- Anvilicious: The message that intolerance is bad still has its value even if it may seem obvious to us now. Keep in mind that people living in the time period of this film's production weren't exactly tolerant themselves. In fact, it could be argued that it still needs to be dropped, due to the large amount of intolerance that still goes on.
- Common Knowledge: It is a longstanding legend that the film was not only a Box Office Bomb, but cost $2 million in 1916 dollars.note While it was the most expensive film of the time and for several years afterwards, it actually cost only $385,000 note and earned over $1.75 million note in distribution rentals, which, although less than Griffith's previous film The Birth of a Nation, was still very profitable (to this day it is unknown how much The Birth of a Nation grossed, as according to Lillian Gish, "They lost track of the money it made," with estimates ranging anywhere from $5 million to $100 million; it is also unclear whether or not these estimates are adjusted for inflation).
- The film is also claimed to be a Creator Killer for Griffith. He actually continued making films for more than a decade afterwards, choosing to retire when the silent film era ended rather than attempt to switch to talkies, and he co-founded United Artists in 1919.
- Complete Monster: Catherine de Medici, from the French story "The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre", is the tyrannical queen of France and the mother of King Charles IX. She acts religious to hide her deep hatred of the Huguenots, and one day forced her eldest son to unwillingly start the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, not caring that she's using her own child. Said massacre had killed countless innocent people who didn't even have any business with the queen, including the central protagonist Brown Eyes and her lover along with her family—which includes a newborn child.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: The Mountain Girl is known as one of the first tomboys in cinema and was very popular with audiences. So much so that Griffith actually went back and filmed more scenes with her after the film debuted and made a new cut of the film and even released a standalone version of the story in 1919, titled The Fall of Babylon which even features a happy ending.
- Memetic Mutation: Picturing the Eternal Motherhood rocking the cradle has became a popular imagery.
- Nightmare Fuel: It's a major example, but there are brief scenes of people getting their heads and limbs chopped off in various scenes. Half a century before Alfred Hitchcock was in action, and they did make for some pretty terrifying scenes.
- Once Original, Now Common: This was the first film to have separate storylines, set in different places and times, with no overlapping characters, unified only by theme, told not in sequence but constantly cutting back and forth. It's so common in movies and TV now as to seem completely unremarkable to anyone seeing it for the first time today, but a century ago when it was released the technique was more controversial than the film's subject matter, since it left many audience members simply confused due to its non-linear nature.
- Presumed Flop: Often claimed to be a Box Office Bomb, but it actually made back five times its budget.
- Values Resonance: The message that intolerance is bad still holds value today since multiple current human conflicts are essentially the result of intolerance.
- The Woobie:
- The Friendless One. See Tear Jerker.
- The Dear One. Not only did she have to move away from her home with her father, but she lost her father after a while, had to witness her own husband being imprisoned over a crime he didn't even commit, and saw her baby being taken away by people who thought she was not fit to raise said baby on her own.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/Intolerance
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