MovieChat Forums > The Birth of a Nation (1915) Discussion > My thoughts (spoilers herein)

My thoughts (spoilers herein)

posted 3 years ago by Phids (774)
1 reply | jump to latest

The movie is broken up into several parts. First, the story of the pre-Civil War days set mostly in South Carolina, which follows the Cameron family, as well as the activities of the Stoneman family from the North. A budding love story among people from each family ensues. War then breaks out, and members of each family go off to battle, with several of them getting killed.

When war subsides, South Carolina is transformed after union forces control the town in South Carolina and black people are able to vote, though here they engage in corrupt practices to put the power-thirsty Silas Lynch in power. Chaos ensues as the Southerners see their way of life crumble, and this culminates in the death of the Cameron sister. In response, Ben Cameron comes up with an idea for a response in the form of the KKK. As Lynch starts to oppress the white population, including Cameron's love, Elsie, the KKK comes to the rescue of the town.

Overall, this paints a very rosy picture of the KKK and a very negative view of former slaves, as well as white people/carpetbaggers who helped them. It plays upon what must have been stereotypes of black people to portray them as breaking down the rule of order in the South. The point of the narrative is pretty clear.

[–] FilmBuff (7237) 2 years ago

The clear point of the narrative as I interpret the film is that war is terrible, and even a justifiable war is to be avoided. There can always be a way around armed conflict if the two sides can sit and talk, but instead, the leaders of the two sides, who won't be fighting themselves, are usually too quick to declare war and pit innocent young people against others like them. People who have no reason to fight are rallied to do so, and those who would be friends in another setting kill one another.

Before watching, I'd always heard what a racist film this is, but having seen it, I saw no racism whatsoever. The film is a mix of the story of two families intermixed with an historically accurate portrayal of what happened in the time just before, during, and just after the war. I think the knee-jerk cries of racism come because it tells that history from the perspective of the South, not the North.

It's also worth pointing out that the KKK as we know it now did not exist when this film was released. The KKK in the film was an entirely different entity, formed in 1965 and disbanded in 1871 or '72. It existed to keep the peace in the South, when opportunists from the North were showing up in droves, trying to gain money and influence by pitting black against white. That a group of racists later adopted the KKK name and imagery and used it for hateful reasons makes the images onscreen shocking to us today, but that's not the KKK that is depicted in the film.