Fusing film with electronica, musician DJ Spooky puts a new spin on a classic film with his multimedia presentation, "Rebirth of a Nation." The film, which reworks D.W. Griffith's controversial "Birth of a Nation," was screened at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium last night.
When it was first released in 1915, many hailed "Birth of a Nation" as a masterpiece for its glamorous portrayal of the Civil War and Reconstruction periods in U.S. history. However, despite a favorable review from President Woodrow Wilson -"like history writ with lightning," he famously said of the film - the silent feature was not without its share of detractors.
A Southerner and the son of a Confederate War cavalry officer, Griffith sympathized with the Confederate cause and blamed Reconstructionists and Southern blacks for what he considered "the degeneration of the South." His film capitalizes on this resentment, and upon its premiere, many, most notably the NAACP and W.E.B. Du Bois, came forward to protest what they viewed as a racist, pseudo-historical depiction of African Americans as the source of every social, political and economic problem following the Civil War.
Of course, in retrospect, it is not hard to see their point. From the film's offensive opening shots of subservient "negro" slaves being smacked by their masters - the worst of the Uncle Tom stereotypes delivered by white actors, unmistakably in black face - to the mocking scenes of Reconstruction-era black voters ("If I doan' get 'nuff franchise to fill mah bucket," one of the titles reads), the movie is rife with historically damaging images of black society. Perhaps most disturbing of all, however, is the film's depiction of the Ku Klux Klan as cultural heroes, warriors who saved the collapsing Confederacy from the havoc wreaked by liberated black slaves.
In response, all of this has been reworked and conceived in a new way by Manhattan resident Paul Miller, who spins, digitizes, produces and synthesizes under the alias "DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid."
In a speech he gave at RISD on Thursday, DJ Spooky described himself as a "social sculptor." Having toured dance hall and concert venues throughout the United States and Europe, he has also found time to record a large volume of music - both his own and a myriad of collaborative efforts with luminaries Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yoko Ono, Kool Keith (a.k.a. Doctor Octagon) and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore.
Miller's music, which limns musical traditions as diverse as hip-hop, trance, classical, and jazz, elegantly transitions between the styles to create a new hybrid, a compelling aural sculpture that is all his own.
"Rebirth of a Nation," Miller's latest creation, is a politically charged piece of multimedia, blending film, electronic sound sampling and theater. Drawing primarily on footage from the original silent film, the film also includes video material from "Last Supper at Uncle Tom's Cabin/The Promised Land," as well as clips from Bill Jones' 1993 dance sequence, "And The Maiden."
The VMA's ceilings, emblazoned with allegorical renderings of Lady Liberty, stood in ironic contrast to the devastating images on screen. "Rebirth" is composed of non-linear projections on three giant screens. Below this triptych, DJ Spooky fuels the film's soundtrack, an effect reminiscent of the Pordenone pianists who accompanied silent films. Unlike these accompanists, DJ Spooky spins electronica, underscoring scenes with almost tangible beats.
Though the film follows the original narrative, it rhapsodizes on whichever elements of the story DJ Spooky deems central to his thesis. Certain moments - a slave slapped, a white girl pursued, a black man victimized - are iterated and reiterated on each screen. Interposed upon each scene, dance flourishes and innovative film techniques heighten the pathos of Spooky's montage. In effect, the film's message sinks in slowly, as the audience is treated to each image several times.
The images are disturbing, as they are perhaps intended to be, but never to the detriment of a certain surreal beauty. The power of juxtaposition is paramount here. Silent film actress Lillian Gish's luminous face freezes on the central panel as pictures of lynched slaves replay grimly like ripples on each side. Even when spectators are treated to more innocuous shots, a girl innocently cavorting with a suitor in a garden, for instance, reverberations of death bookend the scene - an ironic send-up to Griffith's subliminal motives.
Ultimately, the film presents a powerful and excoriating reminder of a particularly savage moment in film history. Never one to ignore the subtext of his art, DJ Spooky seems at times brutally aware of the contemporary meaning to be deduced.
"With the news dominated by broken treaties, ethnic oppression, raw power grabs and security threats," he writes in his program notes, "the time seems just right for revisiting Griffith's infamous 'Birth of a Nation.'" As America prepares itself for a re-evaluation of what some might consider an uncalled-for war, it seems high time for an ideological rebirth.
