DJ Spooky Remix “Birth of a Nation”
Last night Pete and I went to the DIA to see Paul D Miller a.k.a. Dj Spooky’s remix of Birth of a Nation. To be honest, I went to keep Pete company, and Pete went mostly because it was Dj Spooky. We didn’t know what we were in for, and for that I am thankful. It was an interestingly moving moment for us. Dj Spooky did a remix on the film Birth of Nation that was made by DW Griffith in 1917. It was utilized until sometime in the 60’s as a recruitment film for the KKK. He utilized music he had composed and sampled himself over 3 large screens to remix the movie, keeping the ideas of the movie the same, but also using title cards he wrote himself to battle with the original ideas of the movie. He chose a subtle shout to create a battleground of thoughts, words and ideas that have stretched across the years. Prejudice and hate, intermingled with a revisionist history propaganda that was used to create hate for years, and what was Dj Spooky doing? One member of the audience during the Q&A afterwards stated: that she was dismayed at what she saw. She wanted to know what he was thinking bring this film to Detroit, to a community that is working to rebuild itself with pride and that is in the middle of a scandal that it hurting its efforts. To bring this movie to an area that had fought for it never to be shown. I liked how he handled it. He could have been extremely standoffish – this is his art and how dare you not understand it. He could have been extremely narcissistic about it and looked at her and said well too bad, you aren’t intelligent enough to understand my vision. However he stated very calmly and succinctly that he wanted to have more dialog with her. Wanted to understand what bothered her so much about this. Because what he was trying to do was to show people an irreverence for history, especially revisionist history to help loosen the power it has over people.
This was an educational evening of epic proportions to me. The idea that we should always know our history so that we don’t repeat it. The idea that we are repeating history all of the time. This propaganda film from 1917…flash forward to Hitler’s Propaganda films during World War II…then flash forward to our current propaganda – Weapons of Mass Destruction, Illegal Immigrants, Alternative Lifestyles. They all repeat each other. What have we learned…what have we taught the next generation…
I commend Paul Millers vision. It is with an open heart and an open mind that we walked into that theater, and I was enriched by it. If it comes to your area on DVD, I heartily urge you to rent it. If it comes to your area live, I highly suggest you go…it is an experience you do not want to miss.
