"Birth of a Nation" and "Check Doublecheck"

In both “Birth of a Nation” and “Check Doublecheck,” white actors in blackface confirm white stereotypes against blacks. In “Birth of a Nation,” these stereotypes play themselves out as ‘the faithful souls’ – the mammy and the loyal ex-slave, the black man as a sexual predator, the black woman as a sexual deviant, and black people in general as being savage-like. In “Check Doublecheck,” the characters Amos and Andy are like an earlier, black version of dumb and dumber. They are dumb as doorknobs and serve as only comedic relief in the film.
As I stated before, the black characters in the film “Birth of a Nation” are depicted as bestial beings who need containment and control not only for the good of the white man but for themselves. One example of the black man as a sexual predator occurs when a former slave chases a white woman through the forest, resulting in her committing suicide rather than falling prey to his lust. Similarly, towards the end of the film, the mulatto character Lynch tries to force Elsie Stoneman to be his wife.
The film as a whole can be understood as a legitimization of the Ku Klux Klan, turning the viewer’s sympathy to the white characters and undermining the decades of suffering that black slaves went through. It is not excusable to be as violent and degrading as the whites were to the blacks during slavery or as the blacks are to the whites in this film. However, the film takes the stance that the violent domination of blacks during slavery was legitimized because the blacks needed to be controlled whereas the violence that occurs against the whites is depicted as evil. It is one this premise that the KKK is allowed to form without the viewer’s total objection. Because the film only shows a backlash of ex-slaves against supposedly innocent white men, women, and children, it is the white man whom the viewer sympathizes with. In fact, by the end of the film, the victory of the KKK over the ‘out-of-control’ blacks is supposed to be a win for the viewer as well – seeing good prevail over evil.
In “Check Doublecheck,” the characters Amos and Andy reiterate the degrading stereotypes of black males as less civilized and less civilized or even incapable of intellectual discussion or computation. In the beginning of the film, for example, when Amos tries to calculate what ten percent of twelve is – something most of us can do in our heads – he simply repeats the phrase “ten goes into twelve” over and over without ever reaching an answer. To further illuminate and humiliate Amos’ and blacks’ stupidity, a third party exclaims that ten percent of twelve is eight after reciting a number of operations to reach the number eight that make absolutely no sense at all.
It is important to note that the characters Amos and Andy are also in blackface because it allows white actors to more effectively convince the viewers that the stereotypes these actors are performing are real, legitimate representations of blacks. Viewers watching this film, therefore, would assume that blacks are in fact less intellectually capable (and therefore easily taken advantage of) to the point that their behavior becomes comedic and almost painful to watch. Similarly, again due to the use of blackface, it also becomes more easy to believe for viewers watching “Birth of a Nation” that blacks are indeed sexual deviants, less civilized, and in need of white control and domination.