In the beginning of the 20's century, Griffith created its own "Amercian school" of thinking cinema art. The first movie made to illustrate its though has been Intolerancem that we can know watch on youtube :
Griffith : Intolerance ( 5 parts )
DW GRIFFITH The Birth of A Nation 1915
The birth of a Nation is recognised as being the first important movie for " parallel
- Bringing black people in USA put the seed for desunion
- Abolitionnist ask for abolition of esclavage
- South refuse and would stop to be in the Union of States of America in case North states goes for abolition
- Abraham Lincoln, chief of the union, make a call of 75 000 military guys to defend the cause of the union over the interest and will of the secionnist states
- The war begin North and South begin
- At the beginning, the North States won, and the cause of black people is on his way
- The war end on 9th April 1865
- Lincoln is assassinated 5 days after, on 14 April 1865 (to be noticed : this assassination on the movie looks really the same as the last try to kill Al Pacino on the 3rd episod of The God Father (1972): on a theater, the same balcony, a body guard behind the door...)
But, then, the movie show some scenes on which black people are seen as non-educated, not-knowing how to speak, irrespectfull, cheating on electoral process etc... and the movie become racist, which did not please by the time of its issue ( Don't forget Birth of a Nation was issued in 1915, certainly to celebrate the 50 years of the end of the war ( 9 april 1865).
So, according to the movie, the black people cheated on the election processs, get elected as deputies, and are voting plenty of laws to make their right as equal as the white people. But finally, seen as abusing their new power, the white population is enclosed, attaqued, dismiinushed by the black people, wanting to take their wife and girls to make inter-racial marriage, and build a "black empire". Hopefully enough, the resistance of the white get organised and the Ku Kux Klan free the state from these black guys, giving an happy end for all the white community.
And the movie stop here.
Obviously what do not show Griffith is what happen after : how the Ku Kux Klan will be forbidden and what will the History remember of it : on the movie it is shown pretty much as a defensive and non-violent organisation; while Historians are speaking about some much more violent actions...
Cinema and History relationship really begun with this movie, and will never stop to exist on the background of American production...
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