Beyond doubt, D.W. Griffith is one of the stalwarts in the domain of cinema who has left an immortal mark in the minds of the film critics and the audience with his seminal works of art that have been deemed to be among the best the medium of art has ever seen. The primary importance of Griffith’s cinematic works lies in the use of innovative filmic techniques that went on to define the language of cinema in the future years. A close scrutiny of the films like The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916) would enable one to understand how the stalwart cinematic artist exuded his aesthetic quintessence and affective appeal through his work. A number of technicalities are ascribed to the great filmmaker as she started using them in the films. His works can be deemed as the very first feature length narrative cinema in the history of the medium of art. The artistic excellence of his work is testified by the fact that his films are still hailed as benchmarks of cinema even after a century.
In the context of discussion about the film, The Birth of a Nation, one needs to reckon that the film went on to trigger a huge censorship battle in the country of the United States as it portrayed the African Americans in an extremist manner. Griffith endeavored to document the friction between the white and the black communities of the American society through this cinematic work. In spite of all the controversy that encompassed the film in context, the utmost significance of the work lies in its various cinematic refinements and innovations. The film went on to portray the use of a number of artistic advancements and technical effects that included one color sequence at the very end of the filmic narrative. Thus, it is beyond any doubt that the film had a huge role to play in influencing future cinematic works leading to the holistic development of the cinematic medium. The film being almost three hours in its length, it still remains to be one of the longest narratives ever made in the history of cinema.
The film’s subject matter led to immense criticism from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as the film was viewed to be racist in nature. The NAACP went on to opine that the film proclaimed of miscegenation apart from endorsing slavery. The film was stopped from screening in many places of the country, even after the omission of two scenes. A number of lawsuits followed that landed the film and its subject in further controversies. However, the controversy only fueled the popularity of this film as the public interest about this cinematic work was catapulted to paramount heights. The film is known for its caricaturist representation of the Ku Klux Klan as they are shown to be the heroes while the black people from the South are portrayed as violent rapists and villainous characters that are threats of the order in the society.
Apart from this, the film also delved into the themes of inter-racial marriage and the empowerment of the black people of the society. However, even the black characters of this film were played by white actors. All of this shows the innate nature of the American society of those times being encompassed with the issue of racial discrimination and bias. The film thus works as a sociological document that portrays the hegemonic influence of the whites on the black people of the society. The climatic finale of this film that shows how the Ku Klux Klan succeeds in suppressing the black threat to the white society echoed the sexual fears of the white community about the rise of this strong and defiant black community and repeal the laws forbidding inter-racial marriage. No doubt, this fictional work is biased in its portraiture of the inter-racial dynamics of the American society and corners the black community by stereotyping them.
However, the technical quintessence of this cinematic work overshadows the controversies encompassing the film and its narrative. The Birth of a Nation went on to use ornate title cards in the course of the narrative along with the special use of the subtitles that can be found verbalizing the imagery in the film. This in itself was truly an innovation in the world of cinema in 1915. Apart from this, this was the first film that had its very own musical score. The musical score helped in catapulting the affective charm of the cinematic work in the minds of the avid audience. Thus, the film went on to exude a number of innovations that paved the path of development of the cinematic language of communication in future. Many films of the future took their inspiration from this work of Griffith and further developed the techniques leading to holistic development in the language of cinema.
The film in context also had a number of innovations in the domain of cinematography. The film saw the introduction of the use of magnesium flares that facilitated the night photography that was unknown to the world of cinema before. Apart from this, the filmmaker delved into the use of the natural landscapes outside the studio to shoot a number of scenes of this film. Thus, Griffith dared to show his creative zeal through the revolutionary innovations in the history of early cinema. The Birth of a Nation also has a very conspicuous use of the still-shot. The film can very well be deemed as one of the finest works of cinematographic innovation that changed the language of films forever. The audience can notice a number of scenes in this film that have been shot innovatively from multiple angles. All of this came to inspire the future filmmakers to a great extent.
Along with the creative exploration in the domain of cinematographic techniques in this film, Griffith also used very elaborate costuming for the characters shown so as to achieve utmost historical accuracy and authenticity. The film used the “iris” effect for the very first time in cinema. Thus, circular masks were used to reveal or close down a scene in the course of the narrative. Moreover, there were innovations in the editing process of this film as well. There is use of parallel action in this film along with the presence of color tinting for the purpose of evoking psychological and dramatic effect in the sequences of the film in context. There was use of moving, panning, and traveling camera shots in the film as well. The filmmaker also incorporated close up shots of the actors on the screen so as to reveal the subtle expressions of the characters and portray their emotions to the audience of the film.
