Villain or Victim?
By Mercy Du, with comments by Lauren Mains and Sarah Ballan
[1] D. W. Griffith’s controversial The Birth of a Nation captured many viewers in 1915. It caused many strong opinions from groups ranging from civil rights activists to the Ku Klux Klan. To civil rights activists and to blacks, this film appeared to be a racist work. Yet to white southerners it revealed the true happenings of the post-Civil War era. One of the most controversial scenes in the movie is the scene in which Gus chases Flora through the woods, ultimately to her death. Biased Southerners saw a lustful black male aggressor chasing an innocent white Southern belle. However, those who weren’t biased could notice the ambiguity of this scene. In fact, Griffith directed this scene in a way that should cause the viewer to wonder if Gus is the victim or the villain.
[2] Before the scene even occurs, the audience is set up to automatically assume that blacks are the reprobates. When Gus is first introduced through the intertitles, he is prowling behind Flora and Elsie. Griffith gives the prowling scene a “primitive†connotation (Merritt 229), making Gus a villain. When Flora leaves the house, Gus comes up and stares creepily at her from afar. The camera lingers on Gus for a few seconds, and you can see the mischievous longing in his eyes. During the subsequent action, Griffith carefully and successfully directs the chase to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. He uses clever tactics that give the scene an “irresistible forward momentum†(Merritt 220). These tactics make the scene seem like Gus is belligerently chasing after Flora. Griffith uses recurring compositions -- brook, pine trees, meadow, forest floor, culvert, and cliff -- to mark the distance that separates each character. Thus, Griffith films at a consistent interval until the end, when he shocks viewers by having Gus unexpectedly show up in a long shot. Griffith uses surprise to generate viewer excitement. Thus, while watching the scene, one tends to assume that the victim is the one getting chased, and the villain is the one who is doing the chasing. After this scene, the Ku Klux Klan as well concludes that Gus is trying to attack Flora and that she jumps in order to save herself from rape.
[3] Even though most viewers are automatically swayed to see Gus as attacker and predator, there is another perspective that renders his motivation ambiguous. One thing that Griffith does to create ambiguity is to forgo intertitles to identify Gus’s staus. He does he not tell us what Gus is actually trying to do while chasing Flora. Thus, Gus’s intentions are unclear. In addition, the slight and rather timorous Gus does not look or act like your characteristic villain -- the burly Silas Lynch, for instance, who shakes a dog by his ears and smashes a vase on the floor. Gus follows Flora with hesitant half-steps and fears being seen. He greets her like a trembling admirer and tips his cap nervously. He chases her with his arms stretched out in front of him as if pleading. And once we reach the climatic part of the scene and movie where Flora is about to jump to her death, Gus’s behavior “is so underplayed as to verge on inscrutability†(Merritt 228). In short, Gus’s actions appear ambiguous and can be seen the result of a “tragic misunderstanding†(Merritt 228). When Flora jumps, Gus’s arms are stretched over his head and his head flung back, which makes the audience wonder if Gus is expressing rage after not being able to get what he wanted or despair at the tragic misunderstanding.
[4] Moreover, Flora’s ignorance is a contributing factor to her death leap. Flora has been characterized as a childish, careless sister. She has a record of a lack of discipline and thoughtlessness, which has put her family into trouble. Flora also comes off as a typical southern belle, a bit giddy, ignorant of everything around her, and influenced strongly by others -- especially her brother Ben. Her family involvement in the Ku Klux Klan has warped her view about blacks. All of these reasons explain why Flora automatically assumes that Gus wants to harm her and why she runs in panic.
[5] Clearly, the ambiguity of this scene suggests two different views of its outcome. On one hand, Gus is a villain and as a predator violently chasing after Flora. As a result of Flora’s death, this releases the wrath of the Ku Klux Klan. Their activities pivot around her death. But, on the other hand, this scene causes many people to believe that this is a civil rights-type movie that subtly exposes how the Ku Klux Klan operates, especially killing innocent blacks (Merritt 228). Nowhere else has Griffith made a scene so unclear and ambiguous and, in Gus, a character so mysterious. Thus, Griffith allows viewers to decide for themselves whether Gus is a villain or victim. (see comment by Lauren Mains) (see comment by Sarah Ballan)
Comments
I agree with Du. The way the scene is portrayed really does suggest two different views of the outcome. Another part of the scene that adds to this ambiguity is the written portion, "For her who had learned the stern lesson of honor we should not grieve that she found sweeter the opal gates of death." This could either be interpreted as Flora deciding that she would rather bow down to death than succumb to being raped by Gus the predator, or that Flora would rather kill herself than be approached in a romantic setting by Gus the black man. The question up for debate is where exactly does her honor lie?
Is Gus a villain or a victim? When I watched Birth of a Nation, I interpreted the scene with Flora and Gus as an exaggeration. Sure, Flora starts to scream, and Gus should take her scared reaction as a sign to leave her alone, but how is he supposed to know the proper etiquette in approaching a white person? Interacting with white people is new to him, as he had just recently been emancipated. At the beginning of the film, you get a small sense of the role of the slave. I say small sense because they are barely focused on for the entire beginning of the movie. They seem to act as extras, as they do not say anything to each other or to the families for which they work. I feel sorry for Gus because I think his intentions are pure. Flora’s immediate reaction when seeing Gus is fear; his brown skin takes her by surprise. Had he been white she probably would still have run away since he comes off as creepy, but her initial thoughts about him would have been different. Unfortunately, because of her influential southern upbringing, she is quick to assume the worst. I too believe that her ignorance is what ultimately causes her to jump off of the cliff. I agree with Du that Gus’s intentions are deliberately made unclear. It is suspicious that he chases after Flora when she expresses her deep concern. However, when I watched the movie, I imagined that he chases after her to apologize and tell her he means no harm. While I agree that the scene is ambiguous, I do not agree that Griffith allows the viewer to decide for himself whether Gus is a villain or a victim. Although he may not create a slide that explicitly tells the audience whether or not to sympathize with Gus, he ultimately glorifies the KKK for saving white women, thus rationalizing Gus’s brutal murder.
