HBO Max Temporarily Removes Gone With the Wind After Complaints it ‘Glorifies the Antebellum South’
Hattie McDaniel became the first black person to win an Oscar for her portrayal as Mammy in the movie.
The death of George Floyd has really put everyone on edge lately with people demanding the removal of insensitive content and statues.
HBO removed Gone With the Wind from its streaming service HBO Max after 12 Years a Slave screenwriter John Ridley claimed it “glorifies the antebellum south.”
HBO said the movie “will return with a discussion of its historical context and a denouncement of those very depictions but will be presented as it was originally created because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed.”
You can all stop being outraged: GONE WITH THE WIND will return to @hbomax, but with more context added. From a platform spokesperson: pic.twitter.com/gR4TQXRsBz
— TVMoJoe (@TVMoJoe) June 10, 2020
From The Daily Mail:
On Monday John Ridley, screenwriter for 12 Years A Slave, wrote in the Los Angeles Times that the film should potentially be removed.
‘It doesn’t just “fall short” with regard to representation,’ he wrote.
‘It is a film that glorifies the antebellum south. It is a film that, when it is not ignoring the horrors of slavery, pauses only to perpetuate some of the most painful stereotypes of people of color.
‘It is a film that, as part of the narrative of the “Lost Cause,” romanticizes the Confederacy in a way that continues to give legitimacy to the notion that the secessionist movement was something more, or better, or more noble than what it was — a bloody insurrection to maintain the “right” to own, sell and buy human beings.’
So I guess period pieces are out of the question?
Did Ridley forget that Hattie McDaniel, the daughter of two former slaves, became the first black woman to win an Oscar for her portrayal as Mammy?
Hattie McDaniel was the first African American actor to win an Oscar for her role in Gone With The Wind. It’s also her birthday tomorrow.
Way to erase a historic black achievement in the name of social justice. https://t.co/FdDxDL6PLS
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 10, 2020
I haven’t seen the movie in ages because I cannot stand it, but from what I remember the movie was based during that time and is a love story. Do all movies and books from that time period have to focus on slavery?
Whatever. At least HBO Max is bringing it back even with a new description because we apparently don’t know anything about slavery or the treatment of blacks during that time period.
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The first word in the movie title is the key to the whole thing. It has been ever since. They keep missing this point.
The same Mensa-rejects also knee(-and-other)-jerk react to Huckleberry Finn and Blazing Saddles, all the while totally missing the point that each of them are wicked kicks-to-the-nuts to racism and bigotry, instead elevating the dignity and worth of those who are looked-down-upon.
Perhaps we should start referring to these “cultural scolds” as the American Taliban, proudly destroying anything historical that offends their fragile sensitivities in rabid, hysterical fashion.
I disagree with the knee-jerk characterization. It is calculated – at least by those leading the cult of progressivism.
I totally agree..
Hence the mention of “other-jerk” reaction, of just plain old jerks.
Never saw that movie as glorifying the South. More of a cautionary tale of what happens when elites think they can no longer be the bodies in the ditch.
Like the elites in Seattle and those raging the past 4.years – deep state and never Trumpets included.
I never saw the Amos n Andy tv show as anything but a morality play. But, the scolds see racism.
Because they always project what they are in the extreme on to innocent victims.
Same as with “Song of the South.” Somehow having a kind and wise older black man develop the moral compass of a privileged white kid is somehow racist. The film clearly shows Uncle Remus as better than any other character in the film and that white people can clearly learn from, befriend, and admire black people. Also, the actor who played Uncle Remus got an Oscar. But the film is racist, apparently because it idealizes plantations, even though the movie takes place after the Civil War and the black characters are not slaves, and the historical fact that black people spoke in a different dialect and accent that white people or the era. The so-called idealization of the plantation does not exist. It is portrayed as wealthy and pleasant place, and yet it cannot fulfill the needs for belonging and moral growth of its children, which must be provided by its former slaves. The idiots do not understand what a ground breaking movie it was for it’s time, and should be honored as such.
I have read the book a number of times one. Hardly ever read fiction & even more rarely romance. Never thought of it as anything other than a tragic love story with an even more tragic war as the background. Good story & the movie is a classic. If anything it showed the ugliness of war & the aftermath of war. And of course it showed how badly the dims/carpetbaggers treated the freed slaves, maybe that is the problem.
Doesn’t Rhett mock the chances of secession throughout?
I hate to sound like a “concern troll,” but I really do worry about the inevitable reaction, when it comes.
