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 Ku 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?
When considering calling a film great, one must consider its message and intent alongside its contributions to art, but a film doesn't have to be great for there to be value in its preservation. When looking back at films like The Birth of a Nation and Triumph of the Will, it is of utmost importance that this clarification is made. There is no amount of artistic brilliance that should be able to redeem a film with a hateful and harmful message to the point of being considered great. The Birth of a Nation is intentionally explicitly racist and white supremacist, the use of blackface and the racist stereotypes weren't dated accidents from a bygone era but explicit hate, and the movie should never be revered. It is still important that these films are preserved in spite of their messages, but when studying and teaching these movies for their artistic contributions to film, the harmful nature of those messages must be at the forefront of conversation. It is also important that we preserve artistic techniques pioneered in these kinds of films and don't allow them to be cast aside. While it is hard and in many cases impossible to separate the art from the artist, it is reasonable to separate the artistic techniques themselves. These techniques, like the visual storytelling techniques pioneered in The Birth of a Nation, can then be used in works, like many films from Hollywood today, that can and should remain separate from the older, controversial works. Separate from preserving them for artistic reasons, it is also important we preserve these movies for historical reasons. Influential and important pieces of media in history can be influential because of how harmful they were and how powerful they were at the time and still may be. We need to be able to acknowledge the existence of this media, try our best to avoid repeating the circumstances that created them, and grow and move on in the right direction as a society.
ReplyDeleteI believe a movie no matter how controversial shouldn’t be discredited later on in the future and take away from what was once an industry-changing movie. Birth of a Nation is known as one of the better films but also as known as the most controversial movie from the past which is understandable. However an hour-plus long movie at that time was very rare, let alone 2 hours. The different camera angles, close-ups, and edits were all revolutionary at that time in the world. Just because their morals don’t match up with ours anymore doesn’t mean we can discredit the whole thing and pretty much “ cancel “ it. Future generations become more and more educated on morals and equality the longer we live. Soon people will look back at this generation and try to cancel our shows and movies but the thing is, this is our history, the History of the US. We can’t erase history because nowadays we don’t support it, that’s not fair to our ancestors history, no matter the side, and film production history. Does the movie deserve the title great, no, the message it sends is in no way deserving of being called great. But I do believe we can acknowledge it without appreciating it. Everything has a start or come up and to discredit such thing, especially a movie that ultimately changed the film industry. I believe that instead of cancelling it, we should use it as education on what the past was like and peoples views on thing and as well as to see how film evolved. In conclusion, I do not think the movie ‘ Birth of a Nation’ should be discredited because of the movies views.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, any movie that contains messages that spread hate or prejudice can not be considered great no matter how well done the movie was. The director, D. W. Griffith, was considered to be one of the greatest directors of his time. The stories in his movies were thought to be very well done. It was said that the emotions and feelings were conveyed perfectly, which is a rather impressive feat, given that the films were still silent. This and the realism that Griffith portrayed were far beyond his time. For instance, in the movie Birth of a Nation, Black people are played by white actors in blackface and are then depicted as stupid and mindless. They are also made to seem aggressive sexually towards women, especially white women. This display justified and reinforced biases, racism, and bigotry in America for years to come, causing an immeasurable amount of distress and hardship for the Civil Rights Movement, resetting years of progress that it had made. This all being said. I believe that there is no way that the movie Birth of a Nation can be considered a great movie. I believe that some parts or aspects or scenes of the movie can be considered great, but the film can not be Great all together. The movie’s ideas and portrayals of Black individuals caused ongoing strife for African Americans and reset a great deal of progress that was being made by Civil Rights Activists at the time. To conclude, there are some parts of the movie Birth of a Nation that could be considered great, but the prevalent theme of racism enables the movie as a whole to be great.
