"NTD" Birth of a Nation

[ZapRowsdower]

I'm taking a film appreciation class in college, and last week they showed us this movie.

This has to be the most racist movie of all time! It was directed by D.W. Griffith, whose father served in the Civil War for the South. The KKK were portrayed as heroes.

In terms of direction and filmmaking qualities, the movie was very well-made, but I cannot speak for its ethics.

Why is it that two milestones of American cinema (this and the Jazz Singer) are so incredibly racist?

[Quorthon]

I think Birth of a Nation is famous in large part to it being a 3-hour long silent film from, how long ago, 19teens? From it's epic story so early in the annals of filmmaking and cinematography.

As a side note, just in case, Bart and Spacer--you guys know what the Klan is? This is a major part of American history, but hardly left any kind of dent on the rest of the world.

But it's portrayal of the Klan as heroes is, I think, one of the things that's helped keep this film alive for so long. But it takes place during the Civil War doesn't it? Around that time the Klan were probably not yet totally racist--they started out a simple "gentleman's club" of sorts in the mid or early 1800's. The Civil War, however, may have been the turning point. I don't remember--it's been about 5 years since I watched that History Channel history of the KKK show--and it was 2 hours long.

However, DW Griffith may have had slightly different motives behind making it... Anyone know what kind of person he was? I've only seen parts of BoaN.

[Bartwald]

quorthon said:

As a side note, just in case, Bart and Spacer--you guys know what the Klan is? This is a major part of American history, but hardly left any kind of dent on the rest of the world.

We sure know about KKK: remember that each single piece of US history gets to the screen, so admitting we don't know the Klan would be admitting we don't know our movies and we'd never ever dare do THAT!

Haven't seen BoaN, however...

[Heineken Skywalker]

Saw it years ago. Yup, incredibly racist by today's standards, but you have to put it in the context of when it was released.
There are some Disney and Looney Tunes animated shorts, long after BIRTH OF A NATION, that are considered politically incorrect today, but were perfectly fine back then. They usually featured sterotypical representations of American Indians, African Americans, Japanese, etc.
And I believe it was the first "epic" film regarding it's length and so on, so in that regard, it's also an important film.

[Quorthon]

Heineken, you just reminded me--has anyone on here seen that Superman cartoon from the 40's where he's fighting the Japanese in WWII?

[Heineken Skywalker]

Oh yeah, absolutely. I have a DVD of all the old Fleischer Studio SUPERMAN cartoons. Good stuff, but yeah, they definitely didn't mind bashing on the Japanese in those old cartoons. But people have to remember, America was at war with Japan at the time, so no racial stereotype of them was considered too harsh.

[Quorthon]

Funny to see all the rampant changes cultures have gone through in just the last century. One of the wonders of film and literature.

[spacer]

quorthon said:

As a side note, just in case, Bart and Spacer--you guys know what the Klan is? This is a major part of American history, but hardly left any kind of dent on the rest of the world.

It's insulting comment, really.
I wouldn't have used my avatar if I hadn't known such obvious topics.
If it happened I didn't know anything about Imperial Wizards, Kluckers, lynchings and all I would use a moron avatar ;D
But anyway thanks for your concern, Quorth. Obviously, there are things happening in US, we (Bart and spacer) are not aware of.

[Quorthon]

Hey, I just didn't want you guys to be ill-informed. One can never be really sure what another country knows about his own.