English 313 Mid-Term Exam

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Prof. Helen Roulston ENG 313: History of Cinema 3. Explain why one or more films have been important in the development of the cinema. Griffith Is to Film as Plato Is to Philosophy In my second week’s journal entry, I wrote out a commentary and reflection to our watching Birth of a Nation. It really struck me how much of an effect this film had on both its culture and on the history of cinema. Both factors are incredible to fathom. What first caught my attention was the climatic finale. It goes without saying that it influences Eisenstein and other Soviet film directors’ interest in propaganda and montage, but I could see the finale’s parallel editing, and cross-cutting between two or more action packed scenes as the forefather of every action film until this day. Return of the Jedi cuts between Luke battling Darth, Han, Leia, and the Ewoks on Endor, and Lando Calrissian versus the Death Star. The tension and action in one scene was reflected in the other two. Likewise, this was an innovation originating in Birth of a Nation, which cuts between the Camerons holed up in a shack with some Union veterans fighting off the renegade black militia, the Clansmen riding to the rescue of the town of Piedmont, and the terrifying chase between the lecherous Silas Lynch and his would-be prey, Elsie Stoneman. This is a technique that is still mimicked in annual summer blockbusters. The special effects have gotten bigger and better, but Michael Bay, Peter Jackson, and John Woo are using the same cinematic story-telling methods[,] which were first established by D. W. Griffith. Speaking of blockbusters, I realize that this is the first. Birth of a Nation has a sordid history for its glorification and affiliation with the KKK, but it paved the way for the promos at fast food restaurants and cross-promotional marketing techniques, which are commonplace to

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