ReplyDeleteWhether a film is ‘great’ is merely based on the perception of each person. Throughout the rules of making a film ‘great’, the question of if the way it is filmed is the great part, or does the story and the people, places, and things that make up the story also have to be great. I feel for a film to be great it needs to be great in all categories and not just one or another. This film may have good cinematography but the Blackface and controversial sexist and racist storyline and actions are unforgivable and therefore makes this film not ‘great’. I feel this same idea can apply to other films. Does the film cover all of the points to make it officially ‘great’? Separating the artist from the art is important but in this context, it's separating the art from the art which is not possible. However, the idea of using these films to do better in the future is very real. At the time this film was made it wasn't as controversial as it is right now but it still got backlash and although the film can't be viewed as ‘great’ we are still able to separate the way it was filmed from the message specifically as a teaching moment. To be able to realize the art of how the film was made without looking at the context and ideas in the film is very important but in the question of, whether is it ‘great’, these points can not be separated because they need to check out all the boxes before it can be ‘great’.
ReplyDeleteWhen determining a film's greatness, there are many requirements to consider, including but not limited to cinematography, storytelling, and the message that the film is conveying. There is no doubt that D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation has revolutionized and influenced cinematography to this day by pioneering many Hollywood techniques, such as the classic chase scene. Still, that attribute alone does not determine the greatness of the film, nor does it compensate for its disgusting contents. The film portrays the Ku Klux Klan, a well-known white supremacist group, as the heroes of the story and conveys racist and discriminatory ideals through its storytelling. It depicts people of color as the antagonists. It illustrates them as lesser by actors using more animalistic movements when playing people of color, and on top of that, white actors play all the people of color in the film in blackface. For these reasons, I cannot celebrate this film as a “great film,” but I can acknowledge the influence this film had on cinematography and filming techniques that are some of today's standards.
ReplyDeleteWhen looking to analyze whether an artwork from the past can be considered great or not, it is more important to value the influence and impact that came from the art rather than its message; however, the message cannot simply be ignored. When taking a look at films such as D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation, it is extremely important to take a step back to look at the bigger picture. Getting caught up in the details of The Birth of a Nation’s story takes away from the long-lasting effect it has had on the film-making industry. D.W. Griffith introduced never-before-seen film techniques with his plentitude of diverse angles, shots, editing, and character portrayals. Birth of a Nation became an instant success in America, gaining unheard-of commercial success across the nation and grossing far more than any previous motion picture. The modern-day cinema industry would be unrecognizable today without the help and influence of Birth of a Nation. However, its success does not mean that its story can also just be pushed aside. Birth of a Nation is still one of the world's most controversial films, depicting racist ideologies and spreading white supremacy throughout America. The story behind Birth of a Nation must be understood and considered when acknowledging the film's success. Just because a film is great because of its influence does not mean it has a good story. Birth of a Nation’s message would be unacceptable in today's society, and this distinction is of utmost importance. In analyzing a film such as Birth of a Nation, respect must be given to its influence on American film culture, but its message must be understood and recognized for its harmful nature. The balance between its undeniable success and terrible story creates a true appreciation of D.W. Griffiths's work of art.
ReplyDeleteBirth of a Nation is an extremely controversial film due to political hateful ideologies shown, though is considered to be great by many well renowned sources. Oftentimes artworks will have some sort of moral or political message in it. Especially in a media that gives you the freedom to tell a story, and Birth of a Nation is no exception. The only thing that makes this aspect of the film different is that it is arguing in favor of white supremacy. This makes the film morally bad, but the story telling and camera angles help move this story along. The way it's done captures the emotions the actors and film directors were attempting to portray. In the scene we had watched as a class they used different camera angles, camera shots, and camera cuts to show their story. The darker lighting used to showcase the antagonistic character along with the brighter lighting to show the protagonist character were utilized often in the shots. Along with using imagery of the protagonist character acting playful, or misguided when looking at a squirrel, and how easily she got distracted and wandered off. Very clearly, and successfully, portraying her to be a pure innocent young girl. Storytelling in a film is what makes it great, even when the story is not morally acceptable you can not deny a fact such as how it is shown and written. So when a movie has a coherent story, that is followed through in a timely manner, that is when a movie is great.
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