5. Walter Long (Birth of a Nation)
Perhaps the biggest, most shameful part of cinematic history in Western society is D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation, which is ironically also one of the most celebrated and important. Commercially speaking, the film was huge, the year was 1915 and nobody had seen anything quite like it before. Its plot follows the Civil war and Rebuild of America as major events are played out on camera across a seven year period. The most remembered part of the whole film however, is the depiction of African American men who are played by white men in black face. They are portrayed as unintelligent, sexually aggressive and totally worthless to society. The film was banned in several countries for its depiction and at the centre of all this was its actors, who were seemingly ignorant towards the way the film depicted African Americans. One actor in particular Walter Long plays Gus, a man who lustfully peruses a woman to her death simply because he is too unintelligent to do anything. A disgusting approach to history, yet a controversy that wasn't apparent to its makers or actors at the time it was filmed, but serves as a stark reminder that Hollywood's moral compass doesn't always know which way to face.