Influence Of D. W. Griffith's Film The Birth Of A Nation

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.

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.

The United States has long been a country that has accepted that change is a necessity for prosperity and growth. However, each change within the nation's history was hard fought against those who resisted such change either through racism, bigotry, and blatant discrimination. African American cinema is enshrouded in history that depicts these themes of racism, struggle, and deprivation. Yet, this same cinema also shows scenes of hope, artistic spirit, intellectual greatness, and joy. Black actresses, actors, directors, producers, and writers have been fighting for recognition and respect since the great Paul Robeson. The civil rights movement of the 1950's and 60's was fueled by black cinema through films like A Raisin in the Sun.

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

All through the considered silent period, Blacks in film were typically pigeonholed as toms or coons. Nonetheless, the savage still showed up, particularly in the uncommon, in movies of “all colored cast”. These movies were aimed at portraying women as lesser beings because they could be used as dancers or sex tools in the Antebellum South, or in present-day Harlem. Extensive consideration has been given to the commonness and diligence of generalizations of the blacks in America (Bates 661). Yet one of these recognized generalizations or stereotyping, the “abysmal mulatto,” has gotten quick consideration from researchers and social pundits of film and pop culture in the United States. The Birth of a Nation portrays a society that is truly bent in keeping up the rigid social limits, this exclusion is very tricky. It is true that most films during this period, tried to dissect the film’s political capacities and sociological effect as far as race, sex, and class is concerned.

Ethnic Notions, a film documentary directed by Marlon Riggs made in 1987, sheds light on the evolution of African American stereotypes in American culture. Ethnic Notions portrays the roots of false and exaggerated generalizations during a time where blacks were not treated equally. It exposes very basic classifications for racial depictions that are still seen in today's society. The racial profiling in this film begin in the mid 1800's and continue to the 1960's. During these times, the use of media was the most adequate way to transfer information and ideas. This is why it was used to propose black inferiority. Black children and adults were present and drawn toothless, with big, white lips. They were also show as happy servants, dancing and enjoying a segregated life. These images

African American stereotypes began in the media in 1915 when D. W. Griffith’s film the Birth of a Nation came out. The film aired during reconstruction and focused on Southern fears of racial equality. The film ultimately led to southern stereotypes of African Americans as savages. This film fueled the lynching campaign after it aired for 44 consecutive weeks and ultimately sparked the revival of the KKK. The media participated in a public discourse on race that had a direct impact on the lives of African Americans. The film also lead to more representations of African Americans in the public world that summarized the context in which African Americans had been defined since slavery. African American women were stereotyped in a way that dehumanized them which objectifies their existence and that they aren’t human so they deserve unfair treatment. How African Americans were represented in the media years ago transformed into how America thought about African Americans from the media. The idea of the Southern

The documentary Thirteenth states that the film Birth of A Nation was the birth of America’s effort towards criminalizing black people, and in specifics black men. With this blockbuster prototype, that essentially grabbed the nation’s attention in frenzy. This film while gaining all

professor of law, and civil rights advocate argues that African Americans were arrested for extremely minor crimes like loitering or vagrancy. While incarcerated, the prisoners, African Americans, had to provide labor to help aid in rebuilding the economy of the South after the Civil War. Jelani Cobb, also an American writer, educator, and professor of journalism, states that after the mass incarceration was a rapid transition of a kind of mythology of black criminality. The Birth of a Nation, a film directed by D. W. Griffith, was successful yet controversial. It portrayed black men as sexually aggressive towards white women, animal-like and unintelligent. The movie helped in demeaning the African American, it also credited as being one of

[2] For films concerning slavery, the role of the filmmaker as educator is substantially heightened. All too often slavery films categorically vilify whites as oppressive forces, polarizing race and stereotyping the white

D. W. Griffith was raised on a Kentucky farm in Crestwood, with his father, his mother, and sister. His father was a colonel in the Confederate Army, and served Kentucky as a state legislator. His family raised him Methodist, and his sister did his schooling in a one-room schoolhouse. At the age of 10, his father died and his mother left the farm to move to Louisville, Kentucky. They struggled with poverty after that, and he eventually got into acting and filmmaking. He started off as an actor when his first screenplay was rejected. However, he started working with a production company called Biograph, and soon became the main director. However, his intentions and budget did not match up with Biograph’s ideas and motives, so he left

2. D. W. Griffith 's Birth of a Nation is celebrated for its forward­thinking content.

The Birth of a Nation (1915) by D.W. Griffith is a silent movie set against the backdrop of the Civil War and Reconstruction. By portraying African-Americans as incompetent and concupiscent, and Ku Klux Klan (KKK) as patriots and heroes, The Birth of A Nation has been considered one of the most controversial movies in American cinema. The release of the movie sparked intense protest among the black communities who were strongly offended. According to the Los Angeles Times, the movie is seldom shown publicly nowadays due to its huge controversy. This paper will explore D.W. Griffith’s preferred meaning for the movie as well as an oppositional meaning from the audience. Furthermore, it will examine the balance of power between D.W. Griffith and his audiences in determining the meaning for the movie. While Griffith claimed to have based the movie on real history, a large number of audiences felt his portrayal distorted history, and reflected racist values. Audiences who held the oppositional decoding position made effort to fight against Birth, but the effect was insufficient to counter Griffith’s preferred meaning.

When you think of Birth of a Nation you think of the propaganda film that racially stereotypes African American people during the 1900s. Nat Parker, the Director, Producer and Actor in Birth of a Nation, twisted the meaning of that movie and created a movie that showed event leading to the Nat Turner Rebellion. He was trying to signify how the abolition movement and brutal treatment came into play with the Nat Turner Rebellion happening, eventually leading to more resistance from slaves. In the movie is depicts the South United States in the early 1800s.