More handpicked essays just for you.
Birth of a nation analysis conclusion
Birth of a nation analysis conclusion
The birth of a nation film analysis
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In that paper, I will try to compare two films which are “A Birth of a Nation” directed by D.W.Griffith and “The Bicycle Thieves” directed by De Sica. After giving the story of the films, I will try to explain their technical features and their similarities.
A Birth of a Nation by D. W. Griffith
Griffith can be seen as the first 'modern' director, his greatest achievements being the historical epics The Birth Of A Nation. When it was released, it was one of the longest films ever made, over three hours in length. The prologue depicts the introduction of slavery to America in the seventeenth century and the beginnings of the abolitionist movement. The major part of the film depicts the events before, during and after the Civil War. It focuses on the exploitation of the newly-freed Negroes and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the south. Griffith shows it as a drama, a romance, and a documentary, with the vivid period reconstruction outweighing the personal stories. The title of the film is an interesting one. It is unknown whether the title refers to the birth of the reunited states, or the birth of the Ku Klux Klan. I tend to think that the film has a double meaning. In showing the Ku Klux Klan as good guys, it is obvious that Griffith was trying to show their birth as a positive event for the United States. Also, he was showing that the U.S. was once again reunited after the war, leading to the strengthening of the nation. It forebodes the future, when the South and the blacks living there are kept in check by the Ku Klux Klan , making the U.S. that much greater. Though it would be better to ignore this notion of the birth of the Ku Klux Klan, it cannot be due to the film’s content, although the film does show a truly “united” states.
The film is an incredible piece of propaganda for both the Ku Klux Klan and the Jim Crow system. The Jim Crow system was undergirded by the following beliefs or rationalizations: Whites were superior to Blacks in all important ways, including but not limited to intelligence, morality, and civilized behavior; sexual relations between Blacks and Whites would produce a mongrel race which would destroy America; treating Blacks as equals would encourage interracial sexual unions; any activity which suggested social equality encouraged interracial sexual relations; if necessary, violence must be used ...
... middle of paper ...
...temporary Hollywood. "The Bicycle Thief" is the story of humanity, in all its imperfect beauty and heartbreaking cruelty, the quintessential definition of an artistic masterpiece...truly a cinematic landmark.
Deep-focus photography, constantly moving camera, long takes, and tragi-comic narratives were all used to greatest effect in the film.
When we look at these films we can say they are dramatic films. A Birth of a Nation is a personal story, about the clash of two families on opposite sides of the Civil War. Griffith goes through the critical events of the period, and give a persuasive picture of the era in. Furthermore, the story gives the viewer hope in humanity as the Ku Klux Klan rides away to the sunset with justice, power, and the women. The Bicycle Thief is the story of humanity dealt compassionately with the problems of people in post-World War II Italy. Griffith also goes through the critical events of the period. He tried to show the portrait of the post-war Italian disadvantaged class (the majority) in their search for self-respect. It is a time of struggle for the Italian people, amplified by a shortage of employment and lack of social services.
Birth of a Nation uses its histrionic plot to show how tangled destinies of a southern and northern family before and after the Civil War. It willingly portrays southern blacks as spiteful and uncivil, the northern whites as crafty, dishonest, and conceited, and the film’s southern whites as anguish recurrent radical and erotic mortifications at the hands of white northerners and black southerners before factually being saved by the thoughtful, Ku Klux Klan. The film is divided to show the different aspects of those two sides during this historical time. During this time Africans were coming to America and it started the reconstruction on our country. D.W. Griffith made this film to show us the reality of racism at this point in time.
The Great Depression is when the film industry boomed with new types of movies like: gangster films and musicals. They were both born in the Great Depression. Most films show the hardships of the time period. Some of the films display this very well for example Modern Times staring Charlie Chaplin. One of the more well-known gangster films was The Public Enemy.. These films have very different views of the time period but still have things in common. This paper will compare Modern Times and The Public Enemy.
Stereotyping throughout the film has created chaos. People are endangered and mislead. Stereotyping leads to sexual abuses, racial judgments, and power conflicts. It is all negative influences on individuals in which they are categorized and grouped together to be more easily discriminated. People are people. We are all the same, and come from similar experiences. We need to realize that we are all human and it should not be part of our life to misjudge on first sight. We need to improve, be more aware of others, and always keep an open mind. Avoiding stereotype improves our society and cultures from every person to every group. In the end, we are the same and we are all connected.
On March 3, 1915 the movie The Birth of a Nation was released at the Liberty Theatre in New York City. This film was financed, filmed, and released by the Epoch Producing Corporation of D.W. Griffith and Harry T. Aitken. It was one of the first films to ever use deep-focus shots, night photography, and to be explicitly controversial with the derogatory view of blacks.
