HBO Max has pulled "Gone with the Wind" from its library of films.
The removal of the film comes as mass protests sweep across the United States following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was killed while in police custody.
The removal also comes after John Ridley, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of "12 Years a Slave," wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times this week asking HBO Max to take the film out of its rotation.
"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," Ridley wrote. "The movie had the very best talents in Hollywood at that time working together to sentimentalize a history that never was."
Ridley made it clear that he didn't want "Gone with the Wind" to be "relegated to a vault in Burbank," California, but rather be taken down for a "respectful amount of time."
"Let me be real clear: I don't believe in censorship," Ridley wrote. "I would just ask, after a respectful amount of time has passed, that the film be re-introduced to the HBO Max platform along with other films that give a more broad-based and complete picture of what slavery and the Confederacy truly were."
Ridley added that the film "could be paired with conversations about narratives and why it's important to have many voices sharing stories from different perspectives rather than merely those reinforcing the views of the prevailing culture."
#GoneWithTheWind #CNN #News
Oscar-winner explains concerns over ‘Gone With The Wind’
As long as you aren’t erasing, burying, or rewriting history, fine. Don’t pretend there was nothing wrong with it at the time. These things serve as signposts to see how far we have come. If you ignore or bury the past, then you stop learning from it. The problem is arbitrarily picking which racist things to go after while ignoring others. Nobody is going after Disney, or even Ford. Though I believe the film should be shown with a message about the context, going after history is a deep hole that takes a lot of energy from the present and future.
WRONG
Has the Confederate flag always been seen as an intolerable symbol of racism? I remember an 80s show called “The Dukes of Hazard”, featuring a car with a big Confederate flag on the roof. Those were just some good, ole boys who were never meanin’ no harm. How racist could it have been if 1980s TV executives didn’t see a problem broadcasting it in prime time?
I always thought it was weird that we displayed the flag of a failed rebellion. When ISIS was driven from Syria and Iraq, they didn’t keep flying the ISIS flag. The fact that we did it in America could be seen as an example of tolerance in a free country. Yes, the Confederate flag is NOW seen as too racist to fly. But just remember, not everyone who displays it is a racist. It was HIJACKED by racists. Most of those people are just Civil War buffs or people simply expressing Southern pride the same way some black people like to wear African adornments to express black pride. Yes, let people know you find that flag offensive, but don’t act like everyone who has one is a member of the Klan – especially if you want that racist, Trump, out of the White House. All you will do is give him more votes from Southerners who will become soldiers in the culture war he is fueling.
THE PAST WILL KEEP YOU THERE. MOVE FOWARD NO NEED TO LEARN NOTHING THAT ISNT BENEFITING YOUR WELL BEING NOT HISTORY
@Kris Yes but in order to do that the film ought to come with some brief explanation outlining the why’s and hows. t the moment it doesn’t so people are left with the impression that this is how America was and blacks were generally happy being slaves to whites.
Ridiculous!
I have only ever watched this once and I remember rightly the ‘maid’ in the photo seemed to be the one calling the shots.
I think maybe that’s the issue. It hides the horror of slavery, maybe even romanticizes it ?
No the point was that Scarlett was a twit that didn’t know how to do much of anything she’s the running joke to everyone in the movie.
Hattie McDaniel won BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS ACADAMY AWARD FOR HER ROLE IN GONE WITH THE WIND! FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN TO WIN AN ACADAMY AWARD. SO HIDE IT. how would she feel about paving the way for women of color and loosing the work she put into it. Just cause she created history as an amazing actress and acadamy award winner. The FIRST
I agree 100%! Hattie herself gave an interview addressing the NAACP criticizing her for portrayal of Mammy and her own response was classic and she stood her ground. I wish I could link her interview on Smithsonian Magazine but I don’t know how lol! Hattie was a trailblazer and removing her legacy does not move us forward it sets us back!
Kim Kennerly you are wrong there. You need to read up on her relationship especially with Clark Gable. He always went to bat for her. You should also read some of Hattie’s on personal interviews where she expressed her own opinions on this very subject.
안 두선 ever watch Empire or Star? How do you think their portrayal relates to 99% of the black community? You will trash a movie classic that you have probably never watched and think that it’s okay to throw away the legacy that provided the very first African American with an Academy Award. Yes, when this movie was made there was still all kinds of racial injustice going on in the world but that does not and should never negate the historical significance that transpired when Hattie McDaniel won this award. Can you even comprehend how monumental that was? If you think getting rid of this movie is the answer then you are going to have to get rid of about 99% of the movies ever made.
I’m a liberal, but I can’t stand this stupid, liberal PC crap where they want to rewrite the past. It’s what invading armies do – destroy all evidence of the previous regime. If you’re not aware of history, you’re doomed to repeat it.
@Liz Smith Maybe it’s just too many movies like Madea and Big Mama’s House.
Will you be burning books next?
Dems are currently doing literally everything the nazis did
Can we start with any books about Lebron James?
They have been burning books for a while. They say the things they destroy go against their Intersectional Cult teachings.
