Birth of a Nation: A Fabricated Legacy

[@datamale]

AUTHOR'S NOTES AND DONATION LINKS Donate to the NAACP: naacp.org/donate NAACP Legal defense fund: engage.naacpldf.org/dBCvDTd9IEiXX_jPkmkT_w2?source=DE23X10B&amtOpts=25.00,50.00,100.00,250.00,500.00,1000.00&am=100.00&is_optimized_ask=true&_ga=2.125888589.1961152295.1679681077-30692540.1679681077 Foundation for Black Communities Canada: www.forblackcommunities.org/ AUTHOR'S NOTES/ CORRECTIONS: At 3:29 I say that Kallgren's approach advocates the dismissal of this film "based on it being propaganda". What I really should have said was that he advocates dismissing this as a significant part of film history due to its REPUTATION being propaganda. I don't want to misrepresent Kallgren's views on the film, because he does advocate that you watch it to understand the message it hopes to send. I think the truth he uncovers is extremely valuable in understanding how propaganda seeks to legitimize itself. My central issue was with the people who had watched Kallgren's video and decided that "Birth of a Nation" was no longer a significant cause for concern due to its reputation as an important film being "debunked". I hope I've been able to explain why, even if the film is 100% derivative, it still poses a danger in the ways it seeks to legitimize itself and its hateful ideology.

[@i.c.3300]

Great video as always! Crazy to think that this film revived the KKK in the way it did. Those parades are something else.

[@Tacom4ster]

At film school, we just watch only a few clips, then watch Spike Lee's underrated Bamboozled

[@datamale]

I've heard a lot about this film being used in education, but I've never known which clips/ scenes were used or for what purpose besides a general "showing the editing". I'd love to know more, if you don't mind sharing!

[@Tacom4ster]

@@datamale well we watched the whole movie, including the credits, the ending montage is powerful and disturbing

[@Tacom4ster]

@@datamale oh sorry I thought you were talking about Bamboozled,I don't remember what I watched Birth of a Nation that well

[@joebrewer4529]

So you watch some fake clips with another fake movie brilliant don’t watch the phantom tollbooth you actually develop an IQ and a synapse

[@SemiIocon]

Yooo, he's back!

[@SeitanicPanicc]

That's some slick editing

[@datamale]

I gotta keep up with my peers ;)

[@stpat7614]

19:47 Wilson probably never said his famous quote. It's a myth, just like the Lost Cause.

[@chrisapperley2616]

The squirrel is representing animal nature

[@phangkuanhoong7967]

nah. i disagree. if the argument is to study this film for its use of film language to convey its ideology, there have been plenty better, more insidious, more relevant examples since - see any pop blockbuster that glorifies the US military. And if i still want to understand the propagandistic methods of this film, i'd rather watch or read the plethora of analysis about it, than suffer the sheer malice and stupidity of its content. so, i guess thanks for this great analysis about a film i'll never watch.

[@hamdemon8511]

I watched this in history class, and in film class. It's really a ground breaking bit of cinema and it documents the beliefs of the time. Racist as hell, but that was normal for the time.

[@theMoporter]

It wasn't normal at the time. White people were almost all racist, but it is wrong to think all racists were equally racist or racist in the same way. It is and was common enough to see white Americans who were "sympathetic" to Black people in paternalistic ways, treating them like they need to be looked after and guided by white people, for example. This film argues for proactive violence, that Black people can never be anything less than a menace, which was an extremist view. It's like saying Trump's or Farage's hateful rhetoric is "normal for the time". Also, let's not pretend the population consisted only of white people. This wasn't universal across ethnic groups.

[@hamdemon8511]

@theMoporter they did not adhere to modern ideas. Except they were really certain that race mattered. So we haven't gotten any smarter. Though it is good to use this movie to recalibrate our notions of what racism looks like. Modern levels of racism look nothing like those depicted in the movie. Woodrow Wilson commented about how true it was. But he was a stroke fueledbundle of hate. He'll, I'd love to have the sitcom 'All in the Family" brought back just to watch the activists lose their mind. I know success is not a condition social movements can survive but come on. They're going to have to acknowledge winning sooner or later

[@rdrrr]

@@theMoporter Ethnic minorities can certainly hold racist beliefs. The difficult relationship between the Black and Korean communities of LA is a good example. I'm not suggesting you weren't aware of this - it's just an additional piece of context.

[@ajzeg01]

There were protests and boycotts against the film at the time though.

[@theMoporter]

I don't think this was well researched. BoaN is studied in many, many film courses. The cinematic techniques have been documented in excruciating detail. There is nothing new in this video. That would be fine, if it wasn't constantly stressing that this information is somehow going to disappear or that it had never been analysed. It's very sad that only two essays were directly being responded to, and both were by white, North American men. There's no direct mention of the many Black filmmakers and essayists who have struggled with film history over the years. Please consider doing some deeper reading beyond a few non-academic essays.

[@rdrrr]

I think there's a value to a short primer. BoaN might be well-known to anyone that has studied cinema but it's obscure outside of that context. You're not really the target demographic. An hour-long video full of academic discussion could easily alienate somebody unfamiliar with the topic.