I can completely understand your frustration with this movie. It's no secret that it's a racist film and did result in the revival of the KKK. But you have to understand what life was like back then. In 1915, nobody had ever seen a movie like this. Not just in terms of production, but in terms of editing, length, casting and attention to detail. It was the first time in history where a ton of effort was ever put into a motion picture. When "The Birth of a Nation" came out, people began to take film much more seriously and wanted to see more high quality movies when it was brand new.
As for the racism, it was sadly a product of its time, but that's not to say people didn't find it offensive in 1915. Plenty of African Americans were outraged over this movie and tried to have it banned. The KKK would even use this film as a recruitment tool up until the 1970's, although this wasn't the intention of its director D. W. Griffith. He probably had no idea that people would be outraged over this movie, but I don't think he intentionally tried to offend a lot of people, he just wanted to make a movie that people would remember and hoped to impress as well as shock. He did just that, Birth of a Nation is certainly impressive and shocking.
It is offensive by today's standards and obviously a movie you could not make today. But I do believe in freedom of speech and freedom of expression and I don't believe in censorship. This film should be shown in all film classes so we can not only understand how the first big budget film was made, but to understand what racism was like in 1915. I am strongly against banning this movie because it's essentially the same as pretending the racial prejudices never existed, but the views expressed in this movie does not represent me as a person. I only appreciate the art and attention to detail that was put into this movie. It is nothing short of groundbreaking and way ahead of its time regardless of it being the most politically incorrect movie in history. You should definitely watch the movie as long as you are prepared to be shocked and see film history.
As for the racism, it was sadly a product of its time, but that's not to say people didn't find it offensive in 1915. Plenty of African Americans were outraged over this movie and tried to have it banned. The KKK would even use this film as a recruitment tool up until the 1970's, although this wasn't the intention of its director D. W. Griffith. He probably had no idea that people would be outraged over this movie, but I don't think he intentionally tried to offend a lot of people, he just wanted to make a movie that people would remember and hoped to impress as well as shock. He did just that, Birth of a Nation is certainly impressive and shocking.
It is offensive by today's standards and obviously a movie you could not make today. But I do believe in freedom of speech and freedom of expression and I don't believe in censorship. This film should be shown in all film classes so we can not only understand how the first big budget film was made, but to understand what racism was like in 1915. I am strongly against banning this movie because it's essentially the same as pretending the racial prejudices never existed, but the views expressed in this movie does not represent me as a person. I only appreciate the art and attention to detail that was put into this movie. It is nothing short of groundbreaking and way ahead of its time regardless of it being the most politically incorrect movie in history. You should definitely watch the movie as long as you are prepared to be shocked and see film history.