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Effects Of D. W. Griffith's Birth Of A Nation

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Effects of Birth of a Nation In 1915, D. W. Griffith released Birth of a Nation. Birth of a Nation was a technological feat because nothing on this scale had ever been filmed before. The motion picture was divided into three parts: before the war, during the war, and after the war (Wallace 89). Many people believe that “Birth of a Nation has always been and always will be, an important American film because of its aesthetic legacy (Wallace 88).” Although this film showed the advancement of technology during this time period, one must not forget about its content. The film portrayed the Ku Klux Klan as knights and the freed Negroes as animals. When viewing Birth of a Nation, people should not think of the motion picture as art; rather, people …show more content…

D. W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation was based on Thomas Dixon’s novel The Clansmen. Dixon was a white supremacist whose ideology reflected in his novel. In the introduction of The Clansmen, Dixon described his theme as: “How the young South, led by the reincarnated souls of the Clansmen of Old Scotland, went forth under this cover and against overwhelming odds, daring exile, imprisonment, and a felon’s death, and save the life of a people, forms one of the most dramatic chapters in the history of the Aryan race (Carter 348).” In Dixon’s novel, he glorified the Ku Klux Klan. For example, Dixon would describe the Ku Klux Klan as, “… the world had not seen since the Knights of the Middle Ages rode on their Holy Crusades (Carter 349).” He also wrote about how the Ku Klux Klan saved civilization and redeemed the south from shame. This aspect of Thomas Dixon’s novel was propagandistic. He made the Ku Klux Klan heroes that preserved white women chastity and restored white supremacy. In reality, the Clansmen were not heroes; …show more content…

Many scholars can agree that the motion picture was far more destructive than the novel. The film caused more damage because people saw a visualization of what “African Americans” were rather than having to imagine from reading The Clansmen. Birth of a Nation was the first film to “color, influence, and constitute so large a part of the nation thinking about African Americans (Lawrence and Walker 2).” The film played a momentous role in developing popular misconception and perception of blacks. Griffith created a false representation of African American males by amplifying the “brutal buck” stereotype through characters such as Silas Lynch and

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This film portrayed African Americans as criminals who were in danger to our society. This false conception lead people to treat African Americans even worse from what they been receiving even sparking the Ku Klux Klan and the group used a method of terrorism with the burning of the cross they occurred in the film itself. This film didn’t portray the Civil War, but the

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The C.P.Ellis by studs Terrell is an oral history of the personal growth of a former ku Klux Klan member. C.P.Ellis believe that blaming black people would ease his bitterness about his financial situations. He joined the Klan in hopes to be a part of something greater and it made him feel needed. However when he came to the realization that he was being used by wealthy people . Ellis started to re-think his personal motives.

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David Chalmers is a University of Florida professor emeritus of history. He is best known for his seminal work on the Ku Klux Klan, Hooded Americanism, that was first published in 1968. In 2003 Chalmers wrote Backfire: How the Ku Klux Klan Helped the Civil Rights Movement. As the subtitle indicates, this more recent work of Chalmers’ is about how the activities of the civil rights era Klan prompted the federal government to pass laws that protected the civil rights of African-Americans. “Klan violence played an important role in the passage of the 1964 Public Accommodation Law and the 1965 Voting Rights Law.

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“Uncle Remus” was a fictional character created by Joel Chandler Harris as the narrator of a collection of various African American stories. This gave the American people a perception that African American were kind people with many songs and stories to tell. However, after Birth of a Nation was screened that image was quickly replaced with the notion that African Americans were rapists, murderers, and a threat to society. Since slavery had been abolished and the country still need “black bodies” working this film was successfully able to keep African Americans enslaved in prison. This shows the massive impact media has on our everyday lives even in the 1910s.

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The film 13th directed by Ava DuVernay targets an intended audience of the Media and the three branches of the United States government with an emphasis that mass incarceration is an extension of slavery. It is intended to inform viewers about the criminalization of African Americans and the United States prison boom. 13th uses rhetorical devices in its claim to persuade the viewers by using exemplum in the opening seconds of the film. President Barack Obama presents statistics, saying “the United States is home to 5% of the world’s population but is home to 25% of the world’s prisoners.” Also the film uses a hyperbole in talking about the movie Birth of a Nation produced in 1915 which portrays a black man as a violent savage who will kill white women.

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