To D.W. Griffith, the South was the greatest place on Earth before the Civil War. It was like Disney World and Universal Studios combined.
After the war, however, everything changes. The old aristocrats are out of power. The dreaded Northerners have entered the fray. And Black people are now—gasp—given equal rights to white people. While our interpretation of this shift differs from Griffith's as much as his account differs from the historical record (i.e., a lot), The Birth of a Nation provides a wealth of insight into the American South's self-conception.
Questions about Visions of the South
- Does the film distinguish the South from the North? If so, what are these differences?
- What are the differences in the South before and after the Civil War?
- How is the Cameron family used to represent the South as a whole? Does the film achieve this effect visually?
- Does the film's depiction of the South fit with the historical record? If not, what is the implication of these differences?
Chew on This
The South is depicted as an innocent place prior to the Civil War, but this innocence is sullied during Reconstruction.
The South is depicted as a fundamentally aristocratic place, while the North is depicted as being unorganized and base.