Birth of The Longest Film Ever

There is no question when a film enthusiast hears the words Birth of a Nation, that they show a face of disgust and disinterest. When we look at this film in present times, it will be looked at for it's racism and what the world really thought black people were like, but this film is also looked at as being one of the longest films for the pre-silent era. When D.W. Griffith wanted to make this film most studios laughed him off their lot because they believed that no one would sit in a theatre for that long and watch the film. Everything that was longer that 15-20 minutes were put into serials, and up until that point were very successful. However, who would have though that is historical piece would be one huge change in the way we view cinema, at least for the time being. After Birth of a Nation, studios and filmmakers saw that they could make a much longer pieces and with that more complex narratives. It seems like having long movies and television shows that usually run for 30 minutes was the new norm for entertainment. However, when we look at how media is shown to us know a days, it's as if we have gone back in time and like this idea of a shorter to the point story. With all different types of media there seems to be a giant popularity with short videos on vine, tiktok, or even facebook. If you were to go into a theatre within the last 5 years I would bet that at least 5 people in the audience would check their phones at least once. We are told that we are living in a society that is ever changing and that is going by so fast we don't have time to stop and think. While I think most of that statement is true, I do believe that people just want to be preoccupied and short videos keep peoples attention for longer. It work back in the late 1800's to early 1900's and it still works in today's era and will probably be something we see in the future.