Harold and Maude
In that paper, I will try to compare two films which are “A Birth of a Nation” directed by D.W.Griffith and “The Bicycle Thieves” directed by De Sica. After giving the story of the films, I will try to explain their technical features and their similarities. A Birth of a Nation by D. W. Griffith Griffith can be seen as the first 'modern' director, his greatest achievements being the historical epics The Birth Of A Nation. When it was released, it was one of the longest films ever made, over three hours in length. The prologue depicts the introduction of slavery to America in the seventeenth century and the beginnings of the abolitionist movement. The major part of the film depicts the events before, during and after the Civil War. It focuses on the exploitation of the newly-freed Negroes and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the south. Griffith shows it as a drama, a romance, and a documentary, with the vivid period reconstruction outweighing the personal stories. The title of the film is an interesting one. It is unknown whether the title refers to the birth of the reunited states, or the birth of the Ku Klux Klan. I tend to think that the film has a double meaning. In showing the Ku Klux Klan as good guys, it is obvious th
at Griffith was trying to show their birth as a positive event for the United States. Also, he was showing that the U.S. was once again reunited after the war, leading to the strengthening of the nation. It forebodes the future, when the South and the blacks living there are kept in check by the Ku Klux Klan , making the U.S. that much greater. Though it would be better to ignore this notion of the birth of the Ku Klux Klan, it cannot be due to the film’s content, although the film does show a truly “united” states. The film is an incredible piece of propaganda for both the Ku Klux Klan and the Jim Crow system. The Jim Crow system was undergirded by the following beliefs or rationalizations: Whites were superior to Blacks in all important ways, including but not limited to intelligence, morality, and civilized behavior; sexual relations between Blacks and Whites would produce a mongrel race which would destroy America; treating Blacks as equals would encourage interracial sexual unions; any activity which suggested social equality encouraged interracial sexual relations; if necessary, violence must be used to keep Blacks at the bottom of the racial hierarchy People who knew nothing about the KU KLUX KLAN or thought of them as white villains before Birth of a Nation probably changed their minds and donned hoods of their own upon seeing the film. The mainstream picture was probably the best advertisement that the KU KLUX KLAN could have had. The vilifying of blacks also led to the Jim Crow system. When it was portrayed in this movie as acceptable, people in the South felt much better about doing horrible deeds to black citizens, denying blacks their civil rights Though the portrayal of both blacks and the KU KLUX KLAN were extremely off track, the movie itself was an amazing work of cinema for its time. This was probably the first movie to use hundreds of extra in a battle scene. These scen
Some topics in this essay:
Bicycle Thief,
Civil War,
Klux Klan,
Bicycle Thieves,
Birth Nation,
Jim Crow,
KLUX KLAN,
Blacks Whites,
Italy Griffith,
War Griffith,
ku klux,
klux klan,
ku klux klan,
birth nation,
bicycle thief,
civil war,
crow system,
jim crow system,
jim crow,
bicycle thief story,
de sica,
events period,
bicycle thieves,
griffith goes critical,
thief story humanity,
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Approximate Word count = 1285
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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