America’s enemies are pushing so hard, so fast, and are going so far out of their way to destroy and humiliate normal Americans that the blowback might be rather undiscriminating, in every sense of the word. And some of the malefactors will deserve every bit of what they get, but others will be swept up in the quest for revenge.
It could still be prevented, though the window of opportunity is closing rapidly. If President Trump can stop the damn tweeting, Chuck Schumer can stop being evil and start being smart, and they can work together to calm the situation, then everyone including them would be a lot better off. We live in hope.
While I think your last paragraph is naive and unrealistic, you’re right in saying they are pushing too fast – it’s how they got Trump in the first place. So, in an obvious burst of brilliance, they decided to push even harder.
Unless the political side of progressivism can re-leash their hounds, they will see a blowback like none they’ve ever experienced before (because none of them know history).
I agree. Up until the last paragraph, which does appear niave. Schumer will never stop being evil, it’s engrained now. Trump’s tweets, if one pays close attention, are very targeted and specific; yes thet often appear crass, but IMHO that is by design to troll the left. Now that I understand why he tweets, I am less bothered by them.
Taliban, elements of KKK, with a Nazi-like philosophy: Pro-Choice, selective, opportunistic; diversity; and social — relativistic — justice.
Mary Chastain: Did Ridley forget that Hattie McDaniel, the daughter of two former slaves, became the first black woman to win an Oscar for her portrayal as Mammy?
McDaniel won, but she still wasn’t allowed to sit with her co-stars from Gone With the Wind at the award ceremony. The next Oscar win by an African American would have to wait for Sidney Poitier, a generation later.
Mary Chastain: I haven’t seen the movie in ages because I cannot stand it, but from what I remember the movie was based during that time and is a love story.
Rhett and Scarlett are a marvel of literary characterization. Gone With the Wind is a great movie, just like Birth of a Nation is a great movie. Both were seminal events, and both had racism deeply embedded within them.
Mary Chastain: Do all movies and books from that time period have to focus on slavery?
No. Many don’t. But the U.S. Civil War was an epic event in world history, and was fought largely over the slave issue. The shattering of the old slave order led to the re-founding of America with the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the U.S. Constitution. However, it would take another century before the promise of equal protection found currency in U.S. law.
Meanwhile, there’s a great deal of irony to the modern ear in that we are supposed to feel sorry for Ashley:
Poor, poor, Ashley.
Everyone can interpret what they see differently, but I saw Ashley as weak and anachronistic, and intended to be so. He is clearly juxtaposed against Rhett who is strong and marching bravely into the future. If you were to feel sorry for Ashely, it is only because he is unable to move forward and, in interminable grief, clings to something that is clearly dead and gone. In other words, the lesson of Ashley is that the Old South is dead. Get over it and move on.
That’s what I took to be the theme of the movie, too. Ashley is an insipid little puke (reminds me of today’s Pajama Boys) who whined and dithered and fainted on the nearest fainting couch. The women were the strong ones, and Rhett. They adapted to all that was lost (i.e. GONE with the Wind) and moved into their new world with courage and vision. Ashley, stupid lame crybaby Ashley, just languished in the memory of a time that is best gone with the wind.
It was an indictment of slavery, of the Old South, not a celebration of it. But they don’t actually teach, or even permit, critical thinking in college these days, so of course, lefties are incapable of rational critical analysis.
Fuzzy Slippers: It was an indictment of slavery, of the Old South, not a celebration of it.
Oh, gee whiz.
Those words don’t mean whatever you think they mean. The hyperbole is clearly intended to demean an Old South that never was (and that is portrayed in the film as effete, soulless, and useless), and um, did you read the last line you quoted? What do you think is meant by “it is no more than a dream remembered”? Does it mean that it is the past, GONE now? Does it mean the dream, like most of our memories of the past, are distorted and take on a rose-tinted tinge? Or does it mean something else?
(I have to admit this is fun, I miss teaching literature and analytic thinking, so thanks for the walk down memory lane; and yes, in my memory, those teaching days are far more beautiful and fulfilling than they actually were. Isn’t memory a funny thing?)
Fuzzy Slippers: What do you think is meant by “it is no more than a dream remembered”?
Let’s reword it as “it is a nightmare that continues.” You do know that the “political meeting” scene concerned the KKK? And that Rhett helped them cover up their activity?
When you reword, you lose.
Fuzzy Slippers: When you reword, you lose.
