Movies

The film consisted of four distinct but parallel stories that showed mans intolerance during four difference ages in history. The film covered 2, 500 years of history. Here are the stories

The Babylonian Era. This part of the film depicts the fall of Babylon as a consequence of intolerance arising from a conflict between religious fanatics within the empire

The Judean period (27 A.D.). This discusses the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. Emphasis is given to the rise of the Christian religion  the outcome of Jewish intolerance

St. Bartholomews Day Massacre (1572). The queen mother of France ordered the massacre of Huguenots in the city of Paris, as a result of the failure of the Edict of Toleration
Modern America (1914). This part discusses the inherent conflict between capitalists and workers. Crime, moral degradation, and violence as results of social intolerance. Man is presented as a selfish being, capable of destroying the lives of other individuals. Man is also a good being, capable of loving a cruel world.
The stories are not told separately. Instead, the film constantly cuts between each scene, setting up moral and psychological connections among the different parts. D.W. Griffith wants to create a single thematic arrangement of the film. As the four stories reach their climaxes, the cuts become more rapid. This means that the stories are merging under a single theme. For example, the transition from the third to the fourth story is abrupt. This is followed by an abrupt exaggeration of a problem (the inability of the Dear one appeal to the governor is fruitless). A sense of urgency is evident both in the film and the individual stories. It is possible that mans intolerance is becoming more and more rampant (manifested in many forms)  primarily in the form of indifference (the scene of the governor leaving the building and failing to help the woman).

Thus, the film achieves thematic and constructive continuity. The stories merge rapidly, as the theme reach its climax.

Griffith uses sentimental color techniques to emphasize the solitary nature of mans history. This also emphasizes the imprudence of intolerance as it relates to the development of ideas and concepts. Griffith apparently does not give the characters of the film names. This is because Griffith wants them to be generic symbols of mans fortunes and values. Today, this technique is used primarily in filming radical independent films. Note that the focus is not on the character but on what the character represents.

The movie was born at a wrong period of world history. Its theme was a contradiction of existing social, economic, and political conditions. The outbreak of the First World War is an indication of mans ineptness to the good. Indeed, when the movie was released, it became a flop at the box-office. Triangle Studios went bankrupt. Politicians of that time did not want the United States to participate in the war (participation was a means to attain tolerance). The world simply did not care of the consequences of intolerance as long as the society survives.