One of my favorite movies “It’s a Wonderful Life” had a cringeworthy scene in it….how far is this gonna go?
It’ll go on until people get some balls and start to push back aggressively. Donnie Lemon should never have a restful night.
Until white understand that black lives matter and should be treated equally in law and country simple
He’s trying to commit suicide at the very beginning.
k- Way when will blacks understand that their lives matter? David Dorn. Nobody takes you seriously, and the whole world laughs at your destructive culture
Well their goal is to destroy Western Civilization sooo….
A ban on Gone with the Wind? Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damm!
That’s hilarious!
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Actually, i’ve always thought it was the most overrated movie in the history of movies. About Gone with the Wind, i couldn’t care less. Don’t waste the 221 minutes of your life watching it.
I believe “Mammy” was not a demeaning moniker for the Character played by Oscar Winner Hattie McDaniel, but has only more recently become derogatory. For the time the film is set @1860 that title rather signified her important role at Tara for the slave-owning family and her fellow unfortunate slaves. “Mammy” is aka “Mommy.” She was the de facto Mother for everyone on that plantation, from pulling Scarlett’s corset and birthing her sister’s baby, to smacking Prissie’s face to get some sense in her. Anyone who sees the film cannot deny the Greatness of Ms McDaniel and her portrayal of the STRONGEST and MOST UNWAVERING character in the whole film-far more than ANY of the white characters. Mammy was the surrogate mother to Scarlett her entire life. It was lily-white Scarlett who couldn’t function without Mammy’s guidance and help. It was Mammy who kept together that entire imperfect mess of the plantation Tara and everyone on it. The audiences and Oscar voters saw that in 1939 and could not deny Hattie that Oscar. I see that as a groundbreaking moment in our American struggle for Equal Rights. The fact that Mammy was awarded that Oscar is a credit to the film studio members of that day and I’m pretty sure those weren’t the same people who denied her attendance at the segregated Oscar Awards. If they’d denied her that award in 1939 then that would be evidence of outright racist discrimination-but that isn’t what went down. 👍🏿👍🏻 Hattie McDaniel.
Okay so what it’s an old movie, don’t like it, don’t watch it
@Thy3Duck Any given moment people can upload nasty graphic anal porn, or rap songs about murder full of profanity but a G-rated civil war movie from 1939 is considered offensive?
@Thy3Duck Anybody with half a brain knows it’s an ancient movie in a completely different context to today. Slavery existed. We don’t need a disclaimer to tell us it was bad. As far as I’m concerned, we’re all slaves to the Government anyway.
@happy joe You’re a happy idiot aren’t you. When Trump says make America great again, he’s not talking about putting black people back in chains again. He’s saying make Americans prosperous again. And before the overblown pandemic hit, he was doing just that. Record unemployment, median household income was up, stock market, IRAs,etc were way up. Blacks benefited from all this too. But you don’t want to hear any of that because, Orange-man-bad. CNN says so.
@kewrock How can you be sure that everyone knows that? some people don’t know a lot about the Old south and It could give them false impressions, you can’t be sure of that, as well as a disclaimer isn’t that much to ask for, just a 10-30 second line stateing how this movie has purposeful flaws to hide/change the history of the Old south
@Thy3Duck If they’re too ill-informed to know slavery was bad, then they’re probably not interested in Gone With The Wind anyway.
This isn’t how you fight racism
Enlighten us how sir ?
You guys are too late. I’ve already seen it
.
I just watch it for the ending when he tells her that she’s just a booty call. CLASSIC
Yeah. Soon, it’ll come under fire for being sexist.
Wait a moment, do yout really NEED to “put in the context” one of the most famous movie of all time, made 80 years ago and settle during the civil war ?
Actually, i’ve always thought it was the most overrated movie in the history of movies. About Gone with the Wind, i couldn’t care less. Don’t waste the 221 minutes of your life watching it.
“Debiliy blyat”🤦🏼♂️
Tochno!!!
Russian botyo
Boo👻😂
Remember the more people and companies cave to the mob the more power they give the mob.
You can try satisfy them but they’ll just keep moving the goal post because nothing you do will be ever good enough.
this so dumb
They literally say even in the context of this clip that the film was pulled just until it can be contextualized which will likely consist of a screen at the beginning of the movie saying that the depictions of certain characters and themes need to be taken with a grain of salt. I fail to see why that should upset anyone .
Serenity Powers “Contextualized” in an Intersectional Cult approved way.
This kind of misplaced wokeness is how Trump, Moscow Mitch and the Republicans in the Senate get re-elected.
@Necromonger Yep. Pretty much. And they send their kids to leftist colleges to be trained in retardation.
@kewrock Imagine calling an education retardation. Thats some trumper logic if I ever heard it.
This is dumb we have bigger things to deal with
So easily the people are manipulated 🙁
This is the equivalent of book burning. Disgusting.
A book burning removes a book from circulation. Adding social and historical context is EDUCATION. ты стоишь открытым товарищ
The “concerns” of intersectional cultists are irrelevant.