Jeevan Hall
PAS 3822
9/6/2021
The Birth of A Nation: Character Analysis
One of the opening captions of the cinema states, “The bringing of the African to
America planted the first seeds of disunion” concerning the American Civil War. However, the
film fails to address the injustice of chattel slavery on the part of white Americans. After the
opening caption, the film portrays two black males at a slave auction block as scared, bounds in
rope, and one slave even blindfolded. There is a theme of the white auctioneer’s justification as
the film portrays Black men needing to be cultured and rescued from savagery. The next scene
posits the abolitionist white men as helpful and caring for the Black race.
Austin Stoneman from the North is portrayed as having a limp and is the antagonist to
Bennie Carson. Griffith chooses to introduce the antagonizing character first, which may show
the glory of the South and “the good ole days”. Griffith presents Austin Stonemen as weak via
his visual limp and as a man of moral ineptitude. Austin Stoneman lusts after his Black
housekeeper even though he has a family. Such functions to minimize the efforts of the people
of the North to “free the slaves”, which posits a lack of moral integrity and suggests that freeing
the slaves was of selfish motives.
Elise Stoneman a white woman from the North is portrayed as dimwitted and relying
upon her brothers for insight and decision making. She represents the picture of ideal western
beauty as evident by her picture displayed in the cotton field scene. Lydia Stoneman is the mixed
Stoneman housekeeper. She is portrayed as being aroused by orders she received from curt. She
can’t control her emotions very well.
DW Griffith features Bennie Cameron as the protagonist of the controversial film “Birth
of A Nation”. The music changed to an upbeat and melodramatic tone as Ben Cameron is
introduced. Griffith features Ben Cameron as one of the only morally upright characters in the
entire film.
The film portrays Margaret Cameron, a white woman from the South as domestic and
humble trained in the old ways of the South although submissive to the male presence, features
ability to read and write, highlighted by the letter she sends to her brother. The Black Southern
female housekeeper is always over-concerned with the Cameron family and features emotional
attachment to an extent of hyperbole.
Black Southern women are portrayed as picking cotton and seem to actually enjoy the
work. While Black males in other scenes are described by Griffith as appreciating their masters.
They are shown as dancing and having a blast during break time. Griffith does not provide the
Black male, especially the Southern Black male with any significant role, much less provide
Black males with the agency to tell an authentic self-narrative. Another character escaped slave
and union soldier Gus features an over-sexualized gaze and has the wrong intent regarding white
women. Griffith portrays another character mixed character Silas Lynch who is abusive of
alcohol (a drunk) and lustful towards any white woman. All the Black males in this film are
portrayed as over sexualized and have no positive attributes to add to the noble South. Ironically
Griffith presents the Ku Klux Klan as the savior of the South saving white women from being
raped by Black males and mulattos. Birth of A Nation is a masterpiece of cinematic innovation
with terrible thematic content regarding race and gender.