In 1963, Lillian Gish gave an interview to syndicated columnist Harold Heffernan about BIRTH OF A NATION. At the time, the Civil Rights movement was well underway and the KKK had just bombed a church in Birmingham, killing five little girls. With this context in mind: - ThreadSky

moviessilently.bsky.social • 15 hours ago

In 1963, Lillian Gish gave an interview to syndicated columnist Harold Heffernan about BIRTH OF A NATION. At the time, the Civil Rights movement was well underway and the KKK had just bombed a church in Birmingham, killing five little girls.

With this context in mind:

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moviessilently.bsky.social•15 hours ago

It's a paraphrase and not a direct quote but nothing about these sentiments contradicts what she has said in other interviews and in private correspondence.

She also spoke respectfully of Thomas Dixon, who got the same kittenish "Mr." treatment that Griffith enjoyed.

moviessilently.bsky.social•15 hours ago

Further, Gish lists one of the film's interracial attempted rape scenes as the standout sequence of the picture (the scene in which Mae Marsh is pursued by a white actor in blackface, who is subsequently lynched).

moviessilently.bsky.social•15 hours ago

I bring this up not to demand that Gish's films be banned but because she is constantly used as a source (generally with zero factchecking or pushback-- who would dare question the first lady of film?) for the contemporary reaction to BOAN and she consistently downplayed its harm.

moviessilently.bsky.social•15 hours ago

When students advocated to rename a theater named in Gish's honor, counterprotestors claimed that Gish was just an actress doing a job.

She clearly was more than that, spearheading the defense of the film while fully aware of politics and the state of civil rights in America.

moviessilently.bsky.social•15 hours ago

Gish also was heavily involved with America First and it seems to me, that if someone is constantly falling in with groups that hold particular opinions, perhaps they might... agree with them?

Like, I consistently hang out with gardening folks, so you might conclude, correctly, that I like gardens.

moviessilently.bsky.social•15 hours ago

Sometimes, the defenses of Gish get bizarre. I once heard "But she wanted to make Othello with Paul Robeson! She couldn't be racist!"

Othello.

Opposite the US's top Black actor.

Othello.

But more importantly, and something they never consider, did he want to work with her?

helitzur.bsky.social•3 hours ago

In Griffith's frantic efforts to...what? What on earth was she talking about?

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