Friday, January 20, 2017
Birth of a Controversy
D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation is considered a landmark American film that ushered in many of the hallmarks of classic Hollywood cinema. It is preserved in the National Film Registry and is listed in the top 100 films of all time by AMC cable channel and the AFI (American Film Institute). Yet it is also a film which advocates white supremacy and lionizes the Klu Klux Klan. Can such a film truly be great? Why or why not? What about other films such the Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will a film that trumpets Nazi ideology and celebrates Adolph Hitler? Do political and moral statements matter in an artwork? Or is it enough to be technically and artistically brilliant? Can an artwork's message trump its style?
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TJ:
ReplyDeleteI think that this can never be regarded as a top Hollywood film. Although it is edited, crafted, and overall aesthetically filmed well, the story and plot ruins it as a "Hollywood Classic". There are two parts to a great film: quality of the production and quality of the plot. Like the author in Film Analysis describes, this film was created during a very racist time period in American history. In the early 1900s this film was more than acceptable in the minds of many, as it was shown all over the United States, including the White House. It was not necessarily D. W. Griffith’s fault for dehumanizing and stereotyping African Americans as America was just as racist. On the contrary, today this opposite is held to be true: as we are becoming less and less segregated as a nation, working towards full equality of all, this type of work is not acceptable by any means. Thus, the movie’s racial undertones take away and distract the viewer from the actual film itself. Although this work of art led into the Hollywood cinema era, this film cannot be considered as one of the best movies, even though it is a historic one. Furthermore, this classic may have once been seen as one of the greats during the historical circumstances, yet today I feel as if the overall plot and theme of “white supremacy” takes away drastically from the aesthetic beauty of the film. In the end it is necessary for Hollywood films to be technically and artistically brilliant, as well as a powerful message to the viewer. In this case, this negative message is too overwhelming to fully acknowledge A Birth of a Nation as a top film of all time.
Although the film was very racist itself, the cinematic advancement helped improve films to come. It is not necessarily the content of the movie, but the quality of the cinematography that people appreciate about Birth of a Nation. I think it is necessary to appreciate how this film helped with the advancement of cinematography, but I would not consider it to truly be one of the greats. To be a great movie, the plot has to withstand time. Because of the advocacy of white supremacy and supporting the Klu Klux Klan within the plot, the excellent editing and camera work can never fully be appreciated. The plot of the story takes away from the work that changed film history. Like I previously stated, a classic Hollywood film needs to be able to withstand time. The film needs to be relevant and captivate crowds, it needs to be relatable in people’s lives. Even when the movie was first open to the public, there were protests for the theatres not to screen Birth of a Nation because of the racist plot. To be technically and artistically brilliant is simply not enough to give this film the title of a classic Hollywood cinema, the message sent to the viewers is too strong and overrides the technically aspect. I believe that the message will always be more prominent in the viewer’s eyes than the camera work and editing, the plot is what keeps people interested. In conclusion, although Birth of a Nation changed the history of cinematography it will never be considered a Hollywood classic.
ReplyDeleteD. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation can still be considered a great film even though it may be racist because it offers insight to the culture of the time period it was created in while giving way to an opportunity for education of the country’s history of bigotry and discrimination. The Birth of a Nation led the Hollywood Classical style with its continuity editing that included smooth match cuts. Griffith does an outstanding job at telling a story; a rather controversial story that portrays the Ku Klux Klan as heroes. A great movie is made by powerful storytelling, Griffith’s use of editing added a heighten suspense that contributed to his great storytelling. The Birth of a Nation is part of our history and shows that harsh truth of America’s past. Not all movies have positive political and moral statements but that does not make them a bad film. Even without a positive message regarding discrimination and racism, the film still offers an opportunity to learn about what our nation used to look like and a chance to not repeat that part of our dark history. The Birth of a Nation is an authentic glimpse into the era. Although the Ku Klux Klan is shown as heroes and there is a great deal of white supremacy involved in the film, I do not consider it to be propaganda like Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will. Instead of being propaganda, The Birth of a Nation is an important film to our country’s dark history and a chance for authenticity and learning.
