I'd say that "Birth of a Nation" addresses ideology, and from that claim I'd also say that films have always been doing such things (consciously or not), from this first narrative film until whichever film you last viewed.
>From: Katherine Greenwood <
[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Film-Philosophy Salon <
[log in to unmask]>
>To:
[log in to unmask]
>Subject: film and ideology
>Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2003 09:50:52 +0930
>
>Hello all
>Without wanting to restate the same terms of debate of the recent discussion
>about _The Matrix_ on this list, I wanted to pose a couple of questions about
>this film, among others:
>
>Is it important that The Truman Show, The Matrix, Dark City and Fight Club
>(among other films) appeared within 2 years of each other and all contain a
>similarly overt address to theories/philosophies of ideology? (here I am using
>'ideology' in the Althusserian sense of being the representation of the
>imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence)?
>The question as to whether theory/philosophy 'belong' in popular culture arose
>during the recent discussion about The Matrix, and I was wondering if it is new
>for Hollywood to contain, to varying degrees, self-conscious references to
>contemporary theories of ideology, or has this always been the case? I ask this
>more in the sense that I believe these films represent, to varying degrees, an
>examination of ideology as a general concept rather than provide examples where
>one can apply and critique the treatment of various specific ideologies. Can
>anyone suggest any other (historic) examples of popular films which address
>ideology? Or is this just me reading what I want to into these films at the
>expense of objectivity?
>
>Cheers
>Kate
