Analysis Of D. Grifiths 1915 Film The Birth Of A Nation

In this movie the African Americans were treated nicely but in reality they did not feel this way. The masters mistreated their slaves but in the movie they were actually having conversations. There is a scene in the movie where a group of African Americans were shaking hands with the white Americans. The producer of the movie wanted to inform others that the “birth” of America was founded on the basis of equality rather than discrimination. If the producer of the movie did not show how the slaves were mistreated, the people will just see the world in only that point of view; the slaves’ point of view does not exist. Ruling countries oppressed both the undeveloped, barren places and the African Americans. The Birth of the Nation is a perfect example of a form of travel writing; the Americans wanted to inform others about America but this movie was only produced in their perspective. Rather than recording the reality, the produces or writers record history with the input of their own influences.

The Southern portion of the United States ranging from the East Coast to Texas is commonly referred to as the South. Two different versions of this area exist. One is the true South that anyone who drives through states like Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi will see. The other South is a popularized depiction of this region. Hollywood has played a part in constructing this version of the South by creating countless movies that have depicted a stereotyped South fixated on the Antebellum Era. The 2002 movie “Sweet Home Alabama” poetries Southerners that are trying to preserve the way of life that existed before the Civil War.

Between 1789 and 1860 was the Antebellum South period this was socially and economically a tenacious time for the north and south, but how?

In the film the 13th, a great deal was discussed about the way society functioned post-civil war (Barish, DuVernay, & Moran, 2016). I found the discussion about the movie Birth of a Nation very fascinating, as it was a profoundly important cultural event and gave insight regarding how conflicted society is, and has always been, especially in terms of how race operates in the United States (Barishm DuVernay, & Moran, 2016; Griffith & Dixon, 1915). Additionally, in the film Birth of a Nation, we see an inaccurate depiction of how black individuals were trying to dominate Southern white people and sexually force themselves on white women (Griffith & Dixon, 1915). Throughout the course of both films, we see how minorities, especially African Americans,

The United States was a very divided country between the North and the South in the 19th century. “Reconstruction was a vicious and destructive experience, a period where when vindictive Northerners inflicted humiliation and revenge on the divided south” (Brinkley 351). During the time of reconstruction, President Lincoln and Andrew Johnson had large plans for the country but shortly took a sharp turn of the unexpected, radicals put in the Black Codes and amendments into the law, and the south had “redeemed” itself and began to rebuild.

The film that is a prosecution of the racially charged path government officials on both sides of the table have dealt with criminal equity issues through American history. DuVernay who talked with driving lawful researchers and activists, as Angela Davis, said she looked into in regards to 1,000 hours of documented film, including of pictures of lynchings, cellphone recordings of police mishandle, and The Birth of a Nation, the 1915 D.W. Griffith film that celebrated the Ku Klux Klan, which was screened at the White House for President Woodrow Wilson. The "thirteenth" draws a stark line between the foundation of servitude and the high imprisonment rate of dark me in the United States in

The film took place during a time when people perceived African Americans as evil. This was in partly due to the first major blockbuster film The Birth of a Nation. This film was produced after the Civil War and confirmed the perception many whites had of Blacks.

The history of African Americans in early Hollywood films originated with blacks representing preconceived stereotypes. D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film, Birth of a Nation, stirred many controversial issues within the black community. The fact that Griffith used white actors in blackface to portray black people showed how little he knew about African Americans. Bosley Crowther’s article “The Birth of Birth of a Nation” emphasizes that the film was a “highly pro-South drama of the American Civil War and the Period of Reconstruction, and it glorified the role of the Ku Klux Klan” (76). While viewing this film, one would assert that the Ku Klux Klan members are heroic forces that rescue white women from sexually abusive black men. Griffith

After the Civil War, the South was in a state of political turmoil, social chaos, and economic decline. Contrary to popular belief, Northerners did not subject Southerners to unethical or inhumane punishment. The time post Civil War was filled with efforts toward reconstructing the South, yet there is the strong question if there even is a New South. Yes, there was somewhat of a New South economically. No, there was not a New South regarding race relations and social hierarchy. In the 1870’s, the South realized the world still looked at them as the ones who wanted slavery. There was a need to project a new image to the world and to stimulate

And in 1915 the NAACP held a nationwide campaign against the film by D.W. Griffifth called The Birth of a Nation. This film was made to glorify the Ku Klux Klan.

The Antebellum south was a very paternalistic society believing strongly in a social hierarchy that attempted to emulated the aristocracy of Europe. (Nash, et al., 2007., p. 316) At the top of the hierarchy were the wealthy planters that believed in being treated with deference by those below them in the class hierarchy and were to care for those that were “inferior” like a father. (Nash, et al., 2007., p. 316) The wives of these wealthy men were often “placed on a pedestal and expected to uphold genteel values of sexual purity, spiritual piety, and submissive patience,” as she managed the household and dealt with the hyper-masculine culture that surrounded her. (Nash, et al., 2007., p. 316) Below these planters were yeoman farmers that strived to achieve the wealth of higher class, but owned smaller farms and a few number of slaves.

Hollywood and the media continues to promote social stereotypes as the white male is portrayed as upper-middle-class professional who is family-oriented while African Americans are depicted as thugs, funny, maids, best friends, and servants. The media sacrifices objective depiction of races to gain better ratings and earnings. Further, in most movies, blacks are depicted as foolish, lazy, submissive, violent, animal-like, and irresponsible. The 1915 film The Birth of a Nation was one of the first films to feature a strong stereotype by portraying blacks as subhuman.

The South was left in ruins after the war. Homes and families were displaced, Railroads and industry were damaged, farms once full of cotton and tobacco were stripped down to nothing. In aspirations that it

The tensions of the Civil War are very much still alive in the Southern United States one hundred and fifty years after the Confederacy surrendered to Union forces to end the war. While the tensions may have mitigated away from full-fledged war between North and South, there still remain tensions along racial and cultural lines well beyond the war. In Tony Horwitz’s Confederates in the Attic these long standing tensions left over from the war are delved into by Horwitz as he makes his way across the south to see how the old Confederacy is viewed in the modern world of the United States. What Horwitz found was a dualistic society differing views on the Confederacy and the events of the Civil War. Dualities left from the war in aspects such as racial tensions, the meaning of the Confederate flag even between North and South entirely. Those living in the South can be seen holding a resonating connection to the Civil War. It becomes clear in Confederates in the Attic the Civil War not only became the catalyst of such dualities in Southern society, but still further shape and perpetuate these dualities long after the Civil Wars conclusion.

The South’s addiction to slavery in the early 1800’s would lead to great impacts on the region, as well as the nations. Slaveries economic blessing came at the price of the nation’s