Final answer:
The original 1915 'Birth of A Nation' film is a controversial, racist movie that glorifies the KKK, while the 2016 film of the same name focuses on Nat Turner's slave rebellion, reflecting a significant difference in the depiction of Black history and agency.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Birth of A Nation from 1915 and the film with the same name from 2016 are substantially different. The original film, directed by D.W. Griffith, is a highly controversial and racist work that glorifies the Ku Klux Klan and promotes negative stereotypes about Black individuals. It depicts Black men as threats to white society and the Klan as the heroic saviors maintaining the superiority of whites. The NAACP and other organizations worked tirelessly to ban the film, although with limited success. The film, however, did facilitate the growth and transformation of the NAACP and spurred African American artists like Oscar Micheaux to depict Black history and perspectives in their works.
In contrast, the 2016 film titled The Birth of a Nation, directed by Nate Parker, is a historical drama that tells the story of Nat Turner, a Black preacher who led a slave rebellion in 1831. This movie aims to rebut the racist imagery of the original film and shed light on the resistance against slavery and the fight for Black liberation, thus representing a notable shift in the portrayal of Black history and figures in American cinema.