Moreover, there was use of vignettes in the course of the narrative along with the incorporation of fade-outs as well as cameo-profiles. Another key innovation was the use of lap dissolves for switching or blending from one image on the screen to the other. There were a number of scenes when the camera is placed at a high angle. Also, there was use of panoramic shots as well. While in the present day context, these cinematographic techniques might come across to be commonplace ones, but these were new in the cinematic medium of art in 1915. It was Griffith who brought about these iconic changes in the process of filmmaking that went on become the popular forms of cinematography over the years. All of these technicalities can be deemed to be the vehement expressions of the creative quintessence of the stalwart director who made a huge contribution to the language of cinema in spite of raking up controversies with the content of the film, The Birth of a Nation.
The film in context went on to dramatize the history of America in this narrative structure. This was truly a spectacle for the audience with all the historical references and the costuming of the characters of the story. Griffith made sure that all the drama was staged in the best possible way so as to impress the audience of the film. The battle scenes of this film are brilliantly staged showing huge number of extras in the scenes. Apart from this, the filmmaker used extensive cross-cutting between scenes so as to create the effect of a montage and thus ignite suspense and excitement in the minds of the avid audience. The scene that shows the gathering of the Ku Klux Klan can be taken to be a perfect example of this editing technique. Thus, there can be no denial that D.W. Griffith proves his capacity of expert story-telling in this film. The dramatic climactic sequence of this film engages the audience with the narrative to the very core.
Indeed, this film comes across to be very authentic in its efforts with all the reconstruction of the time period in American history. The narrative of the story includes the many events that led to the split of the nation as well as the Civil War. The film also shows the post-war Reconstruction Era via portraying the struggle between the two races of the country in the backdrop of the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. Hence, it would be correct to opine that this is surely one of the finest works of cinematic art in the history of cinema. His cinematic genius with all its expression was only substantiated after he released his next cinematic work, Intolerance (1916). A close analysis of the film in context would further portray the creative zeal and capacity of the famous filmmaker during the early era of world cinema.
The film, Intolerance, is deemed to be the most ambitious silent cinematic work ever made, and is surely one of the landmarks of the history of world cinema. No doubt, this film is considered to be one of the greatest films of the filmic era by audience as well as critics from various corners of the world. The making of this film was preceded by the immense controversies that had encompassed the previous cinematic work of the filmmaker, The Birth of a Nation. In contrast to his earlier work, in this particular film, D.W. Griffith attempted to reply the critics of his cinema by framing the content in a different manner. The filmmaker went on to take this smaller feature film that he was engaged in working on to make this film. The smaller feature length film was based on the Progressive Era struggle between the labor and the capital. To this, he added the thematic content of societal injustice and incorporated three other stories to create this dramatic, spectacular and monumental piece of work that was titled, Intolerance.
One needs to reckon the fact that all of the stories shown in the film span across hundreds of years and portrays different cultures. These stories are held together by the thematic commonality of intolerance, bigotry, hypocrisy, man’s inhumanity toward another man, persecution, religious hatred, injustice and discrimination. The filmmaker shows that all of these ills of human life and society are brought about by the entrenched social, political and religious systems of the world. The four stories in the film are separated by time and space in history. Also, the filmmaker portrays every story with a different color tint. The ‘Modern’ Story set in 1914 is portrayed in Amber tint. This story shows the early 20th century United States when the country was marked by strikes, labor unrest, and societal change. The filmmaker shows the story of a young Irish Catholic lad who gets wrongfully imprisoned on charges of murder and is sentenced to death. However, this person gets saved from dying when he is rescued at the very last moment as his wife arrives with the governor’s pardon.
In The Judaean Story that is set in A.D. 27, the filmmaker opts to portray the occurrences in blue tint. Here, the filmmaker shows the struggles of the Nazarene’s Judaea during his friction with the Pharisees. The story shows his betrayal and subsequent crucifixion. The French Story that is set in 1572 is shown in sepia tint by Griffith. The story shows France during the 16th century at the time of the Renaissance. There is portrayal of the killing of the Huguenots at the time of the rule of France’s Catholic Catherine de Medici and her son King Charles IX. Also, the part shows the atrocious acts of St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre to the audience. In comparison, The Babylonian Story is portrayed in gray-green tint. This part is set in 539 B.C. during the regime of the peace-loving Prince Belshazzar. The siege and the following tragedy initiated by King Cyprus are shown in this part of the film. Thus, the filmmaker successfully demarcated the four parts with the color tints and weaved the entire film together with the thematic commonality of inhumanity or dehumanization.
