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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page essay that discusses this film. Director D.W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation” (1915) debuted as “The Clansman” in California, but was retitled for the world premier in New York three months later (Dirks). While this film is acknowledged to be a cinematic masterpiece by the American Film Institute, it is also recognized as being overly racist in content, as it glorifies and justifies the brutal vigilantism of the Ku Klux Klan during the Reconstruction era (Dirks). The following examination looks at the issue of racism in “The Birth of a Nation” in 2 scenes. Bibliography lists 1 source.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khdwgbir.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
three months later (Dirks). While this film is acknowledged to be a cinematic masterpiece by the American Film Institute, it is also recognized as being overly racist in content, as
it glorifies and justifies the brutal vigilantism of the Ku Klux Klan during the Reconstruction era (Dirks). The following examination looks at the issue of racism in "The Birth of
a Nation" in 2 scenes. The film chronicles the saga of the Civil War and establish ties between two families, the Northern Stoneman family and the Southern Cameron family.
The most racist scenes in the film occur after the war during the Reconstruction period. Austin Stoneman is a powerful man in the House of Representatives and he sends his
mulatto prot?g? Silas Lynch to the South to promote his philosophy of black empowerment and to punish the South. The portrayal of election day in the South demonstrates the racist
bias of the film. Blacks are shown taking over the polls, while leading white citizens are not allowed to vote (Dirks). A mix of freedmen and Yankee carpetbaggers are swept
into the state legislature, with Lynch elected as Lieutenant Governor (Dirks). A placard, which was one of Griffiths silent film innovations, informs the audience the following scene is an
"historical facsimile" of the House of Representatives for the State of South Carolina in 1870 (Dirks). In this scene, the audience sees the 101 blacks and 23 whites who were
elected to this session of the South Carolina legislature. In a lap-dissolve shot, both the legislators and visitors in the gallery can be see in their "seated and standing positions"
(Dirks). The black representatives are shown as mocking the ideals of that assembly, as they pictured as sprawling "with bare feet upon their desks" and, in general, behaving disgracefully (Dirks).
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