Its removal caused a major media stir, but now cinematic classic “Gone with the Wind” is back on HBO Max. Two weeks ago the new streaming service pulled the film in the midst of the Black Lives Matter protests after a plea from “12 Years a Slave” writer John Ridley to remove it.
The service did so and explained the movie would eventually return with a disclaimer about the inaccurate and insensitive depictions of slavery in the Antebellum South and discussions about the historical context of the classic film.
Now it has returned alongside two videos from Turner Classic Movies offering insight into the film’s legacy. One is an hour-long panel discussion entitled “The Complicated Legacy of ‘Gone With the Wind'” recored in April 2019 and moderated by author and historian Donald Bogle.
The other is a nearly five-minute ‘introduction’ available to watch when you go to the profile page and features film scholar Jacqueline Stewart saying the movie presents the Antebellum South as “a world of grace and beauty without acknowledging the brutalities of the system of chattel slavery upon which this world is based. The film’s treatment of this world through a lens of nostalgia denies the horrors of slavery, as well as its legacies of racial inequality.”
She goes on to talk about how the black cast members were not allowed to attend the film’s premiere, and Oscar-nominated co-star Hattie McDaniel was not allowed to sit with the rest of the cast at the Oscars ceremony back then due to segregation laws still in place.
Upon its removal, HBO Max made it clear said removal was only temporary and would be resolved quickly. That didn’t stop quick cries of censorship and history erasue.
Source: Variety
