Even though I consider myself to be a film buff, "Birth of a Nation" is a film that I strongly refuse to watch under any circumstances.

I'm aware that critics and historians cite D.W. Griffith's movie to be the most important & influential motion picture ever made from a technical standpoint. Because of this, the film finds its way onto many G.O.A.T. lists and the like to this day.

Regardless of the time in which it was made, I know personally that I could never appreciate "Birth" on a technical/historical level given it's ugly, hateful & wholly ignorant portrayals of Black people. I could never see past that.

Breakfast at Tiffany's is one of my favs. so is Gone with the Wind. I don't think we should ban them, just be aware of the era they were made in and the state of race relations.

The story of Birth of a nation is racist. But history ignores Griffith next film Intolerance, which explores human the struggle of human equality.

Disclaimers work? I do wish the public was educated more on how these portrayals affect certain groups. For instance, I am not Asian American, but even I winced at Rooney's portrayal of the landlord. And coupled with the overrated self that was Audrey Hepburn, no wonder I could barely tolerate the movie.

Great topic. I, too, refuse to watch Birth of a Nation. I studied film in both grad school and college and put up a stink everytime I was asked to watch it. I just couldn't bear watching it, especially not with a room full of non-black people.

However, I had a half Asian roommate in grad school, and I kept telling her how dope and funny "The Last Dragon" was. Then we actually watched it. Wow. Not the greatest portrayal of Asians AT ALL. Embarrassing for both me and my roommate — but hey, I cannot just turn off my love for Bruce Leroy.

I think the answer may be at least having a discussion when such films are screened publicly. Actually talk about how people of other races were portrayed back then vs. now. You know, talk it out — though even under those circumstances, I still wouldn't watch "Birth of a Nation"

I studied film and modern culture/media in college and I believe that all three of these films should be core curiculum if not a requirement. In an academic setting, discussion is built in.

I also think that a discussion piece should also be built into a screening of these and any films that have loaded subject matter.

Maybe a disclaimer would be cool for personal viewing, but I strongly believe that people have the right to watch what they want in the privacy if their own home as long as it not infringing on the rights of others.

You know I had never watched this 'classic' Breakfast at Tiffany's so when it came on TV a couple of months ago, I taped it. After a few moments of Rooney coming on screen, I deleted it. All I had ever heard about this movie was how great Audrey Hepburn was. What trash!

I've done the same when trying to watch equally silly or stereotypical movies - Soul Plane, Snakes on a Plane.

You can't just delete the parts of the past you don't like or don't want to deal with. I learned a lot about the history of racism in America from watching "Birth of a Nation". I don't see how we have an honest conversation about the issue if we find source like this film too dangerous to be viewed. Just because blacks are portrayed negatively doesn't mean the viewer is absorbing it as pure propaganda. It's a story told from a certain perspective, and helps explain the mindset that justified the KKK and institutionalized racism in the South. The film drove the point home lot better than the abstractions in my high school textbook.

Every film says something about the spirit of its times, just as our responses tell us something about our own. Some of today us chuck all of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" because we can't stand to see Mickey Rooney embodying offensive Asian sterotypes for 2 minutes, but the filmmakers had no reservations about the performance in 1960. The filmmakers did leave out entirely the part about her handsome upstairs neighbor being gay, as he was in Truman Capote's controversial book. Should gays offended by the omission? What conclusions can we draw from the change in what is socially acceptable?

How was "The Last Dragon" a bad portrayal of Asians?
I'd say it actually was somewhat subversive in its reversal of types(the "asian" acting black guy, the "black" acting Asian guys.)

I agree with RhymesWithSilver

I'd say that birth of a nation, as well as the other two films have earned a place in history as an example of hollywood's earlier policies of exclusivity. They're classics because they sold certain standards and images to the majority. I can appreciate them as an art form, I guess, but that's about it.

Neither Spike Lee nor John Singleton were around in those days, and hollyweird's primary selling point(back then but still present if only to a lesser degree)is to sell stereotypes. I'll rather watch "Claudine" and "Lady Sings the Blues" than movies that remind me of a period when blacks were limited to eye-bucking and foot-shuffling. Oh well, "The Last Dragon" is one of my favorites from the 80's, though.

Oh, and the guy that played Sho-nuff(sp?)of Harlem is dead. I read that he died recently from something.