It is said that Griffith made this anthology to get even with the critics who vilified him (and rightly so) for glorifying the depredations of the KKK, in "Birth of a Nation." In other words, he was calling those same critics intolerant!
Talk about pots and kettles!
My thought exactly!
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Griffith was certainly a piece of work. Besides being quite full of himself, he despised comedies (he only made a handful while at biograph and whined about them all the way), he was a populist, a racist, and even a bit of a sadist on the set. Griffith's morals were highly contradictory and it's no wonder that he would create so many conflicting ideals in his films.
shareIn defense of D.W. Griffith, the "history" that he portrays in Birth of a Nation is the history that was in place in the South at the time of reconstruction. It was backed up by Teddy Roosevelt, and had anyone grown up in that environment they would have the same views as Griffith.
shareThe bottom line is that he portrayed a racist view of why black people should be held under thumb and then made a film to criticize those who were intolerant of his point of view.
shareWho said that? Intolerance is well known as Griffith's attempt at an apology for Birth of a Nation.
shareGriffith was not overtly racist, he just made a movie that displayed history as people thought it at the time. In his time, the events of Birth of a Nation were at the time considered by most to be historically accurate, by most i mean the masses, quite a few mainstream historians of course knew the true history (and we know different today of course...) Griffith also made a biographical movie about Abraham Lincoln. And like somebody said before, Intolerance was Griffith's attempt at redemption...
Course I'm not saying that Birth of Nation was right or glorious or anything, very few people today would disagree when I say it should have never been made, in spite of its cinematic significance, which I think was blown out of proportion. I'm just saying that Griffith should not be considered racist, just misguided and wrong. Unless of course somebody has other source material that would prove Griffith was openly hostile to minorities and expressed hatred for black people?
it would be funny if they had banned Intolerance. just for the laughs, ya know? i would love an old youtube clip of a sweaty congress(man, at that time) yelling "Intolerance will NOT be tolerated!!"
Griffith always was misunderstood. He was very critic with the social classes and what was considered politically correct back to his time. He wanted to prove to the world, specially Americans, the weak points of it making a satire. But, ironically, they thought he was racist, cynical and mad. Apparently that bother him so much that he decided to do Intolerance after Birth of a Nation. He was criticizing the ones who criticize him before... and the funny thing is, that they didn't understand him either.
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