What Gone With the Wind considers idyllic, others found to be a nightmare, one that didn’t end with the end of slavery, but oppression that continued for generations. The text excuses the KKK as a reasonable response to the rise of black power.
As I and others have patiently tried to explain to you, the film does not consider the Old South idyllic. The fact that it’s most unlikable characters do should be a clue. Let me know when you have managed to grasp this very simple fact because until then I am wasting my time with you.
Fuzzy Slippers: As I and others have patiently tried to explain to you, the film does not consider the Old South idyllic.
Unless you consider “Is not” to be an explanation, then no, you have not explained your position. The picnic is a cornerstone of the idyllic depiction:
http://www.cornel1801.com/1/g/GONE_WITH_THE_WIND/2_quotes/World_that_wants_only_to_be_graceful_and_beautiful.jpg
Fuzzy Slippers: The fact {what} it’s most unlikable characters do should be a clue.
You might try being specific rather than claiming to “explain” your position, but not bothering to do so.
Brave Sir Robbin: I saw Ashley as weak and anachronistic, and intended to be so.
Anachronistic, yes, but he fought valiantly for the Southern cause. He is juxtaposed against the brutal modern world; hence the glorification of the old South.
If you want to make cancel culture work for us, cancel all of your tv/movie subscriptions. ALL of them.
Com’n, Disney, re-release Song of the South.
Some people have been bitching about GWTW for years. McDaniels was criticized for her roles as a domestic, but she responded, “Why should I complain about making $700 a week playing a maid? If I didn’t, I’d be making $7 a week being one.”
Yes the professional psychopaths are always with us…..
Wonder when we’ll start seeing old movies with some characters completely airbrushed out.
The left here in America will learn from the masters. See for example,
https://www.history.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_620/MTU3ODc4NjAzNTIxNzMwMjcx/image-placeholder-title.webp
So, will Django Unchained be pulled from streaming services also? Or is Tarantino soooooo cool and hip that even though the film is 1,000x worse and presents a totally fictionalized image of slavery, we can keep that one.
‘It is a film that, as part of the narrative of the “Lost Cause,” romanticizes the Confederacy’
Bullcrap. It does not. At least not if you actually have your head outside your rectum.
So I guess period pieces are out of the question?
Of course. Because The Past was a horrible, evil time, and we must never acknowledge any good in it. So, we will begin with Year Zero, and everything from here forward will be progressively better, until we attain Enlightenment/Utopia. (And we will happily reset Year Zero any time we need to, say, airbrush someone out of the pictures.)
Margaret Mitchell’s father made his fortune selling lumber in Atlanta after the war. Her depiction of Atlanta as a post-war boom town is very accurate…along with many other points in the story…the toll of illness in the war, the havoc wreaked on every economic class and race. It was a well-researched historical novel of tremendous breadth that won the Pulitzer prize for 1937.
As of last November, Song of the South was available for sale at Confederate Memorial Hall in New Orleans.
It wasn’t so long ago that Americans used to complain about the Japanese scrubbing their WWII nasty bits from their school textbooks. Now we do the same thing, apparently.
Hey, what the hell, lets just ban all movies. Geez, Animal House is next for date rape and white privileged frat boys.
The PC world that they want us to live in is this 50 shades of grey blah and joyless normalized nothing.
as a film adaptation of a novel, gone with the wind is(and remains) a brilliant work of art–by any measure, one of the finest examples of cinematic craftmanship ever created
like lord of the rings, on its face seeming to defy the imagination/ability of filmakers of its era to bring it to the screen
gone with the wind’s popularity worldwide is a testament to its quality and craftsmanship–that it might now ” offend ” some people by its language or themes has not and will never diminish its creator’s achievement
texansamurai: as a film adaptation of a novel, gone with the wind is(and remains) a brilliant work of art–by any measure, one of the finest examples of cinematic craftmanship ever created
as a film adaptation of a novel, Birth of a Nation is(and remains) a brilliant work of art–by any measure, one of the finest examples of cinematic craftmanship ever created.
as a film of real events, Triumph of the Will is(and remains) a brilliant work of art–by any measure, one of the finest examples of cinematic craftmanship ever created.
Just as GWTW is out of time and place today, you’re out of place here. Opinions are just that: Opinions. Each is as valid as another, the exception being yours.
zennyfan: Opinions are just that: Opinions.
