Today, every time you watch a movie, there is always something in it that Griffith created

Kacey 2022-01-12 08:01:02

On February 8, 1915, David W. Griffith's ambitious blockbuster "The Birth of a Nation" premiered at the Gulong Theater in Los Angeles, USA. The film is adapted from Thomas Dixon's novel "Family", which reflects a series of major historical events that occurred before and after the American Civil War, which was exactly half a century before the end of the war.

The birth of these two films is not accidental, they are the result of five years of intense work by David W. Griffith. As early as the Bivograf Company period, Griffith was brewing these two works. After leaving Bivograf, David W. Griffith produced four films for the new company, none of which he liked. Subsequently, Griffith obtained the right to shoot "Family" (later "The Birth of a Nation") and found that this was the story he had been pursuing. Griffith started to shoot this movie on a large scale. He was not only responsible for the entire creation, but also took care of all the chores.

"The Birth of a Nation" describes the fate of two families during the American Civil War: Cameron and Stoneman's children are studying at the same boarding school. In contact, the young Benjamin Cameron and Elsie Stoneman is in love with each other. However, soon the Civil War broke out. Old Stoneman, who was about to be the Speaker of the Bundestag, supported the North with his family, but Benjamin returned to his hometown and joined the Southern Army. During the war, Benjamin was wounded and captured, but he unexpectedly met Elsie in the hospital. This young man who had a blessing in disguise has since become more affectionate. The war finally ended in the North's victory. After President Lincoln was assassinated, Old Stoneman was the General Secretary of State. He sent black Lynch to the south to organize black slaves in the past to vote in elections. Hope to establish a nation of racial equality. However, Lynch tried to use this opportunity to establish a so-called "black kingdom". He used various means to manipulate the election and eventually made himself elected as a dictator. Under his encouragement, ethnic conflicts and violence broke out everywhere in the South. Benjamin's sister also fell to death while evading the blacks. Benjamin and a few of his colleagues in the South established a public security underground organization, the KKK to contend with Lynch, and misunderstood Elsie. Soon, Lynch detained Stoneman and threatened Elsie to commit himself to him. At the juncture, Benjamin led the Ku Klux Klan to smash Lynch’s conspiracy. A couple in distress finally came together. Their combination heralded the birth and unity of a new country.

"The Birth of a Nation" is a work of David W. Griffith's influential and well-developed work. It is also a highly valued film in the history of world cinema and a classic of the silent film era. Prior to this, Griffith has filmed more than 450 short feature films. In these films, he has accumulated a wealth of experience and laid a solid foundation for the creation of blockbusters. The film presents the historical situation magnificently, combining the magnificent war scenes with the personal fate of many protagonists. At the time, US President Wilson called it a "historical masterpiece written with light." With the talent and courage of a great artist, Griffith left an immortal masterpiece in the history of world cinema.

It is worth mentioning that when David W. Griffith was working on the largest project in the history of the film, he did not use the movie script or the pre-written sub-shot script. He pieced together and refined the material in his mind. , Plan it. In the specific shooting, his intuitive ability and improvisation played a key role.

"The Birth of a Nation" is the first feature film in the history of American cinema. Preparations for the film began in 1914, and it took six weeks to rehearse and nine weeks to shoot. There were twelve books and 1,500 shots. This was a big deal for the production environment where one film was about to be completed in a week. Unprecedented high cost production. David W. Griffith was in the initial period of the film. The film produced was simple in plot, rough in production, short in length, limited to 10 minutes, but "The Birth of a Country" was as long as 3 hours. It is the precedent of epic blockbusters, thus completely changing the style and appearance of film as an art.

At the same time, "The Birth of a Nation" is also the first real commercial film in film history. It was the first film in the United States with a ticket of up to $2. It has a very high sales rate. When it was screened in the first round of theaters in New York Liberty Theatre on March 3, 1915, it was screened for 620 consecutive shows. By 1931, the film’s box office revenue It has reached 18 million U.S. dollars, and the film has been shown in New York for 44 weeks. By 1946, the number of viewers exceeded 200 million, and it still maintains the highest record of silent film box office revenue. Since this film, melodrama (Melodrama) and epic blockbusters have become the most profitable movie genres in the Hollywood business system. George Sadur wrote in the "General History of Film": "The Birth of a Nation has brought about a huge change in the corporate management of American films, enabling Hollywood to produce feature films that are larger and more luxurious than Italian films. This opened the way to super movies and huge rewards. The first time the film was released in the United States was the beginning of Hollywood's rule of the world, and it was also the beginning of Hollywood art's dominance of the world in at least the next few years." As a giant The film, "The Birth of a Nation" cost US$125,000, but it brought tens of millions of dollars in revenue to the producer, and director David W. Griffith himself also received 1 million in remuneration. This is simply a myth under the gold standard financial system.

