Marit Anderson
3/19/2016
Respose Paper 4
Laughton, director of Night
of the Hunter was greatly inspired by the filmmaker D. W. Griffith. Laughton
emulated the silent film over-acting of Griffith’s film in his sound film, and
revisits the ideas of charismatic (male) leader and Southern morals that D. W.
Griffin channeled in his epic Birth of a
Nation. Both films also share an actress, Lillian Gish, in a leading role.
This detail is important when looking at Laughton’s goals in Night of the Hunter. In a very
convincing essay, Carl Laamanen argues that Laughton’s intent in Night of the Hunter was to subvert
patriarchic fundamentalist Christianity, mostly by pitting Miz Cooper (Gish’s
character) Reverend Harry Powell. Laughton’s choice to cast Gish as Miz Cooper
reveals a conscious effort to undermine, not only fundamentalist Christianity
but also the central theme of D. W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation.
By citing Griffith as an inspiration, Laughton forges an
initial connection between the two films and strengthens that connection by
casting Gish in his film. One could pass the casting congruency off as
coincidence, but this is not likely considering Gish’s stereotypical damsel
role in Griffith’s film and such a strong female in Laughton’s film.
Furthermore, in Griffin’s film, Gish’s character must be rescued by the
crusader whereas in Laughton’s film she defeats
the crusader. In Laamanen’s essay, Miz Cooper’s defeat of Harry Powell becomes
symbolic of the grace and tolerance of the New Testament usurping the
conservativism and intolerance of the Old Testament. When recognized as Lillian
Gish defeating a male adversary, not as Miz Cooper, this type of symbolism can
still be applied.
Reverend Powell is much like the Little Colonel in Birth of a Nation and by requiring Gish
to vanquish a foe who is so similar to the hero of one of her previous films,
Laughton is asserting that, even if he idolizes D. W. Griffith’s film making
techniques, he wished to rise above his predecessor’s racist ideas. D. W.
Griffith portrays the Little Colonel as a kind of savior whereas today’s
audience sees him, rightfully, as a heatless racist. He founded the Ku Klux
Klan and blamed the participation of blacks in government for issues in the
South during reconstruction. Though Laughton may have idolized Griffith’s
film-making style, aligning himself too closely with his hero’s ideas would
have been a problem in Laughton’s day and age. After Griffin’s heroic portrayal
of the Little Colonel and the Klan in Birth
of a Nation, the Klan was reformed in the contemporary South creating the
social climate which led to Jim Crow and “Separate but Equal.” The Civil Rights
Movement started in 1954 and 1955, the year Night
of the Hunter came out, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus.
This kind of political climate would not have been one that would be tolerant
of D. W. Griffith being put up on a pedestal. Thus, to allow himself to cite
Griffith as an inspiration while still maintaining a positive social standing,
Laughton used the casting of Lillian Gish and the actions of her character to show
that he had risen above Griffin’s racism.
The casting of Lillian Gish as Miz Cooper in Night of the Hunter was a strategic
career move on Laughton’s fault. But the elaborate symbolism which revealed his
abhorrence of Griffin’s ideologies was not explicit enough to further his
career as a director; Night of the Hunter
was Laughton’s directorial debut and finale as he returned to producing
soon afterward. Though many people of color may have appreciated his effort, it
is worth noting that no black actors were cast in the film. Though Laughton may
have disagreed with Griffin and aligned more with civil rights leaders, his
vague symbolism was all talk: He did not walk the walk.
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