Birth of a Nation
"Birth of a Nation" by D. W. Griffith was a great masterpiece. It was one of the most technologically advanced films ever made for it's time period. The film paved the way for the great film industry: showing its audiences the longest film they had ever seen and the most eventful. "Birth of a Nation" had such an impact on the American people that excluding "Gone With the Wind" it is thought to have the greatest influence on how Americans view that time period. "Birth of a Nation" is often seen as a leading cause in the race riots, rise of the KKK and segregation of the 1920's. Griffith was able to make such an influentially film by using noteworthy themes, distinct and believable messages and anachronistic cinematic techniques. The themes in "Birth of a Nation" concentrate on race, class, gender, and region, the most influential and important theme being that blacks are stupid, crazy men who only want one thing: white women. Conversely, whites are portrayed as the "the helpless white minority". Griffith shows a black court and legislature, both are shown as an "outrage". The black men are loud, disorderly and drunk. In the legislature their "big" vote overrides the decision that black men cannot marry white women. On the stre
Griffith's anachronistic cinematic techniques help to make the film seem like actual history, and enthralled the audience, as films had never done before. Griffith uses historical facsimiles by showing an actual photograph, saying that the following is based on the history, and then moving from the picture directly into a scene, without restating that the scene was fictionalized. An example of this is a picture of the black courtroom. Griffith shows a picture of the courtroom, says that it is a historical facsimile, and then turns from the picture to a scene of black men laughing, drinking, eating fried chicken, and sitting with their feet up and shoes off. This leads the audience to believe that the whole scene is a historical facsimile, when in fact only the picture is historical. Griffith also uses other cinematic techniques to enthrall the audience. He uses wide-angle shots of battle scenes and crowd scenes unlike other movies of the time. There is also a complete musical score that accompanies the film directing and emotionalizing the audience's views of scenes and characters. Reformist Stoneman is introduced with a pounding cut of music that shows power and wealth. Music and cinematic techniques are also used in a powerful ending scene. The film ends with a parade of liberators, hundreds of K
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 882
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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