Assignment 2 Final Draft

As pro-equality publications, speeches and organizations began to influence change subsequent to the adoption of the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th amendments, a glimpse of peace had finally seemed to settle amongst once was a hostile environment in the United States. Nonetheless, it wouldn’t be for many decades until equality was viewed pervasively by every state. The hinderance of promoting equality would be partly due to the advancements in media and the film industry in the early 19^th century, accompanied by racist views of film makers and politicians that utilized media and film to their advantage. An example of this was articulated in the 1915 controversial film “The Birth of a Nation”. Although it would gain notoriety with the use of new wave filmmaking techniques like cross-cut editing, parrellel editing and iris, the film also glorified the KKK and indoctrinated racist ideology to millions. It was propaganda such as the “The Birth of a Nation” that would ultimately promote discrimination while unwittingly denouncing scholarly essays such as “Strivings of the Negro People”, famously written by W.E.B. Du Bois. Consequently, the film and media industry would captivate and influence millions with its blasphemous views against African Americans, which reinforced a belief that second-class citizenship should be viewed as the solution to the “race problem” in the United States.

This video discusses how, although U.S. territories like Puerto Rico, Guam and America Samoa are considered benifactor territories for the United States, the people of those territories do not get the same American citizenship rights as someone who was born in the original 50 states. Biological determinist and evolutionary scientist which fueled scientific racism back in the time prior to the civil war and during reconstruction era definitely influenced white people to believe that black African Americans were either 1. an inferior race, 2. a races that would become dominant in the united states due to the forceful suppressing of equal rights prior to the civil war, 3. a race that was not even a race but a possible animal linked closer to monkeys, 4. a race that would naturally conflict with other races due to the forceful suppressing of equal rights, 5. a race that was naturally beast like and would rape every white woman he saw, 6. a race that was naturally everted to the white race, 7. a race that could not biologically prove a stronger self worth, which resulted in the stagnant class of bondage to whites through out the years, 8. a race that would abuse the powers of congress due to their growing animosity against whites. This scientific racism eventually started to look pretty bad when Nazi Germany started to put use to it during WW2. But before that, it had actually influenced law makes and politicians to rule certain ways in courts. Although not all law makers and politicians were influenced by these theories used by scientists and theorists such as Hoffman or Morgan, many were still influenced to the point to keep restraint on African American rights and citizenship. Just like in the video that we had watched with John Oliver, he mentions that a lot of these territories in the U.S. like Puerto Rico, Guam and American Samoa, and the citizens that were born in those territories all have titles that give them certain rights and establishment within the United States, but they do not have the same rights as everyone else that were born in the original 50 states of the U.S. If we compare this to the “separate but equal” ruling during the Plessy v. Ferfuson case, we could say that African American had the “title” of citizenship within the United States, but under the ruling they weren’t really equal. Although this ruling did not violate the 14th amendment, it would eventually be seen as constitutionally wrong, especially after the ruling of Brown v. Board of education. But again, most Americans didn’t really start to warming up to fact that civil rights was an imperative feat until the mid 50s.

I will be using Microsoft word

When I watched Birth of a Nation, I noticed that the whole movie was pretty much based on multiliteracies, in a sense that it was a silent film… ish and that I had to use my imagination to paint a picture based upon reading people and situations in the movie. Yes, there was text dialogue that explained some scenes of the movie, but most of the movie revolved around music genres, stereotypical expressions of the characters and various interactions between the characters to illuminate the story behind the movie. An example of this would be when Gus is walking through the farm and spots young Flora walking to the spring. The way that they portray him hunched over walking, palms fanned, eyes bugged, hiding behind trees and fencing was indicative of him being a predator. The music also switches back and forth from urgent and malicious (when the camera pans to Gus, indicating that he is a dangerous character) to jolly and carefree (when they pan to Flora playing with squirrels).

This negative view of African Americans subsequent to the ending of the Civil War (mostly during the Reconstruction period) was partly due to the influence of false perception and false education of human evolution mixed with ludacris theories of why races were inferior to one another and how possible connections of African Americans and apes explained behavioral differences between certain races. Scientists like Morton and Hoffman practically brain washed white Americans into thinking that African Americans were biologically different, which also influenced racists propaganda and racists films like Birth of a Nation. Especially in a time when Woodrow Wilson was signing new Jim Crow legislature, this made it seem like white supremacy was a norm that was being promoted, not only by films and propaganda, but by our own government as well.