It has to be noted that this film by Griffith is radically non-linear in its narrative approach to the audience. The filmmaker goes on to cross-cut back and forth in the course of the film so as to interweave the various segments that are spread over huge gaps of time and space. In fact, there are more than fifty transitions between the various segments of this film by Griffith- something that testifies to his artistic innovation and narrative exploration as a creative person. While Griffith had created a landmark with his narrative style and editing techniques in his previous film, The Birth of a Nation, this film too shows his aesthetic sense and explores the uses of new narrative style and color tints that were totally new to the world of cinema at that time in history. The film portrays the villainous characters that represent the social or moral ill that has come to loom over the human world. As such, the mill owner, Jim, along with the intolerant social reformers, Pharisees, the opponent of Christ, the evil associated with Queen Catherine, and the High Priest of Babylon stand for the degeneration of morality and conscience in this film. Thus, while the audience found the clash between the communities in the previous film by Griffith, this film in context rather explores the friction between good and evil in the truest sense of the term. While Griffith had portrayed the black people as the negative characters in The Birth of a Nation, in Intolerance there is no such stereotyping of characters.
The director uses the recurring cameo shot of one of the most famous stars of the time in Hollywood, Lillian Gish, in the form of Eternal Motherhood as a device of symbolically bridging the different stories shown in this film. The actor is seen rocking a cradle all through her appearance on the screen- something that is supplemented by the title from the poem, Leaves of Grass, penned by the poet, Walt Whitman. Thus, the filmmaker shows the figure of Eternal Motherhood rocking this cradle of humanity in the film. This works to serve as the symbol of continuity that binds together the entire history of the human world, and it also represents the inevitable cycle of life and demise in the temporal world of existence. Thus, the filmmaker exudes his creative eye in unison with the innovations in the filmic techniques in this cinematic work as well. As such, the two films together, The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance, can be described to be the iconic works in history of cinema due to the use of cinematic techniques that were never used before as well as the incorporation of complex representation of issues along with creative expressions of symbolism to enhance the affective appeal of the films. In the early era of cinema, these were truly path-breaking in nature as they showed the immense scope of creative expression in the cinematic medium to the creative artists of the future times.
Intolerance was the most expensive of the films made during that time in the history of world cinema. However, unlike the immense financial success of The Birth of a Nation, this film was not commercially successful in the United States. It could have been so that the complex construction of the film’s narrative along with the pacifist themes contributed to the sort of reception that it got in the country. However, the film is remembered as one of the benchmarks in the field of art and is hugely popular among the audience even in the present era. The filmmaker went on to use cinematic methods that were much ahead of his time, and thus went on to influence an entire generation of filmmakers of the future with his creative eye. He used a crane shot in the film, Intolerance- something that was a further development from the cinematic techniques explored in the previous film by Griffith. Apart from this, the film also saw the incorporation of awe-inspiring crowd scenes as well as exterior sets. Even real elephants were used for shooting the Babylonian sequence of the film.
The finale of this film is something that is deemed to be one of the very best sequences in the world of cinema. The film went on to portray the innovative finale showing the rhythmic, overwhelming and conglomerate sequence. The sequence went on to weave all the stories together into this fast, stirring and engaging climactic portrayal. Giving a perfect expression to the director’s vision, as the suspenseful drama of the film starts to conclude, the editing shows the cross-cutting of scenes that are very rapid along with shorter segments of the four stories coming together. Thus, the audience is simply left intrigued at the cinematic portrayal of the sequence that bears the signature style of Griffith as an innovative artist. The innovations and creative expressions have made the film become very popular in the subsequent years from its theatrical release, and is considered a canonical text in film studies.
Thus, there can be no debate about the creative genius of the filmmaker who could envisage so many new things and then implement them in practicality in his cinematic works. These are among the many reasons that have made D.W. Griffith a figure of academic study in the domain of film theory. His vision and creativity led to the early development of cinematic techniques that were a huge advancement from the camerawork that had been used in films made by other filmmakers before him. Also, the development of complex narration in feature length films was something that was brought about by Griffith in the world of cinema. Non-linear narrative was something that no one had used ever before him in cinema. Apart from this, his innovation in the field of editing of films is also very commendable. Earlier, there were only examples of simplistic editing in the films that were made by other filmmakers. Hence, all of these factors come together to establish Griffith as one of the stalwarts of cinema who dared to engage in new techniques and gave expression to his imagination in the best possible manner. While Griffith went on to make a number of films after these two cinematic ventures, The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance remain as the early benchmarks of cinema that led the medium to the path of development in techniques and portrayal. Griffith’s contributions to the world of cinema have been immortalized in the history of the performing art and are truly a matter of academic exploration and analysis.
Bibliography
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Groo, Katherine & Flaig, Paul, eds., New Silent Cinema. London: Routledge, 2016.
Simmon, Scott, The Films of D. W. Griffith. New York: Cambridge University Press,
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Stokes, Melvyn, D.W. Griffith's the Birth of a Nation: A History of the Most
Controversial Picture of All Time. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
