Birth of A Nation

Movie: Birth of A Nation, 1915; 112 min

Director: D.W. Griffith

Actors: Spottiswoode Aitken, Mary Alsen, George Beranger, Monre Blue, Bobby Burns

Summary:

The story follows two Southern families living during the Civil War. It is split up into two parts: Pre-Civil War America and Reconstruction.

Question 1: In what way(s) could scenes/situations in the film have influenced the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan? Give specific examples.

            This film is credited to have instigated the rebirth of the Klu Klux Klan in the early 1900’s. The film portrays African Americans in a very negative way, and makes the Klan members seems like heroes. There is an emphasis on African American slang in the slides with dialogue. The director meant to portray them as unintelligent, leading the audience to discriminate again African Americans even more. In addition to the dialogue, there are scenes that shed a negative light upon African Americans. For example, an African American man chases a young white girl until she falls off a cliff trying to run away from him. Her death causes a huge frenzy in the town, even though it was not necessarily the man’s fault. In addition, a group of African American men kill Klan members, making them seem like the victims in the situation. Theses situations in the film lead the audience to pity the Klan members and they portray the African Americans as evil, leading to the rebirth of the KKK shortly after the movie appeared in theaters.

Question 2: Compare and contrast acting and character representation in Birth of A Nation with the acting and character representation in present day films.

            Acting in early movies is very different from present day acting. The fact that early movies were silent contributes to this contrast. In Birth of A Nation, the actors’ expressions are very exaggerated in order to express their emotions without the aid of sound and dialogue. Nowadays, actors have the luxury of sound that allows them to portray a character’s emotions without over-exaggerating with facial expressions. Also, present day actors have the luxury of editing and multiple takes of one scene. This allows them to get deeper into the role because they are not preoccupied with getting the scene absolutely perfect the first time. Because it was made before more complex editing methods, Birth of A Nation was more like a play because the actors did not have numerous takes for one scene. The actors had limited room for making mistakes, so it was more like a live performance instead of a movie. This could also be a reason why their facial expressions were more exaggerated because the actors were so used to acting on a stage. Acting has evolved over the many years of the making movies, but present day actors can also learn from the earlier actors like those from Birth of A Nation.