.
It was popular, controversial and established Griffith as one of the nation’s leading directors and it was the first movie shown in the White House. This was the first successful full-length feature film. It cost one hundred thousand dollars to make, particularly in a small business such as the movie industry, but it brought in $18 million in revenues. Technologically speaking, it was of high quality, with close ups, cross cutting, fadeouts, dramatic lighting. It was a powerful story told with exciting techniques yet as groundbreaking as it is.
It was also an extremely racist story. The movie was adapted from the book, The Clansman, by Thomas Dixon. In the novel, Dixon story tells about two families. The Stonemans from Pennsylvania and the Camerons from South…show more content… Even though the Civil War splits the country and forces these families on opposite sides, they do not lose respect for one another or their friendship. After all, these were very civilized people.
The “problem” in the movie was the "American Negro." Early scenes in the movie provide an historical overview for the entire era. One early scene shows the first slaves arriving in America and with the subtitles saying "The bringing of the African to America planted the first seeds of disunion." Yes, union was realized by the movies end, when the two families are re-united through marriage and white supremacy over the blacks. The controversy over the movie comes from its idealized portrayal of slavery before the Civil War and its highly negative view of freed blacks after the war. The movie shows Northern Radicals after Lincoln’s death giving far too much power to the blacks. However, blacks are shown as little more than savages, with black men lusting after white women and a variety of other examples of the incompetence or venality of African Americans. The movie shows the South Carolina state legislature under black
