Oscar Micheaux's 1920 Motion Picture Essay

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Considering the feelings that the film puts across, one can even consider that it is meant to take up a place in the pages of history. This is the oldest existing motion picture directed by an African-American and it is most probably going to play in front of numerous audiences interested in conditions in the U.S. during the first few decades of the twentieth century. It is actually difficult to determine whether the director wanted it to provide people with an artistic concept or if he primarily wanted to provide them with troubling information concerning society's hypocrisy.

Micheux uses the concept of a black man being lynched for his presumed attempt to rape a white woman as a stereotypical idea meant to influence viewers in expressing lack of interest in the white woman's condition. The director presents viewers with the harsh reality of the 1920s when the masses took advantage of every opportunity that they came across and were unhesitant about persecuting black people regardless if they were responsible for a crime or not. Many viewers are probable to associate the film with the standard image of an African-American congregation struggling to achieve positive results while performing a series of tasks in a society that employs unwelcoming attitudes in regard to black people.

While some are likely to believe that (in spite of his good intentions) Micheux exaggerated greatly when making this film, the truth is that it is perfectly normal for him to want to do so. People need to understand that the director and the African-American community as a whole faced a very powerful enemy.

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These people lived during a time period when society harshly discriminated black people and thus needed to take urgent action in order to remedy the situation. One of the only strategies that they needed to employ with the purpose of being heard by the general public was to shout. This film can virtually be considered similar to a scream -- one that is meant to captivate the attention of numerous people. As a consequence, the director was unhesitant about using powerful imagery in his film, considering that he knew that this would make viewers feel sympathetic about the African-American community.

Within Our Gates is not a film for the feint-hearted, considering that it takes on delicate topics and goes at emphasizing some of the most horrific elements present in these respective subjects. Even with the fact that the film was created using a small budget, it managed to put across the exact messages that its director wanted to send and it successfully raises public awareness concerning African-Americans in the early twentieth century.

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