I watched "Birth of a Nation"

[stpalm]

Its the silent film (with the overdramatized arm flailing and hilarious facial expressions interuppted by shaky cards in front of the screen with the dialouge) released during the 20s during the resurgence of the KKK that was very popular. its about the EVIL "darkies" and the oppressed whites just trying to get by. probably the most un-subtle film ever made. we are studying the 20s right now so we watched clips from it.

So damn hilarious! They showed all these actors in blackface during reconstruction in the south "disenfranchising" the white voters and voting twice- then the "darkies" get into the S. Carolina and they are carousing, drinking, gnawing on turkey as they pass laws making interracial marriage legal! for shame! then we watched another part where little white children are playing with a bedsheet and they scare these little black children. This guy watching makes an "aha!" gesture and then a card shows up saying "The Inspiration!" and then it shows the KKK with the white sheets riding off to stop the evil blacks from oppressing the whites... the whole class was laughing its ass off by the end.

I dont know how people took that stuff seriously- it was pure comedy to me.

[usregimechange]

1. i watch in college... neat film sad but neat nt

[DrWeird]

2. did you watch the whole thing?

Or just the clips?

[stpalm]

6. well,

A good chunk of the middle portion- about 30 minutes. My topic title is a bit misleading.

[DrWeird]

19. I don't know how much of this is true...

This is from an essay in a book I read on the history of film. Apparently Griffith was horrified at the direction the movie took when it was shown to audiences. He had originally intended the film to be a denouncement of the Ku Klux Klan, they were originally the main villians. Griffith did show negative images of blacks, true, but it's taken largely out of context (I can't say how much is apology, how much of that is true. I suppose if you took parts of Speilberg's Amistad out of context, it would come away looking like he was trying to portray blacks as crazed, animalistic machete-weilding mad men out to kill white guys). Much of the material showing how evil the Klan was, apparently, ended up on the floor via editing by projectionists. The worst stuff is shown in classrooms nowadays, but (according to the essay) it's a completely unfair portrayal of the work. Nevertheless, the film went on to glorify the Klan and led to a resurgence in its numbers, undoubtedly leading to racial violence. Apparently Griffith was so horrified at the corruption of his masterpiece, he was inspired to began work on his much lesser known film "Tolerance."

:shrug:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. sad thing is, they did

there were race riots in Illinois and Oklahoma in the 20s, and every year several black people were lynched. The KKK was popular not only in the South but the North as well-in some places, it was as much anti-Catholic/anti-Jewish as it was anti-black. There were 'black laws' that made it illegal for minorities to be in a town after dusk. BOAN was considered great cinema at the time, and reinforced racism.

[stpalm]

11. yes, the "Black Codes"

that oppressed freedmen. oh, and the freedmen's bureau which "reappropriated" funds intended for freedmen.

unfortunately in Wisconsin we still have a large KKK presence- a high ranking leader lives here, sadly.

[joeybee12]

4. It really is hilarious--the racism is so over the top...

...that said, it's a shame that it is so racist. In the history of film-making, this movie was a HUGE step forward--the technical advances from what was out there at the time are amazing. Too bad it's remembered for its racism, but you can't get around that.

[Bok_Tukalo]

9. Makes you wonder what we are watching today

that will be laughed at in 80 years as "over the top."

There's a good thread question:

What film will be laughed at in 80 years like Birth of a Nation is today?

[joeybee12]

12. Well, as an example, I'm laughing right now at 70's and 80's fashions!

Got the first two seasons of Dallas on DVD--Good Lord--what were people thinking, especially the 80's, because everybody thought at the time clothes were such an improvement over the 60's and 70's!

[stpalm]

14. shitty action movies

like Van Helsing and the last two Matrix movies.

[Bok_Tukalo]

15. I was thinking of maybe "The Patriot"

<eom>

[Reverend_Smitty]

5. It's hard to believe that white people...

would watch this and feel empowered...but they did, then again it's hard to believe that people would go to a website like godhatesfags.com and feel empowered to stamp out the evil queers, but they do.

[nine23]

7. Very important historical film, for all the reasons you've mentioned.

[Maddy McCall]

8. Woodrow Wilson said that it was the most correct portrayal of...

reconstruction ever produced. Wilson showed the film in the white house.

Edited to add that it was NOT a correct portrayal of reconstruction. As an historian, I think the film is a hoot...it so completely reflects the lost cause mentality.

[stpalm]

13. really? wow, I had a higher opinion of Wilson.

such an idealist, a progressive, and a pacifist- too bad. I guess they can't be perfect.

[bobbieinok]

16. I learned about this is the book Lies My Teacher Told Me

http://www.uvm.edu/~jloewen/liesmyteachertoldme/liesmyteacher.html

if you haven't read this book, get a copy of it.....it will open your eyes......

[bobbieinok]

18. also check out his book on lies in historical markers

found from home page at above site

[elperromagico]

17. Well, Wilson was a Georgia boy,

who grew up in the height of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Not too surprising that his view would be off.

[TroubleMan]

10. It's nothing compared to Bertha Venation

Now she's somethin'!!