In the film, David W. Griffith pioneered the use of many expressions, which greatly enriched the language of the film. The biggest contribution of the film is to create a narrative method of montage language, that is, to combine separate shots together to form an organic whole to complete a certain narrative mission. Parallel montage is an editing technique pioneered by David W. Griffith. In this film, Griffith further developed this technique. He draws on the writing techniques of British critical realist writer Dickens, and uses parallel and cross-editing narrative techniques to depict thrilling chase and "last rescue" scenes, laying a basic mode for the unique narrative of the film. In order to create excitement and suspense, the use of cross-editing techniques has greatly exceeded the expressive power of drama in the performance of action scenes. He is good at creating a tense atmosphere of chase and rescue through parallel montages, such as the scene where Benjamin rescued Elsie at the end of the film. At the same time and in different spaces, the scenes of the Ku Klux Klan team and black people alternately appear, staggered and jumped, and shot across. Time and space created a psychological tension and also pushed the dramatic emotions to the climax. In addition, David W. Griffith is also good at using scene changes to make narratives to deepen the audience's impression. "The Birth of a Nation" has a rigorous structure, a clear narrative, and a sense of rhythm, which greatly enriches the narrative function of the film. The well-known film theorist Bella Baraz also believes that David W. Griffith "not only created outstanding works of art, but also created a brand new art." The master of suspense Hitchcock said: " Today, every time you watch a movie, there is always something in it that Griffith created ." Professor Iverson compared the age of David W. Griffith As the Bible in the history of film: "If there was no Griffith, there would be no film as we understand it today, or the full maturity of the film would be delayed for many years."

Starting with David W. Griffith, film has become a richly expressive language.

Unfortunately, David W. Griffith described the Civil War from the standpoint of Southern racism. "The Birth of a Nation" tells the history of the fall of the southern states from the perspective of a Southerner living in the 19th century. The obvious discrimination against blacks and mixed races in the film, as well as the heroic worship of the KKK, also makes Ben The film has been criticized by liberals and black groups. Because of its blatant racial discrimination, it has aroused strong opposition from all walks of life in the United States from the first day it was released. It was shocked and even caused riots in many cities and towns. People from all walks of life expressed their opinions, and the news media paid great attention. From the President of the United States to civilians, especially black groups, they all came forward to express their opinions. Except for a few racists, most people hold a negative attitude towards the political content of the film. Ohio publicly announced a ban on the film from being shown in the state, and the French film censorship agency banned the film for 7 years. In places where the movie is shown, there are often 24-hour demonstrations outside the theaters. In some places, the debates are fierce, and they even develop into fights. The National Association of Colored People issued a strong condemnation.

"This is a deliberate insult to 10 million Americans."

"Completely falsifying history!"

"Is the artist's conscience eaten by dogs?"

Facing the frenzy of questioning, David W. Griffith was shocked, aggrieved, and even less convinced. What was shocked was that people protested so strongly; what was wronged was that he did not intend to promote racism, but only thought that the plot structure of the novel "Family People" was suitable for making a movie, so he adapted it; what was dissatisfied was that he believed that people had interfered too much. Therefore, in 1916, he printed and distributed the pamphlet "The Rise and Fall of Free Speech in America" ​​(The Rise and Fall of Free Speech in America) at his own expense as a defense and counterattack. Arguing that the history of the southern states he told in the movie was a historical fact he heard from his father and his friends. Critic Lawson said: "There has never been a film that has such a striking contradiction between the revolutionary nature of the technique and the reactionary nature of the content." Especially the racist tendency of the film has caused great riots.

Unexpectedly, the result of the intense debate stimulated the curiosity of the audience. One after another crowded into the theater. In the end, the audience reached 100 million, which lasted for 15 years. It was screened in New York for 44 weeks; it was screened in Chicago for 35 weeks; it was screened in Los Angeles for 22 weeks. In New York City alone, 6,266 shows were screened in nine months.

Although "The Birth of a Nation" has mixed reputations, it does not affect the film's success as a silent film classic, nor does it affect David W. Griffith's position as the father of film directors. From the moment it premiered, the film gave two very important concepts to the film, which gradually became the standard of the silver screen, namely feature film and controversy. Despite the public's condemnation of the one-sidedness of the film, "The Birth of a Nation" was still the most popular film at the time. The grand narrative laid a solid foundation and gradually derives a great genre-epic film. It also caused a great revolution in American film business management. The controversy aroused the nation's awareness of the social function of the film, but more importantly, people are aware of the film's superb artistic attainments and rich imagination. David W. Griffith is believed to have truly mastered the tool of film, and he was able to arrange each shot docilely to produce the strongest effect. David W. Griffith founded Méliès and promoted the editing principles promoted by Porter to new heights. Later, everyone benefited from it.

It can be said that this is a film that is outstanding in art, successful in business, and politically/political. It marked the beginning of Hollywood art dominating the world. The cultural circles then praised the achievements of the film wildly, and naturally took Griffith to the throne of the first film master.

View more about The Birth of a Nation reviews

Extended Reading
  • Trevion 2022-03-22 09:02:28

    We often know about the Civil War, but less about the pain of the post-war reconstruction period, from separation to integration, slavery, and equality. Political correctness on the issue of race also makes the evaluation of the film biased. The critics in the film focus on the radical Republicans who, like fighting landlords, are pushed to the other extreme by speculators and limit the power of white people. Through the experiences of the two families in the ten-year span of 1860-1870, the narrative has been comprehensive from all angles.

  • Dennis 2022-03-18 09:01:05

    Shao Mujun wrote: But the grand narrative cannot conceal his hopeless racism... It's funny to think of this sentence~

The Birth of a Nation quotes

  • intertitle: [Flora has jumped to her death to escape Gus] For her who had learned the stern lesson of honor we should not grieve that she found sweeter the opal gates of death.

  • intertitle: Dare we dream of a golden day when the bestial War shall rule n o more. But instead - the gentle Prince in the Hall of Brotherly Love in the City of Peace.