Gone With The Wind is a film about romance and history. It is held up as one of the greatest American films ever. When adjusting for inflation, it is still the highest grossing film of all time. However, its reputation is controversial and it garners its fair share of criticism.
What We Know:
- HBO Max removed the film from its collection on Tuesday in a response to the protests surrounding George Floyd’s death. HBO Max pledged to bring the film back eventually “with a discussion of its historical context”.
- Gone With The Wind tells the love story of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara, but it also draws criticism for its portrayal of the Civl War South and slavery. Critics of the film say that it glosses over the horrors of slavery and perpetuates offensive stereotypes of African Americans.
- John Ridley, screenwriter for 12 Years a Slave, wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times calling for HBO Max to remove Gone With The Wind. An HBO Max spokesperson made a statement saying “Gone With the Wind is a product of its time and depicts some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that have, unfortunately, been commonplace in American society,…These racist depictions were wrong then and are wrong today, and we felt that to keep this title up without an explanation and a denouncement of those depictions would be irresponsible.”
- This move by HBO Max has sparked a debate on social media. Some claim it erases the work of Hattie McDaniel. She won an Academy Award for her role in the film, becoming the first African American to win an Oscar, and HBO Max removed it on the eve of her birthday. Others point out how the 1939 Oscars were a racist affair, forcing McDaniel to sit separately from her cast members and other white nominees.
HBO removing Gone With The Wind is just another part of the left’s sinister plot to erase American culture
Did you know—the first black American to win an Oscar was Hattie McDaniel for her role in Gone With The Wind
But the left doesn’t care.
They just want to see it all burn.
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) June 10, 2020
For those who are citing Hattie McDaniel's win for Gone With The Wind, please also share she wasn't allowed to sit at table with her film's white colleagues and fellow nominees. They put her at a small, isolated table far away.
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) June 10, 2020
HBO Max is not the only entertainment outlet to adjust their content in wake of the nationwide protests. The Paramount Network announced Tuesday that they will be removing the television show Cops, ending its 32 season run.
