Both “Birth of a Nation” and “Hallelujah” were revolutionary for the beginning of the 20th century. One of the significant aspects of these movies was starring people of color and therefore giving them more representation in the film industry. However, both movies approached this element in very different ways, which resulted in major differences with respect to race specifically, and naturally different public reactions.
When it comes to “Birth of a Nation” it was one of the significant cultural and historical movies of that time. It portrayed Reconstruction, and used a number of innovative cinematography techniques, experimenting with a concept of scene depiction within a movie. It included new ways of depicting the scenes of dialogues, experimentation with light and deep focus. Additionally, when it was released it was the longest movie which existed at that time, which evidently added up to the thrill around it. Up to this time this movie is considered to be a significant part of cinematographic cultural heritage of the United States.
Nevertheless, there was a major problem related to the representation of race and straightforward reinforcement of racism in “Birth of a Nation”. Within the movie people of color were exclusively portrayed as antagonists, which created a negative link between their races and associated social roles. Thus, the movie visually and plot-wise implied that people of color were villains, which provoked public resentment and protests due to its artistic yet straightforward reinforcement of racist stereotypes.
As for “Hallelujah”, the director of the movie decided to approach the topic of race in a completely different light. Hence, instead of assigning black people provocative roles, “Hallelujah” gathered the cast consisting primarily of people of color. Furthermore, during that period of time it became the first movie to take this approach and to give full representation to the minorities by providing all the screen time solely for them portraying all kinds of roles. This way, the cast which fully consisted of people of color gained roles of protagonists and antagonists, as well as main characters and side characters, which allowed to get rid of stereotypical racist depiction. Innovatively, people of color were the ones around whom the plot was centered. Due to the inclusivity, even the antagonist roles assigned to people of color did not come off as provocative, since there were protagonist roles played by black people. Thus, giving people of color the access to all types of roles allowed the movie to take an innovative approach in depicting a multifaceted representation of minorities.
Therefore, the biggest difference in respect of race between these movies is the way the directors decided to approach the issue of racism and the lack of representation of people of color in the cinematography. Griffith, the director of “Birth of a Nation”, took a surface-level method, and included people of color in the roles mostly applicable to the background. Moreover, through depicting black people as villains, the movie reinforced racist stereotypes instead of respectfully representing the minorities. Meanwhile, “Hallelujah” took more detailed approach and therefore did exactly the opposite of “Birth of a Nation”. By providing people of color with multifaceted set of roles, which included both protagonists and antagonists, the movie removed the bias of racial perspective within its narrative. This way, it created a space for the minorities to get represented better and to show themselves as characters that differed from the racist social perception of black people.
References
Griffith, D. W. (Director). (1915). Birth of a Nation [Film]. Triangle Film Corp.
Vidor, K. (Director). (1929). Hallelujah [Film]. A King Vidor Production.