Gracemanfordhome.files.wordpress.com



Grace ManfordProfessor BailieEnglish 208925 November 2019Assignment TwoBirth of a Nation was a huge factor in America during 1915 and is still talked about and remembered today. The movie was based off of a book called “The Clansman” that Thomas Dixon wrote. Griffith showed the movie to the entire supreme court and to the president. They all honored it and the president allowed the movie to be played all across America. This movie revived the Klu Klux Klan and the current view of the reconstruction in America was looked up to (The Birth of a Nation). The Birth of a Nation is so controversial that African Americans were rioting on the streets and going to jail because they wanted justice for their race and their rights. This film shows the sides of two families, one from the North and one from the South and their viewpoints during the time. The African Americans hardly had any rights or respect from the white people. John Tyler Morgan wrote an article in 1890 called “The race Question” and he was fighting against the few rights that black men had. He was specifically fighting for the right to vote to be taken away from the African American men. Morgan believed that God made the white men superior to the black men and that nature should not be challenged. Morgan whole heartedly thought that if black men had more rights and more of them registered to vote than they would get revenge on the white men and ruin the white families of America. Morgan is going out in public and telling the people why African American men should not be able to vote and why they will ruin the white families of America. He is also writing essays and is someone who is of higher power. Griffith created a film that portrayed black men and women as horrible people that are scary and out of their mind. He created a controversial outbreak in America and cause riots. In my eyes, the Birth of a Nation would have persuaded America more than the essay that John Tyler Morgan wrote. I believe that Birth of a Nation would have persuaded America more because it is an actual film and people are seeing it in person and watching it being acted out. DW Griffith is a smart and strategic film maker and the way he structures his film makes you feel the emotions and gets your adrenaline going. An example of this would be when he uses color such as red or blue during action or sad scenes, uses iris in and iris out to focus on one thing and then show why the character is showing that emotion, or when he uses typage and costumes. During the scene where Flora goes out to grab some water from a stream is dramatic. Griffith uses a red screen as Flora is walking out of the house so you know that something bad is about to happen. He then shows a white man with a painted black face dressed as a union soldier with a crazy look on his face. The man bends down, picks up a piece of grass and sniffs it. He then continues to follow the girl who is portrayed as innocent because she is dressed in nice clothes that are a light color, she laughs a lot, and feeds the birds. The union soldier Gus then comes up to Flora and grasps her by the arm while she has a frightened look on her face. There is an iris in that shows Flora’s face and how scared she is that a black man is touching and communicating with her. The iris in creates drama for the audience and invokes emotion because all they are seeing is the young girls face and how feared she is. While the iris in is focused on Flora’s face you cannot see Gus or anything that is going on in the environment which also evokes emotion from the crowd. Gus persists to talk to her even though she runs away. There are several iris ins and iris outs during this scene to put you on the edge of your seat such as when the film goes iris in on Gus’s face to show that he has big eyes, a malicious smile, and looks like he has bad intentions. The film then does an iris out to show that Gus is looking for Flora and is trying to chase her.. The music is also a big part of the scene because it makes you react to what’s happening when it gets slower or faster. The music gets slower when Gus is looking around for Flora trying to find her and then when he finally spots her and starts to chase her the music gets faster. The scene that I just talked about is a great example of what Griffith is trying to tell America. He portrays black men as animals. He shows them as crazy people with weird looks on their faces and someone who walks weird. Griffith also shows them as bad people who persist until they get their way. In the scene where Flora goes out to get water from the stream, it shows her jumping off of a cliff because she did not want to be in the arms of a fearful black man or listen to him talk anymore. This is a horrible way of saying that the white person will not back down, they are powerful, have more rights, and are respected more than the black folk. That they would rather kill themselves than give into black people and have them take their rights away.John Tyler Morgan argued his claim different than Griffith did but they do have some similarities. Morgan opposed two reconstruction bills, wrote essays about America and African Americans, stood up in front of the senate and the citizens and stated his thoughts and told people why African Americans do not need rights and why the ones they have now should be taken away from them. Morgan had power and was looked up to by some because he was in the senate. He had a way to voice his opinion and do something about because he was in a position of power. Griffith had to work his way up and had to think of something big to get his opinion out there. He knew the Clansman would get a rise out of people so he wanted to make it into a live action film. Morgan got his point across by talking and sharing his religious beliefs compared to Griffith who expresses his beliefs by making a film for people to watch and then voicing his opinion. The similarities are that they both want the white race to stay superior to the black race and that the white American families are what hold America together. Morgan shows this belief when he talks about how the negroes are an “unwelcome intrusion into the white family circle” and how if they are granted more rights they will take revenge and tear the families apart (Brooks 63). Griffith shows this belief when Ben tries to find Flora and then sees that she jumped off of the cliff. He runs down there and holds her until she passes away in his arms. He carries her back to the house and everyone sobs. Griffith shows the family grieving and it feels like the family is torn apart. It then shows Ben leaving the house to give consequences to Gus’s actions. Both of these men use the arguing to persuade method. They do this by building cases. What I mean by this is that they are trying to persuade the audience by saying that black men will ruin the white American families or by showing in the film that black people are crazy and then they keep building on these ideas until they think they have convinced their audience. They not only want to persuade the audiences influence but they also want to persuade their behavior. The men want to audience to not only intellectually agree with what they are trying to prove but they want them to go out and do something physically such as voting to end the African Americans rights to vote or by starting up the KKK again. Morgan and Griffith heavily use emotional appeal. Morgan does this by claiming the African American men will ruin your white family and will try to get revenge on the white man because they are now able to vote. Griffith does this by showing the scene where Flora commits suicide. He has a young girl throw her body off of a cliff just because a black man was trying to talk to her. The thought and the site of white people wanting to kill themselves because of a black and the thought of black people taking over America and the white families evokes fear in the audience. When someone has fear inside them it makes them want to do crazy things such as hiding or doing something about it. Which triggers the flight or fight response in the human body.In my opinion, Griffith persuaded America more with the Birth of a Nation. I believe this because he had people rioting out in the streets, people were being thrown in jail, the KKK was reborn, reconstruction was looked up on more than ever, and the people of America were shocked. He implemented a lot of ideas and touchy subjects into his film and used great editing skills. People are also persuaded easier when someone has knowledge and uses law and science against the general public. Morgan and Griffith were both wrong to be doing what they were doing but this is part of history and America has to accept it. ResourcesBrooks,Thomas. Plessy V. Ferguson A Brief History with Documents. Bedford, St. Martins, 1997.“The Birth of a Nation.”?Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 Dec. 2019, . ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download