrested. Fannie’s white

The Civil War, a period of four years in the United States filled with bloody combat, thousands of casualties, and the destruction of much of Southern infrastructure. Although the Civil War had various causes (economy, politics, etc.), it mainly originated from the pressing issue of slavery at the time, mainly its expansion into the Western territories. As we all know, slavery was one of the most horrific times in our nation’s history, yet it was a typical and normal thing for the people of the 19th century. The film, Glory (1989), directed by Edward Zwick, doesn’t necessarily depict the horrors of slavery, however it does show 19th century America’s attitude toward African Americans, as well as the average African American’s hunger for

In this movie the African Americans were treated nicely but in reality they did not feel this way. The masters mistreated their slaves but in the movie they were actually having conversations. There is a scene in the movie where a group of African Americans were shaking hands with the white Americans. The producer of the movie wanted to inform others that the “birth” of America was founded on the basis of equality rather than discrimination. If the producer of the movie did not show how the slaves were mistreated, the people will just see the world in only that point of view; the slaves’ point of view does not exist. Ruling countries oppressed both the undeveloped, barren places and the African Americans. The Birth of the Nation is a perfect example of a form of travel writing; the Americans wanted to inform others about America but this movie was only produced in their perspective. Rather than recording the reality, the produces or writers record history with the input of their own influences.

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

Since the early developments of cinema, racial tension and the dehumanization of African Americans were portrayed circumstantially on the big screen, and through media. As portrayed in “A Birth of a Nation”, African American’s roles consisted of discriminatory imagery, and low social stature. An early film, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, was the first film to cast a black actor as the main character—even then, the character portrayals were that of a male, white actor. In the early stages of film, African American women had very little, if any, roles in the film industry. “The use of white actors to portray black individuals was common practice carried from the stage to early films” (Collins 77). According to

Stereotypes of African-American women have been portrayed in American pop culture date back to when African-American slavery. Many authors credit the majority of stereotypes regarding African-American people to the 1915 film Birth of a Nation, which was based on a novel called The Clansman (Carpenter, 2012). In reaction to the quick development of the African-American community in the United States during reconstruction, this film declared that African-Americans were dangerous, uncivilized, and undeserving of their freedom (National Public Radio, 2015). The film resulted in the second resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan, and introduced many of the African-American stereotypes still prominent in American media today, including the Mammy and the

It disgusted me to learn how “Birth Of A Nation” resurrected the KKK and stopped any

I thought the movie was very accurate with the facts that I already know about the civil war. On the other hand, I thought the movie was kind of on the boring side for most of it. I am not really a fan of historical movies to begin with. I wish is showed more of what happens in wars rather than the preparation of the troops. I had no idea who Robert Shaw was until I saw this movie. The movie also showed me the fighting strategies used during the Civil War. Originally I thought the fighting tactics were more similar to the Revolutionary War until I saw this film. It made me see the suffering the slaves had to through to get to this point. The movies also made it very clear that the black men really were not fighting for the North, but for themselves

I watched Birth of a Nation this past Friday and cried from the beginning to the end. I will be honest and say that growing up a never read anything about Nate Turner, his name was mentioned but I never knew his story or what he stood for. This movie was different from any other "slave movie" and the reason why is because nothing went untouched and nothing was "buttered" up. A lot of directors and writers like to make movies about slavery digestible but the crazy thing is, Absolutely nothing about slavery was digestible. Watching your mother, father and even children being lynch, burned alive and whipped wasn't digestible. They were hung from a freaking tree like Christmas ornaments, items with no value, but my ancestors had to live and fight

First, Birth of a Nation had its debut about a century ago, introducing a new, and in our day in age, taboo, hero: the Ku Klux Klan. The villains were portrayed as African-American people. This controversial, three hour long movie, provoked the rise of a new Ku Klux Klan. Jim Beckerman, a writer for The Record, wrote an article about the Birth of a Nation that said, “On November 25, 1915, the Ku Klux Klan- until then nearly extinct- came roaring back to life at Stone Mountain, Georgia, citing ‘The Birth of a Nation’ as inspiration.” This proved to be a controversial movie of its time, just as The Interview became controversial as well. The Interview, starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, blew up in the media when North Korea, according to Thanh Tan, threw a “cyber-tantrum.” People wanted to

The film has a charming storyline that attracts individuals effortlessly, it is difficult to quit watching it. This story is in light of Margaret Mitchell's novel, distributed in 1936. The general population had cherished the book so much, it was chosen to make a film about it. The stars of this film are Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable as Scarlett and Rhett. Scarlett, a Southern beauty, defenselessly begins to look all starry eyed at a nearby, Ashley Wilkes and she is embarrassed when he weds another lady. As she flounders about the loss of her adoration, she meets a well off man named Rhett Butler. This is by a long shot an excellent, and would be cherished by the eras to come. Gone with the Wind got eight honors in the year of its discharge and went down as a standout amongst the most well known preparations

In the book Envisioning Freedom (2014) by Cara Caddoo in chapter 6 Mobilizing and envisioned community talks about how protesters started to come out against the film The Birth of a Nation. It had big political, cultural, and social implications and because of this NAACP became the most powerful civil rights organization. I think that even now NAACP is a powerful civil right organization that fights for the rights of people. The NAACP was 5,000 members and by 1915 it doubled to 5,000 people. It seemed to me that the film was trying to show how African American people were bad and how they should take away their power. In the book, it talked about how it tried to take away the freedom of black Americans. The support to stop showing the film The Birth of a Nation grew bigger and bigger. According to the book envisioning freedom, it said that 900 black soldiers stationed at a military base succeeded in blocking the showing of The Birth of a Nation.

In the film the 13th, a great deal was discussed about the way society functioned post-civil war (Barish, DuVernay, & Moran, 2016). I found the discussion about the movie Birth of a Nation very fascinating, as it was a profoundly important cultural event and gave insight regarding how conflicted society is, and has always been, especially in terms of how race operates in the United States (Barishm DuVernay, & Moran, 2016; Griffith & Dixon, 1915). Additionally, in the film Birth of a Nation, we see an inaccurate depiction of how black individuals were trying to dominate Southern white people and sexually force themselves on white women (Griffith & Dixon, 1915). Throughout the course of both films, we see how minorities, especially African Americans,

The film Birth of a Nation caused many problems that were fading away, it caused the rebirth of the KKK in the United States because of the thought they are doing justice in the community. By getting rid of a threat which may not even exist in the person who they are killing. Killers did not get punished for doing the killing

For over the span of an entire century, there have been few films that have risen to the unique position of D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation. It is a film that has been praised for its genius and is considered the mastery of cinema itself while simultaneously being panned for depicting racism and white supremacy in a positive light. When looking at the film on its surface level, it is quite apparent why the film is shrouded in infamy. At first, Griffith’s nearly three and a half hour war epic tells a fairly standard story of the American Civil War: Two families divided, the destructive nature of war, and the eventual end to the conflict. However, the second half, which deals with a fictionalized version of Reconstruction, takes a much more racially charged turn. The former slaves quickly take over and it is up to the Ku Klux Klan to restore order to the South. With a storyline where the KKK are portrayed as heroes and the abundant use of blackface, the film is well deserving of the criticism it received. Although it should be condemned for its racist subject matter, Birth is still a profoundly important landmark in cinematic history. When analyzing the film for its significant achievements, there must be a separation between the subject matter and the narrative techniques. Although Birth of a Nation may initially appear to be unappealing today’s standards, the techniques that Griffith used drastically enhance the film to not only tell a better story but aids in maintaining