The Rise of American Film

The development of film in the United States has turned the great history of lifetime.
Ever since French, German and Italy joined Word War I, the States used that chance to optimize
film industry as a propaganda, as well as made film rolls from their last war equipment. As a
result, D.W Griffith, the pioneer of film maker, created one of the best-selling movie after Judith
of Bethulia (1913), which is The Birth of a Nation. This film had greatly attracted many
audiences due to controversy regarding race segregation, as well as making several films that are
embedded in a historical setting; such as Intolerance (1916) and Broken Blossome (1919). The
production of Griffith was one of the most everlasting creation, until the World War I caused
production loss.

After World War I, Griffith and his informal student, Mark Sennett, tried to make a
comedic film, which is called Slapstick, until it boomed greatly at that time, in order to create
laughter for audience. In addition, Charlie Chaplin also produced and played his film, that he
became famous for his funny pantomimes. However, many independent films grew, therefore
more rivalries emerge until the Motion Pictures Patent Company must had to face bankruptcy.
As a result, more genres emerge several years later, including film distributions, the rise of
famous stars and the rise of sound.

As it is seen from the brief history, I think Griffith has a very genius strategy in forming
film history from United States into almost the entire world, not just because of the controversial
stories, yet he knew how to market the stories in a right time. For instance, The Birth of A Nation
became very controversial because the practice of race segregation was very related to their
everyday lives. Even the black actors are actually artificial. It was played by white guys but they
painted into black. Although the film was (in the end) banned. However many people would dare
to watch it. Moreover, after World War I Griffith and Sennett created comedy films, which I
assume that they want to make people experience joy. Especially when it comes to the era of
sound.

People might wanted joy at that time, therefore they adapted musical theatre stage play into film, in order to make the audience happy. In conclusion, I think Hollywood has made a film
production into a promising entertainment business into an international scale. This is scary but
true, as a result Hollywood films has successfully pioneered people’s movie consumption.