Representation of Blacks: The Birth of a Nation(1915)

The Birth of a Nation is a movie shot in 1915 and tells the story of the Civil War and its aftermath, as seen through the eyes of two families.When war breaks out, the Stonemans join the Union, while the Camerons are loyal to Dixie.After the war, Ben Cameron organizes several like-minded Southerners into a secret vigilante group called the Ku Klux Klan.The Klan wages war on the new Northern-inspired government and ultimately restores "order" to the South.The plot itself is basically very simple but what makes it worth dealing with it is the fact that racial question appears more vividly here than in any other cases previously discussed.It is not surprising since the movie comes from the 1920s but still in its explicitly caricaturist presentation of the KKK as heroes and Southern blacks as villains and violent rapists and threats to the social order, it appealed to white Americans who subscribed to the mythic, romantic view of the Old Plantation South.The film also thematically explored two great American issues: inter-racial sex and marriage, and the empowerment of blacks.These three possibilities literally shocked the American White population for it seemed impossible for them to accept blacks in American society as equals.

Its climactic finale, the suppression of the black threat to white society by the glorious Ku Klux Klan,helped to assuage some of America's sexual fears about the rise of defiant, strong black men and the repeal of laws forbidding inter-marriage.There was a huge critical response from black critics and directors who,as a response,filmed The Birth of a Race in 1919 to restore at least some of the esteem of blacks- if any existed at that time.Although,this positive portrayal of African-Americans was largely ignored by the White audience.

There was one sentence that really annoyed me while watching this movie which was: "The bringing of the African to America planted the first seed of disunion." I believe that this and such sentences,representations of blacks,showing them as uneducated idiots capable of almost nothing more than cultivating and doing their chores, really contributed to the widespread hate that was dominating for over 40 years in the American consciousness.Beside racial questions we frequently meet warnings of many kind which constantly make us realize the horrors of war that penetrated deep into the American mind and still having an effect on the nations fame and power.

Altogether,I did not like the film at all.This can either be attributed to its age in which it was made,the content which it emphasized or the primitive representation of blacks which,after dealing so much with the depiction of blacks in the movies,can really be annoying and unbearable at times.All in all,if I had to recommend this movie,I would not be 100% sure if this is a suitable one to discuss. From a technical point of view,- even today,in our modern society,this film belongs to the 100 greatest movies of American film making for its introduction of special techniques in both movie-making and creating effects - it may help the viewer to trace the origins of modern film-making back to the mid-1920s and learn something from it,but as for the content, it is filled with hate and prejudice, all combined with historical incorrectness.

Sources:

1. https://www.starpulse.com/Movies/Birth_of_a_Nation,_The/Summary/

2.https://www.filmsite.org/birt.html

3.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDiQWsENgnk&feature=watch-now-button&wide=1   (The whole movie)