There are objective measures of the influence of art:
Birth of a Nation was the first true epic film, and innovated with close-ups, fade-outs and battle-scenes. The KKK saving the day by stopping blacks from voting was an especially rousing victory. The film had a broad influence on the cinematic arts, as well as leading to a resurgence of the KKK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t-7SVbLjBw&t=4m14s
Triumph of the Will used many innovative techniques, including “moving cameras, aerial photography, the use of long-focus lenses to create a distorted perspective, and the revolutionary approach to the use of music and cinematography.” Again, the had a broad influence on the cinematic arts, as well as giving voice to Nazi propaganda.
You, Sir, are either a troll, ignorant, or just full of yourself. I’ll refrain from considering the fourth possibility of merely being a fool, as I wouldn’t want it misinterpreted as a below-the-belt insult. smh
Stunning… I have to agree with the cinematography being superb. Devastatingly superb. It’s a carrier for the message and that is were the real story lies…. the message.
Compared the Birth of a Nation or TOTW, Gone with the Wind is kindergarten level. The lesson to be learned is separate technique from story line just as I separate the movie portrayal from the actors real life.
Thing is, I was planning on getting HBO Max because it was supposed to have their Criterion Collection of movies, including a lot of old movies that I wanted to watch or rewatch.
After this, I think I should just get the DVDs and Blu-ray disks instead. You just never know which one is going to be erased from history next.
You will find it difficult to find a DVD/blueray of GWTW. Yesterday as soon as I saw that it was being pulled went to several sites including Amazon & WM to see if I could get some copies before all you could get were the “updated version” with warnings. Thought they would make good gifts. Anyway, WM is sold out (or pulled) Amazon wants $300 for a it. Other places said they were on hold or sold out. WM was not taking requests for reminders when it was back in stock.
Ain’t that a shame? The wife and I just love to watch that movie and reminisce about plantation life.
“Wouldn’t you like to have a dress like that, dear?!?” She hits pause, turns to me and says “You do know that’s not Gone With The Wind – it’s Carol Burnett”?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV-5xoFVco4
One of the all-time funniest skits ever on any show. “I saw it in the window and just had to have it.” I crack up just thinking about it.
A comedy classic. I guess it must be erased, too.
Gone with the Wind? What about Undercover Brother? Will all involved in that be subject to Maoist re-education camps?
Who complained? How many “complaints” ?
Well…
The standard we hear nowadays is, “Some people say…”
When the aforementioned person is pressed to “Name one!” the universal response resembles Ralph Cramdon of “The Honeymooners”:
Hummunah, hummunah, hummunah…
Only need one to cancel.
Cancel for feels. Destroy for feels. Riot for feels.
Who’s fragile again?
I don’t know nothing about birthing no babies
I don’t know nuthin’ ’bout birthin’ no babies.
Fixed it for ya.
Apparently the person who requested the ban never saw the movie. It railed against the decadent plantation owners, was about the destruction of the South because of their folly, and gave the first academy award to a black woman.
If you have a negative opinion about a movie, express your self, but don’t cancel the film. Let others watch it and decide for themselves.
as a film of real events, Triumph of the Will is(and remains) a brilliant work of art–by any measure, one of the finest examples of cinematic craftmanship ever created.
____________________________________________________________
as a tour de force in the medium, would agree–birth of a nation, for its time(1935 or so)was also an amazing piece of work–though there are several others from that era that were superior
arguably the most famous film of the 20th century was made by a private individual standing in dealey plaza on a november afternoon
OMG! Don’t start that thread – please!
Amazon is sold out of DVDs. Checked eBay – one seller has sold 125 copies of the DVD. Started on 6/10 at $49.99, sold a bunch, raised it to $69.99, sold even more. Then $89.99 and now $99.99.
Gotta love America! 😉
I bought my copy about 5 years ago when there was a previous uproar about it.
I’m super regretful I got to this post late!
I ADORE GWTW!!! Vivian Leigh is magnificent. As she portrays Scarlett, she has such verve and vivaciousness.
And the DRESSES!!!! Yes, I love them, and so do so many others. In Marietta, Georgia, in the 4th of July parade, there’s always a group of girls wearing them walking down the main street…. black girls and white girls! We LOVE the dresses!!!
I must say, I miss the manners of the 60s and 70s….. The manners of the 1850s must have been to die for!
HBO is now and forever on my banned list.
It’s a pity we no longer place value on an education that includes learning the tools of critical thinking and informed debate. We appear to be severely lacking when it comes to scholarly commentary on fictional stories.