The Birth of a Nation (1915) remains the most controversial American film ever made, and its director, D. W. Griffith, one of the most extraordinary figures in film history. It was the first true feature film and did more than any other to launch Hollywood both as an industry and as an idea. The film consolidated a trend in cinematic technique and an approach to dramatic narrative that define American cinema to this day. As a great but ideologically troubled film that offers us a reflection of ourselves as Americans, The Birth of a Nation continues to intrigue, challenge, infuriate, and awe. Robert Lang's introduction to this volume explores in fascinating detail the warped view of history that this great film presents. Griffith, a Southerner, was intent on resurrecting, idealizing, and justifying the South. In The Birth of a Nation, it is racism that unites the white North and South; the protection or abolition of slavery is not the divisive issue. In a powerful synthesis of spectacle and narrative, Griffith seeks to give the Southern cause a sense of glamour and high purpose. Lang considers the film as a historical melodrama, and by examining Griffith's "historiography as ideological practice," he traces the way in which the bloody, traumatic reality of the Civil War and Reconstruction becomes melodramatic myth. This unparalleled guide to The Birth of a Nation offers a shot-by-shot continuity script; a biographical sketch of the director; a sampling of contemporary reviews; a series of essays by distinguished critics including James Chandler, Michael Rogin, Janet Staiger, and Mimi White; and a filmography and bibliography. Robert Lang is an assistant professor of English and film studies at the University of Hartford.
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5 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
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Script After The Fact,
By "ebowen2000" (Hartford, CT) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Birth of a Nation: D. W. Griffith, director (Rutgers Films in Print) (Paperback)
Dr. Robert Lang takes David Wark Griffith's un-scripted film (The Birth Of A Nation) and breaks it down shot by shot.
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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historical facsimile, narrational procedures, director edited, avenging conscience, pet sister, flashing vision, continuity script, film epic, insert title, black rapist, food train Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Cameron Hall, Ben Cameron, Thomas Dixon, Woodrow Wilson, South Carolina, Seymour Stem, Elsie Stoneman, Phil Stoneman, Silas Lynch, The Leopard's Spots, Daily Worker, Experimental Cinema, United States, Lillian Gish, New Leader, Austin Stoneman, Los Angeles, Blanche Sweet, Sir Walter, Thaddeus Stevens, White House, David Wark Griffith, Englewood Cliffs, George Siegmann New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
historical facsimile, narrational procedures, director edited, avenging conscience, pet sister, flashing vision, continuity script, film epic, insert title, black rapist, food train Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Cameron Hall, Ben Cameron, Thomas Dixon, Woodrow Wilson, South Carolina, Seymour Stem, Elsie Stoneman, Phil Stoneman, Silas Lynch, The Leopard's Spots, Daily Worker, Experimental Cinema, United States, Lillian Gish, New Leader, Austin Stoneman, Los Angeles, Blanche Sweet, Sir Walter, Thaddeus Stevens, White House, David Wark Griffith, Englewood Cliffs, George Siegmann New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
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100
books
cite this book:
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- A History of the American People by Woodrow Wilson on 7 pages
- Slow Fade to Black (Galaxy Books) by Thomas Cripps on 5 pages
- Thomas Dixon (U.S.Authors) by Raymond A. Cook on 4 pages
- The Art of the Moving Picture (Modern Library Movies) by Vachel Lindsay on 4 pages
- Griffith: First Artist of the Movies by Martin T. Williams in Front Matter, page 233, and Back Matter
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- Playing the Race Card: Melodramas of Black and White from Uncle Tom to O. J. Simpson by Linda Williams on 39 pages
- The Movies That Changed Us: Reflections on the Screen by Nick Clooney on 11 pages
- Silent Film and the Triumph of the American Myth by Paula Marantz Cohen on 9 pages
- Hollywood As Historian: American Film in a Cultural Context by Peter C. Rollins on 7 pages
- The Movies Are : Carl Sandburg's Film Reviews and Essays, 1920-1928 by Carl Sandburg on 7 pages
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