EPISODE · Sep 12, 2025
Episode 36 – The Birth of a Nation (1915)
from Let's Finally Watch This · host Derailed Trains of Thought
It's 1915. Film is innovating, but some companies don't believe that longer features are viable. Enter director D.W. Griffith, who with The Birth of a Nation, pushed the medium forward with a three-plus-hour historical drama that is often considered the first film masterpiece. Featuring white Southerners as the heroes against uneducated, just-freed slaves, it is also undeniably racist and one of the most controversial films of all time. What The Birth of a Nation offers casual movie fans who have always meant to watch classic movies: a pioneering example of early film full of impressive scale, technique, and talent; a deeply one-sided view of Reconstruction; an unironic triumphal scene with the KKK as the good guys; and a whole lot to wrestle with concerning the intersection of great filmmaking and deplorable themes. Show Notes
What this episode covers
It's 1915. Film is innovating, but some companies don't believe that longer features are viable. Enter director D.W. Griffith, who with The Birth of a Nation, pushed the medium forward with a three-plus-hour historical drama that is often considered the first film masterpiece. Featuring white Southerners as the heroes against uneducated, just-freed slaves, it is also undeniably racist and one of the most controversial films of all time. What The Birth of a Nation offers casual movie fans who have always meant to watch classic movies: a pioneering example of early film full of impressive scale, technique, and talent; a deeply one-sided view of Reconstruction; an unironic triumphal scene with the KKK as the good guys; and a whole lot to wrestle with concerning the intersection of great filmmaking and deplorable themes. Show Notes
NOW PLAYING
Episode 36 – The Birth of a Nation (1915)
No transcript for this episode yet
Similar Episodes
Mar 26, 2026 ·1m
Mar 3, 2026 ·44m
Feb 21, 2026 ·30m
Jan 2, 2026 ·47m