The Birth of a Nation

{{expand}}{{title-italics}}[[File:The Birth of a Nation (1915) - 14.jpg|right|thumb|165px|Advertisement for the 1924 reissue of the film.]]
{{film}}
{{cquote|…''The Birth of a Nation'' is really an elaborate justification of mass murder. The film cannot possibly admit this, which is why we are immediately placed at the mercy of a plot labyrinthine and preposterous…|||James Baldwin<ref>''The Devil Finds Work: An Essay'' by James Baldwin (1976) Dial Press. ISBN 0803719167.</ref>{{rp|45}}}}
'''''The Birth of a Nation''''' is a 1915 [[white supremacist]] [[propaganda]] silent drama film, directed by D. W. Griffith, that led to the rebirth of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] — which, at that point, had been mostly inactive since 1872. It was adapted from two novels by Thomas Dixon Jr. that chronicled the [[American Civil War]] and [[Reconstruction]] from a pro-[[Confederate]] point of view, ''The Clansman'' (1905)<ref>''The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan'' by Thomas Dixon Jr. (1905) Doubleday, Page & Company.</ref> and ''The Leopard's Spots'' (1902).<ref>''The Leopard's Spots: A Romance of the White Man's Burden, 1865–1900'' ' by Thomas Dixon Jr. (1902) Doubleday, Page & Co.</ref><ref name=stokes/>{{rp|79-80}}

==Overview==
Despite being a white supremacist propaganda film, ''The Birth of a Nation'' is considered to be a landmark in the history of cinema, to an extent. Seen in historical context however, many of the film innovations credited to Griffith were more evolutionary than revolutionary, with Griffith putting many earlier techniques together in a single film.<ref name=stokes/>{{rp|280-281}} The film was the first American 12-reel film ever made and, at three hours, also the longest up to that point.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hubbert|first=Julie|title=Celluloid Symphonies: Texts and Contexts in Film Music History|date=2011|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-94743-6|pages=12}}</ref> Its plot, part fiction and part history, chronicles the assassination of [[Abraham Lincoln]] by John Wilkes Booth and the relationship of two families in the Civil War and Reconstruction eras over the course of several years—the pro-Union Stonemans and the pro-Confederacy Camerons.

The film was also was the first motion picture to be screened inside the [[White House]], viewed there by [[President of the United States|President]] [[Woodrow Wilson]] (who was notoriously pro-white supremacy), his family, and members of his cabinet.

==Racism==
{{main|Racism}}
The film was also the first to perpetuate several fictions of the [[Lost Cause of the South]] mythos,<ref name=stokes>''D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation: A History of "The Most Controversial Motion Picture of All Time"'' by Melvyn Stokes (2007) Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195336798.</ref>{{rp|6,178-186}} and also perpetuated racial [[prejudice]].<ref name=stokes/>{{rp|140}} At the time of its first release, the racism and historical falsities were challenged by the [[NAACP]] and others, and attempts were made to suppress the film.<ref name=stokes/>{{rp|6}} Some of the protests may have been counter-productive by increasing public interest in the film ([[Streisand effect]]).<ref name=stokes/>{{rp|6,129-170,278}} Although there had long been [[stereotype]]s of [[African American]]s in film before ''The Birth of a Nation'', the film introduced a new stereotype to film, the "black buck" (or "[[black brute]]").<ref>''Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films'' by Donald Bogle (1994) Continuum, 3<sup>rd</sup> edition. ISBN 0826405789.</ref>{{rp|10}}

The film's three primary villains are all either [[Miscegenation|mixed race]] (referred to as "mulatto" or "negro" in the credits), Lydia and Silas Lynch, or an African American who wants to marry a white woman (Gus).<ref>[https://archive.org/details/Popcornarchive-theBirthOfANation1915 The Birth Of A Nation (1915)] ''Internet Archive''.</ref>{{rp|t&nbsp;1:57}}<ref name=stokes/>{{rp|217}} All three are portrayed by white actors in [[blackface]].<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0004972/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0 The Birth of a Nation] ''IMDb''.</ref> The film both reflected contemporary anxiety about mixed-race marriages and reinforced fear about them.<ref name=stokes/>{{rp|217}}

