Film Analysis: Birth Of A Nation

Many early films made were based on religious contexts and have evolved from romanticism to thrillers, telling different stories (Fang, 1997). There have always been different national cultures being expressed in film. This is seen both in a deliberate and an unconscious fashion until the rise of Hitler in 1933 who stressed that the film should be seen as an art form (Briggs & Burke, 2009). Used by Hitler, the United States, and other world leaders during World War II, the film was seen as a force of with considerable impact onto discourse and culture. Realizing film was not only an entertainment apparatus, but also a tool to disseminate propaganda to the masses. During the Cold War with the red scare running rampant across the U.S., many actors, writers, and directors were black listed from working on films if they were suspected of communist leaning and denied

One of such films to form realities of who the African American people are from a white’s perspective is the film that debuted in 1915 called Birth of a Nation. It was a widely popular film that promoted a negative stereotype of African Americans (Fang, 1997). It helped cement many white Americans long held beliefs of black Americans during the 1930’s, perpetuating their ideologies of white culture to the protests of African Americans. Beyond ideology, film has influenced audience behaviors, furniture, speech styles, and fashion, perfectly illustrating films permeability into American culture (Jowett & O’Donnell, 2006). Film also taps into the American psychological attitudes that can be an very effective tool in for shaping cultural and social information (Jowett & O’Donnell, 2006). Film, along with television, are also seen as vehicles for propaganda, but can be achieved in a more subtle fashion to effectively reach the audience and for the audience members to take