Watched the 1915 film "Birth of a Nation" for my lit and film class. Holy god. A three-hour silent film that's basically a recruiting call for the KKK. I was supposed to be watching it for its cinematic innovations, like how they mounted the camera on the back of a cart in order to get a moving action shot of the KKK running down some hapless black guy. And how they superimposed a smiling Jesus over the final scene of white Southerners rejoicing. Previous to last night, I had no idea that this film even existed. Paul and I have been coming up with lists of "Things We'd Rather Do Instead of Watching Birth of A Nation." Things like walking in a blizzard for three hours, or watching some bad 80's sitcom series from pilot to finale.
posted by Jen at 6:53 PM link/comments