“A handful of social and biological scientists over the last 50 years have gradually forced informed people to give up some of the more blatant of our biological errors. But there must be still other countless errors of the same sort that no living man can yet detect, because of the fog within which our type of Western culture envelops us. Cultural influences have set up the assumptions about the mind, the body, and the universe with which we begin; pose the questions we ask; influence the facts we seek; determine the interpretation we give these facts; and direct our reaction to these interpretations and conclusions.” -Gunnar Myrdal, The Mismeasure of Man Page, Page 55

The ruling on the Plessy vs. Ferguson case brought about cliches and stereotypes against African Americans in cinema. Including lynchings, chicken thieving, Africans being chased by hound dogs, Africans eating water melons, Africans sitting on assigned seats on trains.

The “Guardian Newspaper” was created by William Trotter, which initially challenged Booker T. Washington’s direct interventions of politics, meaning he doesn’t like critisism so he may influence newspapers and what they were trying to write about him.

The Original 29 was founded by Dubois and Trotter. There were 29 men who chose Niagra Falls to meet to represent the flow of change that would eventually develop amongst the black and white racial tension.

This group illuminated the evils of segregation that Woodrow Wilson had enforced in his Jim Crow policies. This had created a surge of racial tension, which from years prior to the creation of the Wilson’s policy, had been slowly dissipating. The delegates of African Americans that were lead by Trotter and Dubois had all gotten together and met with Wilson to discuss the rising tensions encouraged by the newly enforced Jim Crow laws. That right there showed how legitimate white supremacy and Jim Crow laws were and they were slowly reverting back to what it was like in the years subsequent to the ending of the civil war.

I would like to add that their term of racial pornography is a little out of context I think. If I heard that, I would believe there was biracial porn films being produced back then. Just saying…

Anyways. I don’t know if I skipped this part or what but I believe the differences in approach for combatting white supremacy between Trotter and Dubois was that Trotter wanted to speak to people man to man (like Wilson) which typically offended the person arguing against Trotter and Dubois would send letters out to major influencers and censorship groups of media promoting white supremacy in posters and film. Which really didn’t work. Also, Trotter was seen as very radical, which Dubois was the contrary.

Pamphlets were created by Dubois to shine light on the failure of free speech. Trotter ended up going down to the theatre where the movie was being played, and he demanded a ticket to the movie. This ended up in a fight between the a cop and Trotter, which once again, had him kicked out and arrested. Some of his followers though managed to sneak into the theatre to view the movie. This sparked a surge in protesters who would either be rioting at the while the movie was playing or would be marching down the street at random times. Because of these riots, the movie was being reported as dangerous to cities all over the United States.

The movie inspired the rebirth of the KKK. Apparently, the clan was the biggest it has ever been subsequent to the glorification of the Birth of a Nation. Black lynchings became a thing, blacks being randomly attacked became a thing.

I assume she was screwing around with a black man, and in that time, a white woman wanting to screw around with a black man was equally as frowned upon as a black man wanting to screw around with a white woman. He probably wanted to bash her head in to protect her from what serious beating she was about to get form the KKK.

Morton stated in one of his scientific studies that the mix of whites and blacks cause infertile offspring and the fertile offspring from the two mixed races would evolve other species to be inferior to other races.

Yeah, this last scene where people are rejoicing and praising Jesus is a little strange. But, I think what Griffith is illuminating in this scene is that white supremacy is better off. There are no wars, no arguments, no predator blacks walking through the streets, etc. And if white supremacy were to be the law, then this would help the town consist of a society that is much more civil.

