It's here its FINALLY here! Seriously it took forever (boo you Amazon). I have a confession to make: I have never seen "The Birth of a Nation". Obviously its hard to get it screened these days outside a Klan meeting, and its also the sorest sticking point to people who like to 'forget' D.W. Griffith ever existed.
As much as I love Griffith I've never claimed he had enlightened views. However unlike a lot of people I know my history; and I know he wasn't an extremist as portrayed. If your Father who you idolized and who's stories inspired your new medium was a Confederate Vet...well what would your viewpoint be? To this day close minded people still exist...ignorant of facts and only knowing skewed pictures of events...because that's how their family and community raised them. Don't believe me? Go ask anyone who voted for Bush, or anyone who claims 'The Iraqis caused 9/11 and those Muslims want to destroy as America folk'. Of course this isn't a political blog so I'm not going to sit and debunk that sentence; but if you feel its a factual statement you just might be on the same footing as D.W. Griffith.
I still believe (and I am 100% sure I will even after viewing the film) that Griffith is unfairly maligned. Racism pervaded popular media until the 1980s, and after that point people like Eddie Murphey took it into their own hands. I'm still again 100% sure I'll be more offended by blaxplotation than I will be of Birth of a Nation. One stems from an outsiders ignorance; the other stems from making money off of stereotypes. Go ask Fifty Cent.
My Official Pre Viewing Thoughts
I was raised in the North, by borderline hippy people. Ironic because though we were Northerners we were surrounded by nothing but white people from the area; people who really didn't know or care about anything beyond their own world. However I was taught differently; and I always had quite a thirst to seek out other cultures and worlds. This may explain why I like the 'Oriental' Silents so well...even though they are so factually inaccurate it could make one cry.
Racism drives me batty; as its just ignorant. No person is inherently bad, evil, stupid, etc based solely on their race or culture. You can meet a jerk white person as you can any other race. People should be judged for their actions; not their culture, religion, or skin color. These are my beliefs anyways.
When I first started watching silents the occasional innocent racism (such as a black face gag) would make me cringe. But you do eventually get used to it; accepting that at the time EVERYONE was joked about...no matter how horribly un-PC it is (for instance look at the cute Mary Pickford film Little Annie Rooney...which despite showing the multicultural kids in a good light plays up stereotypes on each and every one...even the Irish Annie). The films don't make me want to go join a Klan meeting or glare at a non white...so I see no harm in it. We cant always be PC Nazis (ironic term).
So given this; I wonder if "Birth" will make me cringe as bad as people say. I think there will be cringe worthy moments definitely, but somehow I wonder if the whole film is as rousingly offensive as people unfamiliar with the time/place/and other films say.
But then again more then anything I'm sure the Southern idolatry may make me cringe, especially for the time and place its storyline was inspired by. Overall I'm expecting a great film, but so unabashedly firm in its view that I as a modern viewer wont believe it.
Whatever the case though; I'm still sure it won't justify forgetting D.W. Griffith. A lot of people like to cite "Jazz Singer" as a reason to forget Al Jolson, and they cite that as a horribly offensive movie because it uses black face. I expected something on par with Birth when I viewed it. And yet 95% of the film had nothing to do with black face, and most of the film was great. And the 5% that involved black face was not offensive beyond the use of the word 'Mammy' and I don't think that's really THAT horrifying. Jolson used black face to HONOR black musicians who couldn't play the same place and crowds he could...modern folk forget that part. Much like Griffith, Jolson has been sidelined over the PC police.
So we'll see! I'm going to pop "Birth of a Nation" in tonight and a review will definitely follow! Stay tuned!
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