Oscar Micheaux (left) and a poster for 'The Birth of a Nation'
Birth of a Nation also sparked outrage, and ideas, in the community it so derided. This imagery, those stereotypes of African-Americans and black men specifically, were acceptable, and accepted at the time. Not so for African American director Oscar-Micheaux, the son of a freed slave. He was a novelist, farmer, and incentivized. He turned to filmmaking. Partly produced in response to Griffith's decidedly biased vision, Micheaux made Within Our Gates in 1920. This film dealt with the issues of racial purity and the horrors of lynching.
Says Wilkman, "Micheaux was an entrepreneur who saw a need. He wanted to make movies for African Americans. Micheaux was inspired to tell stories for a niche audience. Just like Tyler Perry. As it was for mainstream movies of the time, these films were the framework for a vision of a country changing and evolving."
A self-made man of his time, Micheaux -- through deed and his movies, encouraged other people of color to lift themselves up.
The films Micheaux made were called "race movies", and he made 42 during his time. Bogle states Micheaux was "charismatic, driven." He re-imagined America onscreen, exposing the injustice and unfinished business of the American Dream.
Another group often ignored in the movies were women. Women comprised a large percentage of the audiences attending movies at the time. Says Wilkman, "Other niches were served as well. Just as women were important to the process in the early days of filmmaking, and as the business model became so financially important, they were pushed aside. Audiences are being entertained but are also gaining a greater understanding of what the moguls wanted them to see."
It's unfortunate names like early contributors Alice Guy Blanche, Lois Weber, Frances Marion and Pearl White -- writers and directors, and actresses like Clara Bow and Mary Pickford aren't as well known as their male counterparts, but their achievements were just as important as the movie moguls in creating stories and setting precedent.
While telling the history of Hollywood, the series also tells the story of America. And as the film industry matured -- the advent of sound, the Great Depression, both World Wars, television, the Civil Rights Movement, the amazing turbulent 1960s, the political and social upheaval of the '70s and beyond, have all left an indelible imprint. The industry today thrives because of it.
Yet at its core, the movie industry has been and always will be about telling stories and uniting large quantities of people around a common escape.
Moguls & Movie Stars debuts November 1, 2010, at 8 pm (ET) on Turner Classic Movies (TCM).
Birth of black film a reaction to Hollywood racism
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