SCREEN-L Archives

December 1999, Week 4

SCREEN-L@LISTSERV.UA.EDU

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Peter Warren <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Date:
Thu, 23 Dec 1999 19:14:08 -0500
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (158 lines)
Mr. Slack: While acknowledging that Birth of a Nation was racist and
reflected  Griffith's concern with racial purity, mainstream film reflects
the tenor of the times and we should all be glad that society has advanced
in the 85 years since BOAN. Griffith himself was appalled at the generally
negative reaction to the film, and tried to make amends with his next work,
Intolerance. Keep in mind that Griffith was a"commercial" director, and
liked to thrill his audiences with last minute chases/rescues such as the
climax of BOAN. For example - look at other major Griffith works such as
Orphans of the Storm, Way Down East, Hearts of the World and the "modern"
sequence from Intolerance. And last minute movie rescues are still with us
to this day .....
Peter Warren

----------
> From: Kenneth Slack <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Brownlow on DGA decision
> Date: Wednesday, December 22, 1999 9:27 PM
>
> It seems that there are some who feel that because a
> person does something that can be considered
> technically innovative, his use of that technique to
> advance racism and hatred should not only be excused,
> but ignored, if not ultimately rewarded! I suppose
> after hearing Hitler speak, Germans should have
> reasoned, "Okay, he did say some hateful things, but
> he was so eloquent in saying them, that it would just
> be so PC of us not to name a speech award in his
> honor."
>
> Of course human imperfection requires that we accept
> some flaws in all of our heroes, and in anyone whom we
> choose to honor. But what flaws will we accept? There
> are some who can be impressed by editing technique and
> photographic style, and dismiss the concomitant racism
> with a "despite" and as "PC stuff."
>
> The same people who pooh-pooh the parsing of
> "personal" and "public" lives in politics, all of a
> sudden become Enrico Fermi, able to split the atom of
> "form and content" when it comes to film, in order to
> simultaneously extol the form and avoid embracing the
> content.
>
> I am not here to condemn Griffith (not that I don't
> condemn him; it just isn't my aim right now), nor to
> deny the technical achievements of The Birth of a
> Nation. I am here objecting to those who insist upon
> minimizing the horror that this film visited upon
> society. That horror has to have been minimized for
> anyone to determine that the positives of Griffith's
> work, should unquestioningly be considered to outweigh
> the negatives. Producing a film glorifying, indeed
> deifying the Ku Klux Klan, at a time when lynching was
> an all too real threat to too many human beings, in
> some minds, has to have been overshadowed by
> Griffith's use of close-ups and fade--outs, for there
> to be this current groundswell of disbelief that
> Hollywood would dare question his worthiness of a
> particular honor.
>
> If any group of people realizes the  profound effect
> and exorbitant power that film can wield over the
> psyche of its audience, it has to be a film discussion
> group like this one. Some may feel that Griffith's
> contributions to the industry are such that any
> attempts to honor him are reasonable. However, I would
> advocate that when a person's contributions to the
> industry are evaluated, those contributions include
> the havoc wreaked upon the industry's audience.
>
> Kenneth L. Slack
>
>
> --- Sandy Camargo <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > I couldn't agree more. It's the same PC stuff that
> > makes students not want
> > to read Chaucer because he is "sexist." Despite the
> > obvious racism of many
> > of his films, D. W. Griffith is the man who invented
> > Hollywood. Still.
> >
> >         Sandy Camargo
> >         Department of English
> >         University of Missouri
> >
> > >from LA Times
> >
> (http://www.latimes.com/news/comment/19991218/t000115137.html):
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I have always admired the Directors Guild for
> > acknowledging the importance
> > >of D.W. Griffith with their award, and I am
> > dismayed to hear they are
> > >withdrawing it. A sign of maturity is the ability
> > to acknowledge greatness
> > >while not being blind to faults--Alfred Nobel
> > invented dynamite, but his
> > >name remains on the Peace Prize.
> > >      However uncomfortable it may be, "The Birth
> > of a Nation," beyond all
> > >other films, established the feature film and made
> > it possible for the
> > >members of the guild to practice their craft.
> > >      The man whose name they dishonor was full of
> > contradictions; yes, he
> > >made Hollywood's most racially explosive film, but
> > he also made films
> > >attacking racial prejudice. In one early Griffith
> > picture, the Klan was the
> > >villain and a black boy the hero.
> > >      Whose name will replace Griffith's? Another
> > pioneer director--John
> > >Ford, perhaps?  No, like most of his generation, he
> > revered Griffith. How
> > >about a foreign name, a director of impeccable
> > reputation: Carl-Theodore
> > >Dryer? Not a bad idea.  Unfortunately, in a 1950s
> > poll, Dreyer selected
> > >"The Birth of a Nation" as the greatest film ever
> > made.
> > >
> >          KEVIN BROWNLOW
> > >
> >          Photoplay
> > >Productions
> > >
> >          London
> > >Full Alert Film Review
> > >http://wlt4.home.mindspring.com/fafr.htm
> > >
> > >Funhouse
> > >http://wlt4.home.mindspring.com/funhouse.htm
> > >
> > >----
> > >For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives:
> > >http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html
> >
> > ----
> > For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives:
> > http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html
> >
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Thousands of Stores.  Millions of Products.  All in one place.
> Yahoo! Shopping: http://shopping.yahoo.com
>
> ----
> Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
> University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu

----
Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite
http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite

ATOM RSS1 RSS2