ipl-logo

Film Review: The Birth Of A Nation

1095 Words5 Pages

INTFILM A51
Film Review for The Birth of a Nation (1915)

The Birth of a Nation: A Slow Painful Birth
By Jorel G. Cortel Considered by many film critics as a landmark in American filmmaking, The Birth of a Nation is a silent film drama released in 1915 directed, co-produced, and co-written by David W. Griffith. The stars include Henry B. Walthall, Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, and Miriam Cooper. It is based on the book The Clansman by T.F. Dixon, Jr. The film revolves around the relationship of the Stoneman family from the north (Washington, D.C.) and the Cameron family from the south (South Carolina) during the American Civil War in the 1860s and tackles the discrimination/slavery of African-Americans. A major part of the film highlights how members …show more content…

In fact, the film resulted in the reformation of the Ku Klux Klan in real life during the 1920s because of its portrayal of maltreatment towards the African-American slaves. I’m fully aware that at the time the film was released, the subject matter would be highly controversial to be actually depicted publicly in cinema, although nowadays this subject matter would be welcomed in films for mature audiences (ie. 12 Years A Slave). Aside from that, the filmmakers decided to use white actors for black characters, which I found disrespectful. This aspect of the film was notorious for having caused controversy at the time of its release. Certain black characters were portrayed by white actors completely covered up in charcoal-colored make up. Even I was bothered by this, and I felt slightly offended for the African-American …show more content…

The most significant difference of this to films released today is obviously that it 's a silent film and the showing of this film is different from today 's standards. The actual picture of the film is accompanied by a live orchestra and does not have any dialogue or sound effects. Dialogue and setting are established through the use of title cards in between scenes. This process was the typical kind of movie of this generation. Regardless of my views on the outcome of this film, its content also has a lot of storytelling within its deep subject matter. Films today usually forego character development and story progression as improvement in technology and visual effects would be the only effective instrument in catching the eye of the audiences. It is rare nowadays that films would tell great epic stories, without the extensive use of visuals. Therefore my full praise can only go to the innovative technical aspect of the film balanced well with concise story

Show More
Related

Dutch Schultz Research Papers

952 Words | 4 Pages

Dutch Schultz was an infamous gangster, bootlegger and murderer who became a powerful figure in the New York crime world earning the nicknames “Beer Baron of the Bronx” and “The Dutchman.” He also expanded to illegal gambling and clashing with rival gangsters such as Legs Diamond and Vincent Coll. On top of all of these crimes, he would get in violent gun battles with the police. Dutch Schultz was one of the most violent gangsters in the 1920’s, but is not as well known as others.

Read More

T. C. Williams 'Racial Tensions In The Film'

591 Words | 3 Pages

The film takes place in Alexandria, Virginia. Where racial tensions are high and one high school is forced to integrate through all the madness. T.C Williams is the new school with the football team being the main focus. The football team has not only players but also coaches as well who are black and white and must come together. Their willingness to come together will not only help them succeed on the field but also in the community.

Read More

Citizen Kane: A Cinematic Classic Hollywood Cinema

585 Words | 3 Pages

Citizen Kane by Orson Welles is a cinematic classic, released in 1941. Citizen Kane challenged traditional narrative and technical elements of classic Hollywood cinema. Kane was narrated by several people that include their take on Kane’s life. The story unfolds by many flashbacks and is told by different perspectives over the years through different narrations. Charles Foster Kane was a millionaire, head of newspapers and died saying “rosebud”.

Read More

Essay Response To Sonny's Blues By James Baldwin

828 Words | 4 Pages

He sees African American youths finding the points of confinement put on them by a supremacist society at the exact instant when they are finding their capacities. The narrator talks about his association with his more youthful sibling, Sonny. That relationship has traveled

Read More

Diversity In Wes Anderson's Films

663 Words | 3 Pages

Despite the many great elements of the film, diversity is seriously lacking. There is not a single POC character with a name in the film and only one shot with a person of color in it. It’s as simple as that, there is only one shot in the entire film that has a POC character in it. That is simply ridiculous. Some may argue that it's based on the period of the film and that Anderson was only trying to make it realistic and genuine for that time period.

Read More

Annotated Bibliography: I Have A Dream By Martin Luther King Jr.

766 Words | 4 Pages

In this movie, you see the life style on being a slave. Solomon Northup was a free man that was kidnapped and was traded off in the slave trade and endured the life style of a slave. There is a scene in the movie where he is building a house and the white man comes and tells him he is wrong and tells him to rip his clothes off so he can be whipped. Solomon refuse and takes a stand knowing that it is wrong he took a stand for what he though was right. This movie was primarily made to show the harsh conditions that they had to go thought but also an insider some of the slaves that made a stand.

