Discussion Topic: Week 3 context for films screened

Week 3 context for films screened and extra credit discussion

This week we are looking at How a films visual language is influenced by a filmmakers POV or Gaze with a

Focus on Black Filmmaker. Within Our Gates was made during the time of the Red Summer of 1919 which is when race riots broke out across America just after many black soldiers came home from WWI and realized they fought for freedom abroad and did not have it at home. This was the context within which the filmmaker was operating as well as the uptick in lynchings and terrorism after the release of Birth of a Nation. Micheaux was attempting to broaden the definition of blackness beyond what Griffith portrayed in Birth of a Nation. As a result, you see a wide variety of black representations some of which even look white like Dr. Vivian. Notice the difference between how black people are portrayed in Within Our Gates and the other films you watched so far as compared to Birth of A Nation.

Read: Chps. 2-4 (MD)

Use “How to Read A Film” to discuss what you have watched this week and every week.

**You must post your comments in order to see what others have written. This is NOT a graded discussion but will count as class participation.

ww.youtube.com/watch?v=ebtiJH3EOHo