Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages, Griffith

Extract

[...] if only he thought as we This type of intolerance has transcended throughout time and will always be the pitfall of society. A more optimistic view of the movie is that, while intolerance and hatred may always exist, love will always conquer over all. It's this kind of thinking that is common among epic stories in both literature, art, and film. Good conquering over evil, even when the odds are set against them. This is a rather hopeful view of the world and I imagine it would have been difficult for people in 1916 to have faith in such an idea. [...]

[...] In each time period, it's difficult to see how the character's stories are related and intertwined, until eventually, all their stories do intertwine. This wouldn't be an issue if all of these plot lines were portrayed at one time, but what makes them difficult to follow is the constant switching from each time period with their different plot lines to another time period. I understand the motive to juxtapose between these different time periods, which is to further compare and connect the different plots with the film's overall resonating theme. [...]

[...] The story can be easily summarized using the movies complete title, Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages. It shows us stories from four different time periods which, to quote one of the opening lines of the movie, “Each story shows how hatred and intolerance, through all the ages, have battled against love and charity.” It presents this as the case, showing us how history repeats itself throughout the ages, but doesn't offer any solutions to this transcendent problem. It ends with a theme that one can either see as optimistic or grim, which is that love will always struggle against the overlooking forces of evil and if our love is strong enough and lucky, it will prevail. [...]

[...] Ultimately, I believe that it took away from the stunning presentation of the movie and was my biggest problem with it. However, while I may have had an issue with how the story was presented, I did think it was interesting and thought provoking. As I stated in my opening paragraph, the movie portrays a central theme but is not clear as to what it wants the audience to think. One can see the narrative in a very pessimistic way, seeing how no matter what happens throughout the ages, somehow intolerance and hatred prevails. [...]