Read More

Would People Rather Live In The 1960's

255 Words | 2 Pages

Would people rather live in the 1960’s. Some events that were in the 1960’s are the space race, civil rights movement. They had great artist and writers. Drugs were probably over used in the 1960’s,but your kids were safe to walk home unlike today. The 1960’s are better than now today.

Read More

Song Of The South Analysis

1012 Words | 5 Pages

One’s friends and family may have polarizing views on what is portrayed in the newly released film entitled “Song of the South.” Still, the film is bound to move everyone, particularly children, to a whole array of emotions. The story unfolds as the protagonist of the story, a seven year-old boy named Johnny (Bobby Driscoll) is brought by his parents, John (Eric Rolf) and Miss Sally (Ruth Warrick) to a vacation at their Georgian plantation with his grandmother (Lucile Watson), also known as Miss Doshy. Taking place in the era of Reconstruction, they are accompanied on the plantation by African-American workers and figures, such as Aunt Tempy (Hattie McDaniel) and their maid (Anita Brown).

Read More

Argumentative Essay On Blaxploitation

439 Words | 2 Pages

These movies were full of sexy and over exaggerated stereotypes of the African American race that painted the masses in a bad light which angered the black population who were dealing with the Civil Rights movement at the time. While the hero of your everyday white film would be someone like Superman, or some larger than life cowboy these movies portrayed pimps, thugs, and hookers as the heroes and main focus. They also had these black characters performing larger than life acts of revenge and heroics against their white foes which angered many due to some seeing these things as a mockery. Some members of black audiences fed up with various racially driven hate crimes viewed these movies as a bad joke thinking things along the lines of,”A real black wouldn’t get away with doing something like that to any white. Later on however we find the influence and success of these films had positive effects as well.

Read More

A Lesson Before Dying Racism Analysis

831 Words | 4 Pages

Since the book is centered around the theme ‘Racial prejudices were impactful on the lives of people in the American South’, the setting is important because the South was once fighting for the right to own slaves, and was still holding those prejudices against different races. Therefore the setting is very important to the theme of this novel due to large racial problems in Southern America because people were segregated, lived in small towns away from white society, and were faced with unfair penalties.

Read More

Get Out Movie Essay

1484 Words | 6 Pages

The film starts out with an African American man walking in the suburbs. He sees a car and is frightened. A person in a hood strangles him from behind and kidnaps him. This illustrates the fear African Americans have in a white society. The movie then fasts forwards to New York City and turns the focus on Chris who is a successful young photographer.

Read More

Summary Of The Film The Birth Of Nation

680 Words | 3 Pages

The film The Birth of Nation is at its core a film about slavery, this film goes along with the documentary, The Slave Narratives, both highlighting and revealing the true treatment of slaves in that time era. They both bring up the controversy of a slave standing up to their white masters, most people in the documentary were still afraid to talk against their white masters out of fear while Nat Turner refused to acknowledge the truth about his white masters until he sees just how low the bar of humanity towards slaves really is. However, this film also not only connects the past struggles with slavery but the present form of racism in today’s society. The film was in the works for years; although, it was not until 2016

Read More

D. W. Griffith's Birth Of A Nation

286 Words | 2 Pages

Films of propaganda or bigotry impact societies by inspiring feelings of fear which then increase people's ignorance which lead to increases in already massive feelings of racism in the time era of Jim Crow Laws in American. The film Birth of a Nation directed D. W. Griffith set groundwork work for cinema, but the film lives in infamy because of the film racism, “The film has been praised for its technical virtuosity and damned for its demeaning and racist depiction of black Americans. Birth was a kind of rite of passage for American movies, marking a transition from crude infancy to a robust adolescence. Griffith and his cameraman Billy Bitzer used a dazzling array of techniques to propel the story forward. Moving, tracking and panning

Read More

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

758 Words | 4 Pages

1. To answer the first question during the early 1910s, D. W. Griffith was sent by the his production company to the west coast. He started filming on a vacant lot in close proximity to Georgia Street in downtown Los Angeles. D.W then filmed his first short film ever, it was a melodrama about California in the 19th century, when it was under the ownership of Mexico. After that Griffith begun doing a lot of short melodramas which helped evolve his style.

Read More

The American Dream Film Analysis

1648 Words | 7 Pages

Despite all their similarities such as their relentless desire to succeed and survive, the Hollywood Jews were different from one another. This was evident and reflected in their films. Louis B. Mayer’s vision of the good American life was symbolized in his optimistic MGM movies. Harry Cohn’s modesty found expression in the plain-speaking common sense of Frank Capra’s heroes (Champlin). In their films, the Hollywood Jews created a combination of ideas and images that were powerful enough to colonize the American imagination.

Read More

More about Film Review: The Birth Of A Nation

Related Topics

Open Document