International Impact of Birth of a Nation?

[Lokke Heiss]

Question for the group mind: We all know the impact Birth of the Nation had in the U.S., but how much international distribution and what sort of response did Birth of a Nation get? By response, I mean both box office and positive/negative reviews?

[Brooksie]

I was staggered to find this thread today - I am currently writing a piece on the impact of Birth of a Nation in Australia. I even logged on to Nitrateville to seek some information relating to it. Crazy coincidence.

Not to pre-empt my article too much (it will be appearing on my website, http://brooksiescollection.tumblr.com on May 27th), but BOAN performed poorly upon its initial release in Australia. This was in part because of the pricing - the best seats cost between three and six times the norm - and in part because American history was a fairly obscure topic for most Australians.

Sad to say, there's little evidence of any outcry over the racial elements. Given that the film is so solidly framed as 'we're telling you this exactly as it happened,' I would suggest that foreign audiences would be even more likely to accept it as an objective view of history than an American audience, who might have heard (or experienced) a different version of events themselves.

[Brooksie]

The article I mentioned is now on my website - http://brooksiescollection.tumblr.com/p ... f-a-nation.

[silentfilm]

Great blob post Brooksie!