===Lynching===
[[File:Birth-of-a-nation-klan-and-black-man.jpg|thumb|right|250px|"Hang on fellas, I'm only ''pretending'' to be black!]]
{{main|Lynching}}
A key plot element involves the perpetuation of the [[black brute]] [[stereotype]], in which Gus, a freed African American and former Union soldier (portrayed by a white actor in [[blackface]]), proposes [[marriage]] to a white woman, Elsie Stoneman. Gus is rebuffed by Elsie, Gus refuses to take no for an answer, and chases Elsie through the forest, implying to some viewers an attempted rape. Elsie leaps off a cliff to her [[death]]. The Klan later catches Gus, convicts him in a [[kangaroo court]], and [[Lynching|lynches]] him.

It was known that there were some specific scenes that were filmed but not included in the final film, but there was also a persistent rumor that a [[rape]] scene had been filmed between Gus and Elsie but not included. It was not until 1974 that Karl Brown, the assistant cameraman, said unequivocally that no such scene had been filmed.<ref name=stokes/>{{rp|104}}<ref>''The Birth of a nation: A Formal Shot-by-Shot Analysis Together with Microfiche'' by John Cuniberti (1979) Research Publications, Inc. ISBN 0892350164.</ref>{{rp|125}} The persistence of the rumor can reasonably be attributed to widespread but erroneous belief that lynchings were primarily associated with accusations of sexual assault.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/thirtyyearsoflyn00nati ''Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States, 1889-1918''] (1919) ''National Association for the Advancement of Colored People''.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150522094214/http://scalar.usc.edu/nehvectors/stakeman/dyer-anti-lynching-bill Dyer Anti-lynching Bill] by Randy Stakeman and Jackson Stakeman ''The Walter White Project, University of Southern California''.</ref><ref name=stanley>''How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them'' by Jason Stanley (2018) Random House. ISBN 9780525511830.</ref>{{rp|130-121}}

==Legacy==
The greatest tragedy of them all was that this film, no matter how good or bad it might have been or still is, led to the return of the KKK, which was reorganized under the leadership of William Joseph Simmons at a summit in Stone Mountain, [[Fun:Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] mere months after the film's release. This was the version of the Klan that adopted [[antisemitism]], [[anti-Catholicism]], the full-body white robes, and the practice of cross burning. Whether or not the Klan would have returned on its own is up for debate, but ''The Birth of a Nation'' was what ignited the spark of the Klan's revival, and thus set in motion the golden age of white supremacy… and all the hatred, destruction, and suffering that came with it.

==The Other Birth of a Nation==
Another film called ''The Birth of a Nation'' was made in 2016, and was written, directed by, and starring Nate Parker.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4196450/ The Birth of a Nation (2016)], imdb.com.</ref>

It is not a remake or retelling of the original film, instead being about the real life {{wpl|Nat Turner's slave rebellion|Nat Turner|,}} who led a slave revolt in 1831. However, it was named after the original film in an attempt to [[Reappropriation|reclaim the title]] from one of the most racist films in history.<ref>Soheil Rezayazdi, [https://filmmakermagazine.com/97103-five-questions-with-the-birth-of-a-nation-director-nate-parker/#.Y1bUUy9OmhB Five Questions with the Birth of a Nation Director Nate Parker]. ''Filmmaker Magazine'', 25 January 2016.</ref>

==See also==
*''[[Blazing Saddles]]'' — A film that lambasted racial stereotypes that were popularized by movies like ''The Birth of a Nation''.
*''[[Song of the South]]''
==External links==
*[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0004972/ ''The Birth of a Nation'' on IMDb]
*[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/TheBirthOfANation1915 ''The Birth of a Nation''] on [[TV Tropes]]
==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birth of a Nation}}

[[Category:Films]]
[[Category:Propaganda]]
[[Category:Pseudohistory]]
[[Category:Racism]]
[[Category:White supremacy]]

Categories: Films, Propaganda, Pseudohistory, Racism, White supremacy