I saw on the trivia , she went to her grave denying the film as racist, what was her reason for that ?
"The stuff that dreams are made of."
She hated black people.
shareShe was apparently real good friends with D.W. Griffith so, maybe she was just trying to defend him. She was probably more naive if anything. I haven't read anything to suggest she was an actual racist.
“A ridiculously small group of my most incompetent and silliest troops awaits them."
I saw on the trivia , she went to her grave denying the film as racist, what was her reason for that ?
What part of this film did you find to be racist? She denied it being racist because it wasn't.
Remember When Movies Didn't Have To Be Politically Correct?
Umm seriously are you joking? I hope you are because this is one of the most racist films ever made and a film that revived the Klu Klux Klan, next you're going to say the KKK aren't racist, they just don't like black people. Ok you HAVE to be joking...
shareOne Ugly Truth:
Gish was probably looking at this film through the eyes of someone who grew up with segregation. There was racism running rampant all over the place in the first half of the 1900's. It's hard to believe America had different bathrooms for blacks, different drinking fountains for blacks... Different playgrounds for the black kids... Not to mention the seating arrangements on public transportation.
My grandparents also grew up in this era, and they went to their graves believing there wasn't anything wrong at all with that situation. They certainly weren't raciest. They didn't believe they were, anyway. It's just the evolution of thinking. Even in the 20th century, we haven't exactly evolved into the racially "accepting" society we always thought we were.
Maybe it's not unlike the German people who grew up under Hitlers' rule. They mostly also didn't believe Hitler was doing anything wrong, and most thought he was a great leader.
I suppose when you are raised with the "status quo" you just tend to think everything is alright, because it's all you know.
(Cue up Bruce Hornsby & the Range's "That's the Way It Is" now... ) Lol...
Trust me,
Swan
My, you're nosey, aren't you?
Lilian Gish didnt think this film was racist for the same reason that Thomas Edison didnt think it was racist.
shareShe was a product of her time, I suppose.
shareMs. Gish was devoted to Griffith. I don't know if they ever had an intimate relationship, but there was deep affection on both sides. She chose to defend the man and his work. She grew up in a much different world than any of us on IMDB could ever know. She may have been a virulent race-monger, but more likely, she could "tolerate" blacks as long as they conformed to a notion of being childlike, subservient and beholden to the "superior" white race.
"May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?"
She grew up in a much different world than any of us...And probably made more than a fistful of dollars from the film too. share
In Charles Affron's biography of Gish, he mentions that her legacy was tied up with that of Griffith. Condemning his work would be, in her perception, condemning hers as well, since she became a star in his productions and was the lead actress in Griffith's most popular movies.
There you go! Unsurprising!
shareShe was his muse. Pretty much like how DiCaprio is Scorsesse's muse, Channing Tatum is Soderbergh's, and Johnny Depp is Burton's.
shareI am very curious what were her criteria for calling something "racist" if this movie wasn't :)
Perhaps in her eyes nothing was.
Don't explain with malice what you can explain with stupidity
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