The Birth of a Nation as American Myth

The Birth of a Nation was one of the most important films of all time, both for its technical and aesthetic achievements and for its enduring legacy of racism. This paper uses Bruce Lincoln's approach to myth as a form of discourse and Robert Bellah's notion of civil religion to show how B...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. VerfasserIn: Salter, Richard (Verfasst von)
Medienart: Elektronisch Aufsatz
Sprache:Englisch
Verfügbarkeit prüfen: HBZ Gateway
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Veröffentlicht: 2004
In: The journal of religion and film
Jahr: 2004, Band: 8, Heft: 3
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Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:The Birth of a Nation was one of the most important films of all time, both for its technical and aesthetic achievements and for its enduring legacy of racism. This paper uses Bruce Lincoln's approach to myth as a form of discourse and Robert Bellah's notion of civil religion to show how Birth might be understood as a mythic component of American civil religion. From this perspective, Birth serves as a paradigmatic story of American origins rooted in ideas of white supremacy. At the end of the article Oscar Micheaux's work, Within our Gates, is used to briefly demonstrate filmic strategies for countering Birth as myth.
ISSN:1092-1311
Enthält:Enthalten in: The journal of religion and film
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.32873/uno.dc.jrf.08.03.06