ReplyDeleteWhile D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation is technically well done, unfortunately because of the blatant racism throughout the film, it cannot be one of the greatest movies of all time. The film is very impressive in the different editing styles Griffith employs, ultimately creating the Hollywood classic genre. In the chase scene that we watched as a class, the montage Griffith strings together cleverly uses cuts and other editing to make the scene even more disorienting. For example, normally he uses continuity editing and focuses movement from the right to left in order to create a flow. However, in the chase scene the woman runs from right to left and just when the audience thinks the man chasing her will show up on the right, he pops up in the foreground. Innovative editing techniques like this makes The Birth of a Nation’s filmography stand the test of time and affect audiences today. Unfortunately the story does not stand the test of time since one of the film’s main themes is white supremacy. The person of color in The Birth of a Nation is played by a white actor in blackface and character-wise is depicted as a brute. The dehumanization of African Americans is alive and well in this film, paired with the fact that the Klu Klux Klan prevail as the hero cements this film as incredibly racist and offensive. For this reason, The Birth of a Nation cannot be revered as one of the greatest films ever. While it is important to study the historical perspective and editing prowess The Birth of a Nation provides, students can do that without naming it one of the best films in the world.
ReplyDeleteI believe that a film containing elements which clashes with our social norms doesn’t deserve to be considered lacking any more in brilliance compared to a film which just so conveniently happens to fall within the spectrum of what society deems is okay and not okay. To me personally, an art piece like “The Birth of a Nation” does deserve its due praise, regardless of the extent to which I disagree morally with its filmmakers. One’s decision to refuse to label a film as great for the sole reason that they don’t agree with its message sounds a lot like the phenomenon of explicit bias over lack of agreement, which arises time and time again in unfair reporting and a dishonest media. If anything, a mature/progressive review would add that the element of an artistic piece which generates such a stark divide actually helps strengthen its case for artistic distinction, since it helps clarify the discrepancy between the lack of understanding between two parties. An example which helps flip the coin and see from the other perspective is to examine the praise our own culture has on a film known as “American Sniper”. It is a film which smashed box office charts a couple years ago due to its inspiring message of American patriotism and a will to risk your life for the American cause to fight terrorism abroad. However, the ease in which American soldiers slaughter the lives of innocent Iraqi civilians in their quest to fight terrorism would undoubtedly leave society in Middle Eastern countries as offended by this film as we may be by “The Birth of a Nation”. Is it right for us to pick and choose sides in this way, and decide that one film is brilliant and the other isn’t solely because of its compliance with our morals? In summary, our morals, which are heavily influenced by upbringing and perspective, shouldn’t influence our opinion on the greatness, or lack of greatness, of a movie. But, they inevitably will, whether that be at a conscious or subconscious level.
ReplyDeleteWhen looking at whether or not a movie can be considered great, I think you have to look at more than just the content of the film. There are many more aspects than just the moral and political statements at play, such as the techniques used, the innovations in camera work, and the social impact that the movie can have today. Although this movie idolized the Klu Klux Klan, today’s society is can use this time piece not only as a historic document to see our racist faults, but also to grow as a group and use Birth of a Nation as a tool of what not to do. Being one of the first movies of its kind, Birth of a Nation was revolutionary for the film world, and should be celebrated for that. However, this is not to say that political and moral statements in artwork don’t matter. I think that this movie in particular when looking at the time period it was made, can be used as a learning moment as that society does not regress back to that state of racism. It would be unacceptable for this movie to be made today however, as the new movie would take away that learning ability and would just be repressing a group of people. As for Triumph of a Will, as with Birth of a Nation, the only use for the content should be to learn from humans past mistakes. If Triumph of a Will is as impactful on the film community, then it could be looked at as also one of the top films. I think that when you are deciding if a movie can be considered great or not, you have to look at the time period and what was acceptable in that time and who was the targeted audience. Both of these films had an audience that would go to that movie and agree with the ideals, and both were impactful on the future of film. If these movies were not made when they were but today, neither would be considered great as the culture of the world has changed to be more accepting.
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