Spiderfan posted:

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Rogue1-and-a-half posted:

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Zaz posted:

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"Birth of a Nation is important the way Triumph of the Will is important. Their contibutions to technique are important to remember and understand, but it's hard to actually enjoy watching them, for obvious reasons."

Griffith made a lot of movies, and a whole lot more than "Birth of a Nation"

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I wish people would stop talking about Birth of a Nation. It isn't that it's a racist film; it's that it's so dull.

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It may be dull but its significant for its accomplishments. It was the first time that we saw a movie of this magnitude with many different storylines continuing simultaneously, an epic cast and the first feature length motion picture. Not to mention the laundry list of techniques it reinvented and improved...It really was the beginning of the modern feature.

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Rogue1-and-a-half posted:

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Spiderfan posted:

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Rogue1-and-a-half posted:

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[quote=Zaz]"Birth of a Nation is important the way Triumph of the Will is important. Their contibutions to technique are important to remember and understand, but it's hard to actually enjoy watching them, for obvious reasons."

Griffith made a lot of movies, and a whole lot more than "Birth of a Nation"

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I wish people would stop talking about Birth of a Nation. It isn't that it's a racist film; it's that it's so dull.

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It may be dull but its significant for its accomplishments. It was the first time that we saw a movie of this magnitude with many different storylines continuing simultaneously, an epic cast and the first feature length motion picture. Not to mention the laundry list of techniques it reinvented and improved...It really was the beginning of the modern feature.

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Palpateen posted:

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Moviemakin' aint brain surgery, it's all about entertaining people.

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Spiderfan posted:

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I am not sure thats really a fair assessment...You have to put it into context. Conveying characters is difficult in a soundless environment especially for us who are used to dialogue driven character development.

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Spiderfan posted:

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And the pacing may be slow to us who live in a post MTV world where information is broadcast to us and absorbed at break-neck speed, but our ability to absorb visual information like that is far beyond what people were used to when this was made. I mean people saw a train drive towards the camera and ran screaming from a theater. We interpret the visual media faster with each generation. Its not that Griffith couldn't make it interesting, for the time it very much was. But despite how visionary he may have been there is no way he could have foretold how people would see his work nearly a century later. That doesn't diminish its significance. Its no different from Citizen Kane which is possibly one of the dullest films I have ever seen, but its contributions and techniques were earth shattering (hence why its often stated to be the Best Film of All Time).

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Spiderfan posted:

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I accept that you find it dull and really few people don't. But that doesn't diminish the work's importance.

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Rogue1-and-a-half posted:

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There are any number of great silent films that convey character; Steamboat Bill Jr, City Lights, Modern Times, The Phantom of the Opera.

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Rogue1-and-a-half posted:

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True and if all I looked for when I watched a movie was how 'important' it was, I suppose I'd love it. And I think that is all some people look for. But I look for more.

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Spiderfan posted:

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Rogue1-and-a-half posted:

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There are any number of great silent films that convey character; Steamboat Bill Jr, City Lights, Modern Times, The Phantom of the Opera.

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All great films, but all great films that improve upon BoaN to some degree or another

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