1. Gus is wearing worn clothing. His pants are being held up by a makeshift rope belt and his hat looks too small for his head. I would guess that, with this costume, we are supposed to portray Gus as poor, homeless, dirty. The way he is creeping around the barn seems to portray him as a deviant. I also noticed how bug eyed he is, which portrays him as crazy.
2. Flora is in a freshly pressed dressed (at least that is how it looks). Her hair is all done up and it looks as if she has makeup and lipstick on, portraying her as a young woman (or young girl?) that is the kin of a wealthy family.
3. I didn’t really notice a change of lighting when Gus was in scene. But, I did notice the filter was of a red color. This made the scene its self a little evil feeling, like something bad was going to happen to Flora.
4. In the beginning of the scene, Flora was in the sun up to the point subsequent to her being at the spring. This lightened up the mood as she was very happy and worry free. Subsequent to her arriving at the spring, Gus chases her through the woods, where it gets dark, changing the mood of the scene from worry free to frightened and very worried.
5. As i mentioned in number 1, his eyes are very bugged out, making him look like he is mad or crazy. He crouches half the time like he is deviant, sneaking around looking for something. His hands are fanned out like he is about to attack someone. The park prior to Flora arriving to the spring, Gus is shown looking one way toward the camera, most likely not in the direction of Flora (because he ends up turning the other way to her direction to follow her), making it seem like he was checking to see if anyone was around before he went to the spring to approach Flora. This indicates that his intentions toward Flora may have been deviant, as he was checking to see if there was anyone else around.
6. She wasn’t supposed to go to the spring, and it looked as if her mother (or housemaid?) was displeased with her being defiant and going to the spring anyway. She frolics around like a little girl and claps her hands when she finds amusement in the smallest things. She also has a short attention span like a child, as she drops her bucket to go play with a squirrel.
7. When it shows Gus following Flora to the spring, the music plays as if there is panic and trouble ahead… and when Flora gets to the spring to fill her water, the music changes to a delightful tune that makes the character seem innocent. During the chase seen, the music is portrayed as panicking and urgent. This makes Gus seem like a killer who is trying to attack Flora, although maybe he was just trying get her attention.
8. Because, 1. her brother warned her not to go to the spring, so the fact that he is out there trying to find her portrays that he extremely worried, and it hints to the audience that she may be in danger. Also, he is running around frantic calling her name, and along the way is finding articles of clothing of a man that he does not recognize. This builds more and more panic through out the chase scene. As her brother keeps yelling for her and finding these articles of clothing, she is at the top of a mountain about to jump to her death, indicating that both Flora and her brother know that something very bad is about to happen.
9. They both described a world of freed African Americans in the United States as one with natural aversion. And if possible, would allow for the onslaught of African Americans against whites in the future. Gus was portrayed as some deviant wandering African American looking to wreak havoc on the next person he stumbled upon in his journey, which ended up being Flora.

-I like in the description of “focus” how Dziga Vertov’s movies were characterized as “communist decoding of reality”. What in the hell is this supposed to mean? Also, I noticed that the use of focus was more utilized in older movies compared to todays films.

-Mise en scene is when all characters are focussed into one scene, including the setting and costume to enhance the importance of the scene its self.

-It seems like lighting, as simple and as undeserving as it may seem, serves a very important role in the scene. Where to position the lighting, how much lighting, how bright the lighting should be all changes the feeling of a scene and/or entire movie.

-Frontality used in the Birth of a Nation was very creepy in some scenes. Like when the one girl with her children is staring into the camera. Or when the house maid is crying and staring directly into the camera. Just a creepy feeling… like they are watching us instead of us watching them. Clearly this can be used to show that they are staring at a specific thing that isn’t in the same scene as the character staring into the camera. But, in Birth of a Nation, this was not the case.

-Typage seems like a stereo type to specific characters. Like how a “pompous and greedy general” is viewed as fat, poor teeth structure and unshaven. Or how the “english capitalist” is viewed wearing a thick fur coat, nice hat and smoking a cigar.

-Iris seems to be featured in older movies. The way it is supposed to be used in movies sometimes gets taken advantage of. Honestly it becomes irritating when it gets used all the time like when each scene has different sized irises.

-Rhythm seems to make for a very dramatic scene sometimes. Just like in “The Good the Bad and the Ugly.” Dragging out a scene like this can really intensify the situation.

If we discuss the influence of speech community vs. a discourse community within the movie Birth of a Nation, we could say that the obvious conceptualization of the speech community and the African Americans working for the Camerons would be there sense of kinship in their living quarters. In this case, they were most likely not all blood related, but all most likely adopted a sense of kinship due to the living conditions and emotional toll that may have been put upon all of them. They most likely (and I say most likely a lot, because it hard to pick up on certain speech community aspects with out voice recording) speak with traditional African tounge and use certain dialect that only African American would be quick to pick up on with each other. On the contrary, the speech community conceptualized with the Camerons or Stonemans is of actual kinship its self (kinship of separate families of course). Born into and raised in wealth, these two families share lingustic forms and regulative rules that no African American slave nor poor American would understand in that time. If we discuss the aspect of the discourse community, I would believe there to be two communities separating the Camerons and the Stonemans. Both were well off families, being involved in politics in some way, but each had their different ways and opinions that differed from one another pertaining to politics and the economy, The Camerons, for example, made their money by production of cotton. This required the use of slave labor, was was obviously frowned upon by an abolitionist Stoneman.

When people watched this movie, the ability to communicate meaning behind what was going on, what I assumed, was very black and white… figuratively and literally . There were rich white people who either lived in the south and owned slaves or there were rich white people who lived in the north who didn’t own slaves, and who were probably against the idea of slavery. And then there were just poor people wandering the streets. I haven’t seen more than 3% of the movie, but I can assume there wouldn’t be any portrayal of a well off, educated African American in the movie. This is because, the movie was made to view the polar differences of communities. Reading the wiki page, the movie also makes African Americans out to be unintelligent, sexual predators during the reconstruction era. If this movie’s goal was to convince the audience of a false pretense toward African Americans, then I would say it did a good job.