Down East and What Society Term Paper

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In this scene Anna points at Sanderson and identifies him as "the man who betrayed me," but it makes no difference. She is banished. Sanderson is not. David, the Squire's son who is in love with her, is shocked and anguished to learn the truth about his beloved, that she is not a pure and moral woman. Everyone jumps to the conclusion that Anna is "wanton" and immoral -- she probably likes sex and cannot control her baser instincts.

If a woman becomes impure as a result of sexual activity, this implies a societal view of sex as low and dirty. At the same time it is juicy and fun to gossip about Anna's scandalous behavior, as Griffith clearly shows when Martha tells the Squire and appears to be tremendously self-satisfied in her total condemnation of Anna. Men, because they are men, cannot be expected to resist, but women because they have a higher nature are expected to keep men moral and not to permit any sexual activity before marriage.

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The movie is an expression of the times. Twenty years earlier, probably Griffith could not have engendered the same sympathy for Anna, the fallen woman who was duped by a self-seeking, exploitative male. Griffith's vision is conflictive and reflects the transitional state of society. On one hand he accepts women as angels with a higher nature. But on the other hand, he sees the injustice of a double standard. In 1920, times had begun to change. People were beginning to reject Victorian views, and Griffith brought to movie viewers the realization that the double standard was very unfair and quite unjustifiable......

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