Heh. Not by a long shot.
Posted on 02/08/2015 8:25:02 AM PST by Borges
D.W. Griffith’s film was released on 8 February 1915.
One hundred years after it was made The Birth of a Nation still has the power to both enthrall and appall. The film is as confounding as ever, both brilliant and repugnant. Groundbreaking in its use of innovative cinematic techniques, it remains tainted by its brazen racism.
The Birth of a Nation was the creation of DW Griffith, who had tried his hand as an actor and playwright but whose real genius lay in film-making. Nothing on its scale had even been attempted before. It was the epic story of the relationship between two American families, one Union, the other Confederate, at the time of the Civil War and the Reconstruction that followed. The film ran for more than three hours and employed (according to a New York Times report from the time) 18,000 people and 3,000 horses. By 1922 it had been watched by more than five million people. It was the first blockbuster.
“It was a box office success – a mainstream film, so utterly mainstream,” says Professor Alan Rice, a Birth of a Nation expert at The Institute for Black Atlantic Research at the University of Central Lancashire, who has been organising a series of symposia on the film.
It made history by becoming the first film ever to be screened at the White House. But it was revolutionary for another reason: “It was very important in [that] it was the first full-scale long narrative using a lot of the new techniques of film-making,” says Rice.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Amen.
It all depends. I haven’t seen Django Unchained.
Wilson was born in Augusta Ga
I haven’t been to the city to see a movie in decades. The shows at the old Elgin in the Village would change daily, and we’d misspend hours watching all sorts - from the sublime to the ridiculous.
I took two years off and researched my ancestors in Georgia. I ran across a large number of old newspaper articles reporting of local activities.
I finally realized something. “Birth of a Nation” was far more like what was actually happening than any history text I have ever read. In fact reality might have been even worse than what the movie showed.
Black troops in control of large areas. Rape, murder, burning of people alive in their homes etc. The locals kept begging the Union general in charge to remove those Black troops.
After a long time, he finally decided it was getting too bad and did remove them.
I hate Illinois nazis!
Obligatory “Blues Brothers” reference.
CC
D.W. Griffith was born in Kentucky, the son of a Confederate officer. “The Birth of a Nation” reflected commonly held prejudices of the time, which we also see in “Gone with The Wind.” Griffith was surprised by the controversy and addressed in his next film, “Intolerance.”
The film was based on a pulp novel by Thomas Dixon, the name of which was “The Klansman.” Dixon wrote a number of such novels, which were popular in the South and very widely read by white southerners. In them the Scotch-Irish were lauded as a superior racial strain who had made America. This was a them dear to Woodrow Wilson’s heart as a social Darwinist.
my mother said that there were klan people in the Southern Tier of NYS decades ago.....they burned a cross on top of this hill and my mom said that the local Knights of Columbus went up there and beat them up....have no idea of the verity of this story but my mom seemed to know a lot...
After the Civil War, during 'Reconstruction', many blacks were elected in the South, something which took many decades to happen again. You often here of someone as being the first black elected to X Southern State since Reconstruction.
So, how did those people get elected? Were the Republicans stealing the election from the whites, and getting black Republicans elected? The movie implies that the KKK was formed in response to this very thing. This is why the KKK is so tied to the Democrat Party--it was formed to get white Democrats elected.
It's complicated, no one is innocent, but I think this movie, based on the date it was made, could very well have more truth in it than the offical story.
Not even close to being the most racist movie ever made.
CSA wins that title hands down, not even a contest.
watch the trailer...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389828/
“...a crazed yenta...”
LOL, love that turn of phrase, I’ going to use it in the future!
Don Johnson was hilarious in that film.
Well doesn’t help that DW Griffin is son of KKK former member that didn’t help at all
I think Birth of a Nation is most racist movie ever made filmmaking part was influenetial in Hollywood to this day
DW Griffin was well known racist even TCM message board badmouth him all the time
I have a stack of old newspapers from Jackson, Michigan. I was looking through it, and there were ads for a Sunday Klan outing at a park. Potluck, pie contests, games for children. Was a pretty mainstream event for the area. I was surprised.
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