The Birth of Popaganda Films

Rating: Null/10 (27 November 2004)

I see from the many current comments on this turkey that it is no less controversial today than ever. It's racism so overwhelms anything else about this movie that comments about it being a landmark in film making technique seem totally beside the point. It had a permanent effect on race relations in this country. The fact that it was probably the most profitable film of all time shows how many people saw it. Arguably, race relations in the USA might have been much improved had the film never seen the light of day. That's how significant this film was.
The main point being that this film is the Birth of the propaganda film. It showed how powerful a medium film could be--which probably surprised even Griffith. Perhaps if he had realized how much his film was going to further racism in general, he might have had second thoughts about making it at all. He spent the rest of his life trying to undo it's evil effects, starting immediately with his next film Intolerance the next year. I don't think anybody realized the power of film to influence society until this film was released.