Originally published in April of 2016, Zach Betonte and Gary Sargenson discuss D.W. Griffith’s iconic melodrama, “Way Down East” originally released in 1920. The two debate the merits of Griffith’s cinematic legacy, how class relations are explored within melodrama and whether the film exists within a temporal or secular imaginary.
Zachary Betonte is a moving image artist and writer from Cleveland, OH, whose films are concerned with discovering new forms of cinematic thinking by means of the loop, repetition, and impulses facilitated by montage technique. His work has previously screened at the Akron Museum of Art and Cleveland Museum of Art. He currently resides and works in Durham, North Carolina. View more posts
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