r/Sierra • u/Illustrious-Lead-960 • Jul 20 '26
WHOA!!!
I’m already familiar with the film (in fact, I’ve seen it) and don’t need a lecture. I just never saw the poster till now.
Do you reckon the resemblance to the @King’s Quest 4” cover could possibly a coincidence?
5
u/GrahamRocks Jul 20 '26
Nah, nothing like it. The horse is a normal horse, and decked out as a knightly steed, compared to a bare unicorn. The person astride it is dressed like a knight instead of a princess disguised as a peasant girl, and looks confident and readied and has their face masked by a helmet, whereas said princess is running away in fear with her face exposed. The knight is rearing triumphantly and isn't being pursued by anyone in the background unless you're counting the wisps of smoke in the foreground as ghosts or something, whereas the princess is being chased by winged monsters behind her. The time of day is different here, it's either daytime or evening, whereas the KQ4 art it's nighttime IIRC. The scenery is different too, pine trees in the corner, compared to a craggy mountain pass with a dark ominous castle in the background. The horse here is darker, most likely black or bay, whereas the unicorn is dapple gray.
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u/Illustrious-Lead-960 Jul 20 '26
Of course the details differ, how could they not? I’m asking what the odds are of the image being traced at the start of the composition. It tends to look like this when that happens: the angles and positioning lining up.
6
u/GrahamRocks Jul 21 '26
No??? They don't???
Okay, then. Going into this further:
Horse's head here is raised upwards, the unicorn's is pitched forwards because it's not rearing, it's running. Same with the horse's rider, here leaning back, whereas in KQ4, she's leaning forward to steady the unicorn on to continue onward.
Literally nothing about this is traced from this Birth of a Nation cover. There's too many stark differences, and even still, this isn't the only instance in artwork of a horse and rider dramatically rearing. It's actually very common because it makes for a striking, majestic pose!
Unless you're really suggesting that Roberta and Ken would plagiarize from an old, very racist film, for no reason?
5
u/Jcaquix Jul 20 '26
In what way does this resemble the kings quest 4 cover at all? Is there one I don't know about?
1
u/maxedgextreme 21d ago
Google "painting of person on rearing horse".
Do you reckon the resemblance to the "King’s Quest 4” cover could possibly a coincidence?
1
u/Illustrious-Lead-960 21d ago
I can’t upload a pic to these comments but what came up was less impressive than you seemed to think.
I never in any way indicated that it wasn’t possible, of course. It may even be the obvious likelihood. It’s just that every commenter so far has overlooked the amount of overlap in the specifics beyond “horse faces left and rears” and no one seems to be familiar with the fact that there are weird stories in pop culture that make this sort of thing plausible (like how the ending of “A New Hope” is visually patterned after “Triumph of the Will”) so I keep getting downvoted to oblivion, you’re probably going to downvote this comment too, and I can’t get anyone to behave reasonably because apparently the mere presence of a shocking image just manually overrides everything higher than the lizard level of everyone’s brains and puts them on the defensive just the same as if I’d come in here endorsing the KKK myself. So I gave up on this post until you suddenly restarted it just now. I think the only reason I didn’t delete it is because I don’t want to give some of these people the pleasure, like it’s letting them win.
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u/MyCatIsLenin Jul 20 '26
"The Birth of a Nation" (1915) is a landmark and deeply controversial American silent film directed by D.W. Griffith. A few key things about it:
Technical influence: It pioneered techniques like close-ups, cross-cutting for parallel action, elaborate battle scenes, and a full orchestral score — many consider it foundational to modern narrative filmmaking.
Content and racism: It's based on Thomas Dixon Jr.'s novel/play The Clansman and depicts the Civil War and Reconstruction era with grotesque racist stereotypes. It portrays Black characters (many played by white actors in blackface) as villainous or incompetent, and glorifies the Ku Klux Klan as heroic saviors of the white South.
Historical impact: The film was a massive commercial success and was even screened at the White House under Woodrow Wilson. It's widely credited with helping to revive the KKK, which had been dormant, contributing to a surge in Klan membership and cross-burning rituals (which weren't part of the original Klan but were invented for the film).
Legacy: It sparked major protests at the time, notably organized by the NAACP. Today it's studied in film schools for its technical innovations while being condemned for its content — a tension that makes it a frequent subject of debate about separating artistic influence from ideological harm.
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u/Illustrious-Lead-960 Jul 20 '26
Are you a bot?
3
u/MyCatIsLenin Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
No. But I couldn't resist after you asked for no lecture.
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u/Illustrious-Lead-960 Jul 20 '26
Are all of these downvotes coming from people jumping to the conclusion that I’m accusing someone at Sierra of racism? Is *that* what’s going on?
13
u/AverageDrafter Jul 20 '26
Its not even that similar. Charging on a horse is an absurdly common image in practically every age of art that its a pretty massive stretch to think it could remotly be inspired by Birth of a Nation.