Spoilers · the ending
The Birth of a Nation: the ending, explained
D.W. Griffith · 1915
This page gives the ending away. Not seen the film yet? Its spoiler-free guide is here.
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Spoilers · the ending
D.W. Griffith · 1915
This page gives the ending away. Not seen the film yet? Its spoiler-free guide is here.
What happens
The Klan rides in and rescues Elsie and the Camerons. Stoneman repents, and Black voters are turned away at the polls. The film closes on a double wedding and a vision of peace, bought with white unity and the silencing of Black Americans.
The last image
A vision of peace under the banner of white unity, set beside the double wedding that joins the Stoneman and Cameron families.
What it says
The ending is not ambiguous, and it is not neutral. Griffith makes the marriage of two families stand for the nation made whole, then shows that reunion resting on white solidarity and the exclusion of Black Americans. That is propaganda dressed as history.