- Originally, the movie industry was driven to the West Coast by the strict limitations placed on filmmakers by Thomas Edison’s monopoly known as “the Trust.” The physical distance between California and the East Coast-based Trust allowed filmmakers freedom they wouldn’t have had otherwise.
2. Denmark’s film industry in 1910 was considered one of the best, most innovative in their definition of the art of light. In Scandinavia there is an abundance of literature and creativity, meanings films were full of new technique and idea. The lack of censorship meant the film makers had the freedom to take more risks in their films.
3. Benjamin Christensen directed films that reinvented the idea of film as society knew it at the time, some of his films include:
- The Mysterious X (1914)
- Blind Justice (1916)
- Häxan (1922) aka Witchcraft Through the Ages
4. D.W.Griffith’s controversial epic 1915 film about the Civil War and Reconstruction depicted the Ku Klux Klan as valiant saviors of a post-war South ravaged by Northern carpetbaggers and freed Black people. History is usually written by the winners. This film portrayed African Americans as menacing and cruel, while it depicted KKK members as honorable, heroic figures.
