Birth Of A Nation

D. W. Griffith is referred to as the Father of Modern Film because of the innovations created for and introduced in what is called his landmark film, The Birth of a Nation (Griffith, 1915). Most film theorists, directors, producers, and even film students agree that it is with the advent of The Birth of a Nation that Griffith breaks new ground by developing a film language that focuses the film’s impactful message. Griffith’s inventive establishing shots, continuity and parallel editing, close-up shots, and intertitle use allow the film’s storyline to flow in a way not seen in other films of the time. The seamless flow of the filmic narrative focuses and enhances the emotional impact of The Birth of a Nation.

The Birth of a Nation has been

Griffith also created a Monster that embodied all of the South's repressed fears. The Monster, in the form of Gus, works in this context because he represents all of the South's fears regarding loss of the old "ways," and the legal and social effects of unrestrained new freedoms on former slaves, and by extension, all people outside the realm of "white." In The Birth of a Nation, Gus (white actor, Walter Long, in blackface) represents the

Flora's jump, her final escape from the assaultive tyranny of the black man's body, is a prominent long shot. The following camera shots featuring the unrepentant Gus are sped up, so that his movements appear ape-like and substantially less than human, especially when he runs from the scene of Flora's leap, reinforcing the idea that he, and all black men by extension, is (are) less than human and should be treated accordingly. Gus' lack of dignity and humanity is further indicated when Flora's shattered body is found by her brother – implying that sneaky Gus had neither the intellect nor the good Christian common sense to render aid to