In reference to the way a society as a whole (within and without it’s government structure), it is customary to speak of “estates.” The First Estate is the clergy and religious establishment, the Second Estate are the nobles and ruling classes, the Third Estate is the peasants and bourgeoisie, and the Fourth Estate is the press. It is these estates that come together to control something that the nation calls a government. If the two films in question, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and The Birth of a Nation (2016) are both speaking about American society and government in different ways, they do so through different estates. In this way, it is difficult to say whether they present contrasting or comparative views of American society.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is ostensibly a film about American politics, but the larger commentary and driving force of the plot is the role of journalism (the Fourth Estate) in American society and governance. The main villain in the film is a man named Jim Taylor, a man with broad business interests but who is primarily the owner of several prominent newspapers. He is the “boss” behind the political machine in the protagonist, Jefferson Smith’s, home state. The film opens with the one Senator dying unexpectedly, after which there is a prolonged discussion between Taylor and the other Senator, Joseph Paine, on who the Governor (also controlled by Taylor) should pick as the interim Senator. The corruption within this part of the system is made apparent in the first ten minutes of the film. When, through a series of events, Jefferson Smith is nominated and sworn in as the interim Senator, he slowly uncovers Taylor’s political machine and fights against it. In the film’s climatic denouement, Smith uses the filibuster to take up as much time as he can to get the word out to the people of his state. What follows is a montage of press battles in his home state; Taylor begins a smear campaign to paint Smith out to be the bad guy while Smith’s own little paper, Boy’s World, wages a counter-campaign. Smith is a man of the people, or more a man for the boy’s of America. He has a naïve streak, but that he also has a press of his own is no insignificant detail. Smith understands the power of the press, and uses it in his own, albeit limited, way to defend himself and alert the people of his home state to the evils of Jim Taylor and his political machine.
The Birth of a Nation is ostensibly a film about slavery, but, like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, the larger commentary and driving force of it’s plot is the role of religion (the Second Estate) in American society. The main villain of this film is difficult to pinpoint, but all of the characters that could be considered are in some way related to the clergy; Sam Turner is the son of a preacher and is largely spurned on his actions by the character of Reverend Zalthall. Sam is encouraged by Reverend Zalthall to tour around with his slave, Nat, who will preach at other plantations to keep the slaves there from rising up against their masters. Nat, in this first part of the film, is used as a tool in the instrumentalizing of religion to support slavery. As Nat sees the horrors of slavery during his touring preaching, he does not lose his faith. Rather, his faith becomes stronger. In one pointed scene, the Reverend Zalthall and Nat quote Bible passages at each other by way of argument over the institution of slavery. When Nat decides to organize his rebellion, he makes comment on how the Bible contains lines that are used to support and justify slavery as well as lines that argue against slavery and forbid it. Nat experiences a shift from using religion to bolster the institution of slavery to using that same religion as his impetus for rebellion against slaveholders.
Nat Turner and Jefferson Smith are both distinctly American protagonists. Nat Turner represents the long history of slavery and anti-blackness that has pervaded in this country. Jefferson Smith represents the idealistic American that is deeply tied to a love for the land. Their stories and their depictions are only contradictory so far as both of these elements are prevalent in this country. Another point of important similarities is how they use the above discussed tools in protest. The press, as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington demonstrated, is often used by private interests to manipulate public opinion for their own ends. Yet, the “common man” of Jefferson Smith is able to use free speech, both in the filibuster and in the press, to fight against this self-same force; it is the press being used to fight the press. Religion, as The Birth of a Nation demonstrated, was used to support the institution of slavery both in the public sphere but also in the minds of the enslaved persons. Yet, the “slave preacher” of Nat Turner is able to use religion to spurn on rebellion; it is religion being used to fight religion. In tone, these films do differ, and their subject matter is also different. However, there is this central theme of a kind of “David versus Goliath” story that shows to the viewer that the same tools of oppression can, with the right motivation in the right hands, be tools of liberation.