The Birth of a Nation (1915)

The history of Hollywood is as ugly as it is beautiful. You can go back and look at decades of iconic films that have graced the silver screen, from Gone with the Wind (1939) to Citizen Kane (1941) to North by Northwest (1959). Most notably absent from Hollywood history, however, are Black-produced films. When movies did feature Black characters, they were always written by White writers and directed by White directors. The stories were never centered around Black people focusing on what it means to be Black.

Developed by Simon Frederick, They’ve Gotta Have Us (2018) is a limited series on Netflix that explores the rise of Black cinema in Hollywood. From The Birth of a Nation (1915) to Black Panther (2018), and everything in between, They’ve Gotta Have Us offers a comprehensive and compelling look at Black representation in film and the surge of Black-produced cinema.

I’ve mentioned before that some of my favorite classes I took in college were film history courses. I love contextualizing movies and seeing how every film influenced the next. However, I learned virtually nothing about the parallel history of Black cinema in Hollywood. They’ve Gotta Have Us proves to be incredibly enlightening, exploring so many facets of Hollywood history that were previously unknown to me.

The series features interviews with prominent Black filmmakers such as Barry Jenkins (Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk), Laurence Fishburne (School Daze, The Matrix), David Oyelowow (Selma, A United Kingdom), Kasi Lemmons (The Silence of the Lambs, Candyman), John Boyega (Attack the Block, Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Secret Life of Bees, Beyond the Lights), Carmen Ejogo (Selma, It Comes at Night), and Robert Townsend (Hollywood Shuffle, The Five Heartbeats).

Going into the series, I would have assumed that Black voices had been suppressed in the industry for decades even if I didn’t necessarily know all of the details beforehand; I had no idea the extent to which this happened. The beginning of the series looks at the early years of Hollywood. The Birth of a Nation (1915) defined the motion picture and shaped everything about what movies are and how they are made. Director D.W. Griffith did not believe Black actors were capable of giving the performances he wanted, so he cast White actors in blackface to play horrific caricatures.

To say Hollywood has had a troubled past is the understatement of the century. In Ryan Murphy’s (American Horror Story) new Netflix series, Hollywood, that past is confronted and even rewritten.

As lovers of film, there is a great deal of respect we have for the talented minds that bring us such dynamic and life-changing movies. However, we as film fans cannot be ignorant to the history and reality of Hollywood. It has been a breeding ground for inequality for over a century. Hollywood was literally founded on white nationalism. The movie that defined the feature film — what created the template for the entire industry — was D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915). In addition to it being the foundation of Hollywood, it also singlehandedly revitalized the Klu Klux Klan upon its release.

Now in modern times, the #MeToo movement has exposed decades of exploitation and villainy for the world to see. The patriarchal power structure of Hollywood created an environment of toxicity, encouraged by silence as people didn’t want to rock the boat. This was simply “just the way things are.” Racial prejudice, sexual abuse, LGBTQ+ suppression, and gender inequality have festered in this industry since its inception.

What if someone had said something sooner? What if someone had gone against the grain, taken a stand, and said, “No, this isn’t right.”

Hollywood, a seven-episode limited series on Netflix, paints history with a new brush. Taking place shortly after World War II, the series follows a group of up-and-comers in the industry. They each struggle with their own form of suppression amidst an oppressive system. Through a meticulously crafted blend of reality and an alternative take on history, Hollywood conjures what could have happened had someone faced this system head-on a very long time ago.

This movie review contains spoilers.

Film Warnings: Nudity, Harsh Language, Disturbing Imagery

While scrolling through my Netflix feed I came across a poster that, I’ll admit, wasn’t very eye-catching, so I wasn’t overly motivated to snoop further. However, anything new on Netflix since the pandemic began is a bit of a treat, and the overall vibe said “horror,” so I conceded to spend another 5 seconds of my night reading the description. Admittedly, it wasn’t the description that enticed me to watch 'Relic'. It was the fact that it was listed as an Australian Horror film, which is not something I often see under the genre section. Curiosity won over, and I’m so very glad it did.

First of all, this gem had a female director attached, which is a huge win. Natalie Erika James, while only having a few directing credits under her belt, did a spectacular job with the performers and the overall creation of the movie. She was also one of the writers, which can get tricky if the vision and the end product don’t necessarily match. However, it’s a huge advantage to be that intimately involved with the story and leaves little to be misunderstood.

I knew I was in for a good time when I saw the IFC name attached to this film, as they were also the distributors for The Babadook. Seeing this, I expected there to be more than meets the eye with the script. However, I immediately forgot to begin psychoanalyzing, because the first 3 minutes of the movie had me absolutely hooked.