ARTH Disc ***ZEEK THE **
Bigricker12
student_resp_topic_2.docxTOPIC 2
MICHAEL
In watching a birth of a nation I would say it is possible to separate the content from the filmcraft. I think like everything it is how you want to perceive it. When I was watching Birth of a Nation I was looking at the actors clothing style, automobiles and it give you an idea of that snapshot in history. The American past was not always pretty and to try to show it as if it was would be unjust. You can still find beauty in watching a film that is hatefully if it portrays the truth of the matter.
There were few of the good things I pulled out of this film I wanted to point out. The first thing was that families were fighting one another because some had moved to the north and were drafted to fight the south. When I saw that guy about to stab someone on the battlefield and when I know that guy and stopped. The fact that the war was using freed slaves to fight against and gain the advantage against the south. It also did a good job of displaying the struggles of the families that had the husband’s lives cut short for the cause and how the women had to rise up and take lead household roles and nurses.
I think that it is very worthwhile for critics of art to point out examples where artists have used their form to portray those who hold unsavory ideologies as heroic. As groundbreaking as "Birth of a Nation" was it upholds a belief system that is roundly rejected today by almost all Americans. In relative terms though, a film that espouses the racism of 100 years ago is not nearly as threatening as the fact that a statue of the founder of the KKK remains intact in Memphis to this day. Art has often been used to manipulate the public and the first thing that I think of is a painting like "The Death of Murat" which glorified perhaps the most extreme member of the violent wing of the French Revolution. Critics were quick to point out the problems with Murat's portrayal as a righteous martyr and certain references to the revolution have been omitted from the painting as it appears in books. Another example is the recent "discovery" of Harper Lee's "Go Set a Watchman" which all but destroys the positive civil rights legacy of Atticus Finch that was apparent in "To Kill A Mockingbird." In any form of art we hope that those who are portrayed as heroic have decent values and it is very difficult to separate a work of art's values from the work itself if we don't see them as profitable for the public.
