English 339- Weblog Post 1

The film Within Our Gates (1919) by Oscar Micheaux is a brilliant silent film with many plot lines and underlying themes. Ideas and themes such as religion, justice, and women's rights all presented themselves in the film, as well as storylines that included flashbacks and many characters. One of the most important aspects I noticed while watching the film was the importance of education and how it ties into the rights desired by African Americans and how most white people agree they should not be educated. One of the main stories within this film is how Sylvia Landry is struggling to raise money for a school for African American children. She eventually finds the money that amounts to way beyond what she first needed from a kind Northern white woman named Mrs. Warwick. Though the school was properly funded and was able to continue educating African American children, it did not stop another Northern white woman with the name of Mrs. Stratton to give her opinions on the matter. A racist herself, she advises Mrs. Warwick not to give Sylvia the funds and instead donate a lot less money to the "Negro Preacher" who preaches to keep African Americans in their right place. Mrs. Stratton's opinions represent the opinions of many white women at that time regarding the education and status of African Americans. She did not believe they were of any real use to the nation and thought they did not deserve an education. As a result of this thinking, some African American people began to adopt this way of thinking. For example, the African American man in the film who begs for his two children to be educated reasons that with that education they would be of "actual use" to society.

Another aspect that struck me while watching this film concerns technology. The different shots and clips taken by the camera as well as the director's style choices set a certain tone throughout the film. For example, the use of cross-cutting allows the viewer to see what is going on with two different sets of people at different locations simultaneously. This occurred in the film several times, most noticably to me when Mr. Gridlestone was talking with Mr. Landry and the man responsible for killing Mr. Gridlestone was outside the window. The director did not have to show the actions of both sets of characters at the same time, but in doing so he created suspense for the viewers wondering who was going to get shot or why this man was there in the first place.

The dream sequences in the film and the way there were shown were also a way to depict the characters' internal thoughts. Pointed out in our class discussion was the use of fast clips to show the incredible differences between the lives of the whites and the African Americans. By switching quickly back and forth using fast clips the director is able to portray just how significant the aspects are of the poor or "lowly" African Americans versus the rich white people in the film. The use of all these technological elements may seem run of the mill in today's world of film; however, they were seen as truly unique and skilled ways of filming that made Within Our Gates an extraordinary film.