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D. W. Griffith and Film Technique

D. W. Griffith's 1915 silent film "The Birth of a Nation" is one of the most influential films ever made, and one of the most controversial. The movie was the first important innovative motion picture utilizing creative technical skills that were unmatched in its day, and that influenced filmmakers of later generations. The story, based on Thomas Dixon's novel The Clansman, is told in a melodramatic style. The basic plot centers on the friendship of the Camerons, a Southern family, with the Stonemans, a Northern family, and it is a friendship that is both threatened and tested by the Civil War and the Reconstruction period. The Southern family is ruined by the War, the Negroes (the word used at the time) gain some power in the South, and the Ku Klux Klan is formed in "self-defense" of white families and homes. The theme or spirit of the film can be viewed as a rationale and homage to the birth of the KKK. It is the storyline, viewpoint, and characterizations of Negroes that set off a nationwide controversy, one that exists to this day.

This paper will deal with Griffith's revolutionary techniques and artistry as well as the cultural significance and impact of the film.

Response to the film was overwhelming. The visual and emotional impact of the film was spellbinding for audiences of the time who had never seen a long feature film or Griffith's kind of storytelling and images before. In 1948, one of America's most respected film critics, writer James Agee, called "Birth of a Nation" the one great epic, tragic film. He wrote that Griffith "achieved what no other known man has ever achieved...To watch his work is like being witness to the beginning of melody, or the first conscious use of the lever or the wheel...the birth of an art" (313).

Agee went on to say that "The Birth of a Nation" was the one time in film history that a filmmaker of such great ability worked freely as an inventor and an artist. The movie "is equal...

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D. W. Griffith and Film Technique. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 06:43, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1688557.html