D. W. Griffith's Birth Of A Nation

Jean Luc Godard has been quoted saying, “I think one should mention Griffith in every discussion about the cinema, everyone agrees, but everyone forgets, nonetheless”. To this he exemplifies the great impact his early films have on cinema and the conversations they provoke both technically and culturally. Through D.W. Griffiths, Birth of a Nation, one can explore the strategic use of storytelling, the ability to represent historical events so honestly despite any setback, and the influence of future filmmakers of all generations. It is with these notions of early filmmaking that D.W. Griffith should be continually referenced in conversations of influential cinema.

Primarily, through dynamic storytelling principals, Griffith has induced the

This begins with the duration of time a film is screened. Birth of a Nation is designated as an “unprecedented three hours,” (23). Nonetheless, this allowance of longer show times it is represented in the films we now see in theatres, which are about 90 minutes. Although the 3-hour timeframe may seem tedious to those in the past and present, the standards were pushed to the extreme in order to understand the limit. By allotting more screen time, it allowed Griffith to spend more time into the character development. As a previous actor himself, D.W. Griffith understood the importance of “close intimate studies of character and feeling” (22). These understandings of who a character is and their role within society, bring light to more realistic portrayals of a characters importance within a scene. This is paramount to the progression of current films as we have deviated from just filming things, but to now filming stories. True historical lives are played out with strong character detail. And with stronger characters and more time, actions could be fully played out and new advances with

Written with influence from Dixon’s novel, Griffith put his own understanding and person experiences in the film. When facing the backlash of the film’s racism, “Griffith was evidently shocked when he was accused of racism” (24). Griffith was raised in Kentucky and found the attitudes towards the culture so akin to that of his own life that he could not understand the racist outlast they put forward. Despite how horrific this may be, it is an honest and unchanged viewpoint of a time in history. To this day filmmakers can be influenced by the importance of historical accuracy, rather than what may be deemed political correct. Next, this historical accuracy is proven effective through the distraught it caused. Even to this day, people are still insulted by the extreme racism of Birth of a Nation, but shedding light on “the innate inferiority of black people.” From this, it wielded the possibility to promote a conversation about segregation and its issues. With this film being so widespread, having an outburst of emotions towards the situation are recognized and outspoken can only influence those to speak about topics such as this and promote change towards the situation. Finally, the film can evoke even the most advanced viewer to look past the horrific situations and feed into the propaganda. The “biases are so uncalculated and