In Linda Williams’ essay, “The Birth of a Nation, Melodrama of Black and White, and Early Filmmaking,” Williams explores the “melodrama of black and white,” which she describes as the reversals of stereotypes, protagonist to antagonist, of African Americans and Caucasian peoples across American history (Williams 38). She examines how this is represented in early film by looking at the narratives of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The Birth of a Nation, and Oscar Micheaux’s Within Our Gates. What Williams further finds, and is most prominent in her discussion, is the evolution of the racially charged stereotypes and representations of African Americans in the silent film era; staged by both races. These melodramas of black and white are something that Williams considers to be ongoing and active in our current time.
Williams begins by discussing the influential novel by Harriet Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and how Stowe’s representation of “Uncle Tom” created a pathetical stereotype of the black person during its time; it’s often accredited for helping lay the groundwork for the Civil War. Stowe’s protagonist, yet still loyal to him, is abused by his master in a heart wrenching scene. This Tom-stereotype continually represented in theatre work and in film, gave the black community humanity in the eyes of the white people. Later, this melodrama of black and white altered drastically.
In D.W. Griffith’s silent film The Birth of a Nation, based on Thomas Dixon’s novel The Clansman, Griffith represents the African American man as a violent villain and rapist. In contrast, the white men were shown to be heroes that protected their vulnerable women from the hands of the black man. Even more, the violent lynchings committed by these white men were shown as reasonably justified. As a nationally acclaimed film, Williams states that it created a greater sense of unity among Northern and Southern white Americans against the black community.
In response, Oscar Micheaux’s race film, Within Our Gates, reverses the black stereotype once again and is more reminiscent of the Tom-stereotype. Although, Williams argues that Micheaux doesn’t simply represent the African American in a protagonist light, but combines both the Uncle Tom and Birth stereotypes. In his film, Micheaux features violent black individuals alongside educated, upstanding black characters. Additionally, Micheaux includes a rich white woman whom helps Sylvia, his main character, in her financial endeavor, Sylvia’s white father who attempted to rape her, and the promotion of African American education. All these characters and elements come together to represent the struggles of a black person, ultimately humanizing the community for the audience.
In all these cases, Williams aims to expose the nature and history of the melodrama of black and white in American. She concludes that, whether presented through film or today’s social media, this melodrama of rearranging racial stereotypes still exists and “the story continues…” (Routledge 51).
I find it really interesting how Micheaux made a point in his films to address the issue of African American stereotypes. Like you said in your post, in his movie “Within Our Gates” Micheaux seemed to want to reverse the stereotypes seen in movies made by whites. However, he complicates these stereotypes in movies such as “The Symbol of the Unconquered.” In this movie not all the African American characters were upstanding which demonstrates how these racial conflicts were not just “black and white” issues (not to be cliche). Overall, great post!
I like how your article looks at the history of these films, and how the messages of race and stereotypes serve as responses to each other. However, I do wonder Williams chose to order her analysis of the films in that way, because “The Birth of a Nation” was the first movie of the 3 produced, so I wonder why she chose to rearrange the chronology of the films, instead of looking at them more like a historical timeline (with “The Birth of a Nation” first, “Within Our Gates” second, and “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” third).