Birth of a Nation, part 2

Watching the last half of the movie one can really see the male gaze and how D.W. Griffith portrayed the differences in race. The blacks are portrayed with a very heavy lean towards being comical and clownish at times. Also, the use of white actors portraying blacks in key roles, which also shows the place of blacks for the turn of the century in how they are being involved in the making of this movie. The women are also portrayed with an over accented view. The character Lydia Brown is shown with over stated sexual desires that recur through out the movie. I am going to assume that for the time the acting was not considered over the top. Also, how the women are subservient to the men even when they are portrayed as children. The actions of all the women in the movie appear to be driven by the actions of the men even to the point of when one is being pursued for courtship. In addition, it is interesting to see how he portrays the place of mixed race people, the mulatto, even if they appear to be white. Even when one is placed in a position of power by the activist character, Austin Stoneman. The actions of the people to Silas Lynch’s character are quite expected seeing how they still have all the strong feelings in place after the resolution of the war. I do not think that Griffith was able to really show just what the reactions would have been like due to the times and reactions of the general public. Also, how the reactions were strong even in how he did make the film. Unfortunately, he had to cut a couple of scenes to make it more acceptable for the times.

We are stopping the movie at the beginning of the rape sequence, one of the scenes he had to edit and we will resume the movie from there after spring break.
The gaze of the movie is definitely male and I am looking forward to the end of the movie to really see just where he takes it.