The Birth of a Nation (1915) is one of the most controversial movies ever made in Hollywood, some people even consider it the most controversial movie in the long history of Hollywood. Birth of a Nation focuses on the Stoneman family and their friendship with the Cameron’s which is put into question due to the Civil War, and both families being on different sides. The whole dysfunction between the families is carried out through important political events such as: Lincoln’s assassination, and the birth of the Ku Klux Kan. D.W. Griffith is the director of the movie, and him being born into a confederate family in the South, the movie portrays the South as noble and righteous men, who are fighting against the evil Yankees from the North, who have black union soldiers among them, whom overtake the town of Piedmont, which leads the KKK to take action and according to the movie become the savior of white supremacy. During this essay, I would focus on the themes of racial inequality, racism, and the archetypical portrayal of black people in the movie, which are significant especially during the era when the film was released.
This film portrayed several historical events that were important to American History. This film showed the many troubles and trials of racism. The Klu Klux Klan’s members in the film included farmers, sharecroppers, judges, and politicians, etc. This was true, men of high power and wealth were very common members of this group. The Major error of the movie was the timing of the Tennessee Valley Authority flooding of the Arkabutla Valley. The date of the Approval of the Tennessee Valley Authority Flooding was passed in 1936. This was called the Flood Control Act of 1936. The newspaper that one of the characters was reading said the date was 1937. Also during this time robberies were popular. “Baby Face Nelson” was a character played in this film that was a famous bank robber. “Baby Face Nelson” died in 1934 and this film was staged in 1937. Another interesting fact is that “Baby Face Nelson” robbed banks in the Mid-west area, not the South. I think this film would be beneficial to show to students because of all the interesting history facts included. This film highlighted the depression, racism, religion, and politics. It showed whips being
The Birth of a Nation is a story about the consequences of the Civil War
Before we get into the movie specifically, we should first talk about representation and how race is represented in the media in general. Representation is defined as the assigning of meaning through language and in culture. (CITE) Representation isn't reality, but rather a mere construction of reality and the meaning behind it. (CITE) Through representation we are able to shape how people are seen by others. Race is an aspect of people which is often represented in the media in different ways. Race itself is not a category of nature, but rather...
For this project, two films were viewed. The first one is Annie, a film made in the early 80s about a girl in an orphanage. She is then brought to live in a mansion for a week with one of the richest men in this world. He doesn’t like her at first, but he learns to love the little girl, and adopt her. The second film, Cinderella man, is about a boxer who loses his job after he breaks his hand during a match. He is then left to fend for his family. He begins to slowly rise up as a boxer and fight again, much to his wife’s distaste. For this project, I will discuss the similarities and differences between the films, and the time period, setting, and characters. Annie is the first film.
An obvious difference in these films is that the 1931 version played to a Depression audience and that the Coppola version played to a modern audience. (I am being extremely careful because, obviously, the 1931 audience was modern in 1931; however, we like to think of ourselves as being more modern than past generations. There are differences in the audiences which viewed the respective versions in their time, and I hope to prove this point as the paper unfolds.)
The director main point of the movie is to show that racism shouldn’t exist. His other main point that I got out of it was him showing how whites and blacks became one, they all became a family at the end of the movie. Although the whites feared they would lose their starting position to the blacks and the blacks feared they wouldn’t get any playing time because of their skin color they were still able to get through it all and were all able to put their pride aside and become one and by them coming together and looking past all the criticism they got something great out of it, a state
Ultimately, it is my opinion that this film is a perfect example of what is wrong with society. Society and the social “norm” dictate what is acceptable. Society (or a select few in power) has determined that racism is an acceptable practice. Society is oblivious to the fact that this acceptable “norm” is something that can and should be changed. Until the day that the “races” can come together and demand equal treatment of all, regardless of race, racism will persists.
The film “The Birth of a Nation”1915 by D.W. Griffith, acclaimed to be one of the most innovative films in American history of cinema ,it was a huge commercial success, and yet it states multiple controversial themes. The groundbreaking use of elements of mise-en-scene, cinematography and editing in the scene “Riot in the Master’s Hall” emphasize on key ideas of the film such as the restoration of order, the fear of interracial marriage, and the idea that the empowerment of African Americans threatens white identities. Mise-en-scene is a fundamental source when it comes to understanding a character.
In 1915 the American film industry was forever changed as it took its first step toward modern filmmaking. It was the year D.W. Griffith’s A The Birth of a Nation was released, a racially insensitive film depicting life during the Civil War and Reconstruction in America. It is arguably first major success in American cinema as it was the highest grossing film of its time. It is no accident that the film destine to redefine the film industry in the United States would inevitable be a national historical epic, for the film was a response to the growing presents of foreign films dominating American cinema. Though ultimately The Birth of a Nation and D.W. Griffith were a product of circumstances created by corporate attempts to industrialize filmmaking.
Due to the film’s quality and interest it became an award winning film. The film had excellent sound effects such as the battle scenes. The image quality was also outstanding; it used many different angles to depict the actor to make you feel involved in the scenes. In the action scenes the most common viewpoint used was a close up shot which allows the audience to see and feel the intensity of the scene. The second viewpoint mostly used was a tracking shot due to the actors c...