Griffith and Continuity Editing

 What was the significance of Birth of a Nation?  What was its terrible legacy?

    Aside from Birth of a Nations very clear racism and prejudice we can't ignore the significant affect it had on the film industry. Its use of editing and pioneering shots and ways of editing that have never been done before served a major culture shock with the film industry. Its 3 hour run time allowed Griffith to show multiple storylines and with editing he was able to parallel the storylines and carry the story because of editing. Now, there's definitely an elephant in the room in terms of the content in the film. This film is a vile piece of nationalist propaganda; the story follows people during the civil war and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, in this they paint African-American people to be disgusting, unhygienic, and rapist. Still today this film is used as a recruitment piece for the KKK.