You will compare and contrast two films: “The Birth of a Nation” (which was the very first movie ever screen in the White House by then-President Woodrow Wilson) with the great African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux’s movie entitled “Within our Gates”
To get started, please keep in mind that watching a film is not the same thing as “reading a film (Links to an external site.).” As you take in these movies, dig deep, dissect, deconstruct, and take notes.
You will compare and contrast the films “The Birth of a Nation” with “Within our Gates.” These films were released around the same period, and as you will see, could not be thematically more different from one another in so many ways. Therefore, the main point of your formal essay is to discuss how Oscar Micheaux’s film directly challenges all sorts of things that are shown in “The Birth of a Nation” and attempted to educate viewers of all races what was really happening to African-Americans at that time.
In other words, what do you see in terms of subject matter or character development that Oscar Micheaux did in order to challenge the subject matter in “The Birth of a Nation?” Was Mr. Micheaux able to dissect “The Birth of a Nation” effectively (or not)? How did he challenge that film (give examples), and in what ways did he miss the point (should you see any)? The sky is the limit at the direction you can take this question since Mr. Micheaux’s films was a scathing response to “The Birth of a Nation” at its time of release. Amongst other things, you could discuss how African-Americans and/or white folks are shown in both films, or talk about what issues may be of focus in both films, or dissect how life was shown in both films…….and so forth, and so on.
Please elaborate well, write formally, give details, and always assume that complete strangers who are unfamiliar with this subject will be the ones reading your work. This means, teach them
You may also consider these thoughts as you put together your arguments….
As you watch the film “The Birth of a Nation,” you may also wish to consider what makes this film so completely insidious from a filmmaking perspective. Another thing to think about is this: How prevalent is this movie in our contemporary culture, whether we know it or not? Is Hollywood still dominated by racist stereotypes when it comes to portraying African-Americans or people of colour on film? As well, many people today believe that films like “The Birth of a Nation” and “Gone with the Wind” should never again be shown in public. As new students of film theory, how do we deal with this?
Format: For this assignment, at least 1.5 PAGES (but there is no minimum, so write as much as you want) typed. Please double-space your lines. Make sure to cite all of your sources (journal, books, internet) in whatever format you choose (MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian, etc).
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