Posted on 06/24/2020 2:59:55 PM PDT by EdnaMode
Gone With the Wind is no longer gone from HBO Max, having been restored to the streaming service’s library with a new prologue about the film’s problematic themes and depictionof the antebellum South.
Jacqueline Stewart, host of TCM’s “Silent Sunday Nights” and a professor in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago, leads the four-and-a-half minute intro, which starts off with a general cinematic lesson — recounting the eight Academy Awards (including for Best Picture) won in 1939 by the “highly anticipated” adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s novel, as well as its inflation-adjusted standing as the highest grossing movie of all time.
Then, Stewart acknowledges that the film “was not universally praised,” seeing as it “paints the picture of the antebellum South as a ‘romantic, idyllic setting that’s tragically been lost to the past.'”
Stewart notes how producer David O. Selznick assured the NAACP at the time that he was “sensitive to the feelings of minority peoples,” yet proceeded to deliver a film that depicts a “world of grace and beauty, without acknowledging the brutalities of the system of chattel slavery upon which this world is based.” Stewart says that “the treatment of this world through the lens of nostalgia denies the horrors of slavery as well its legacies of racial inequality.”
Stewart concedes that while watching Gone With the Wind “can be uncomfortable, even painful,” “it is important that classic Hollywood films are available to us in their original form” to “invite viewers to reflect on their own beliefs when watching them now.”
“Gone With the Wind, with its landmark production values, signature scenes and iconic characters has shaped the way generations have pictured slavery and the reconstruction period that followed,” she says in conclusion. “It is not only a major document of Hollywood’s racist practices of the past, but also an enduring work of popular culture that speaks directly to the racial inequalities that persist in media and society today.”
Is Stewart’s prologue fair, juxtaposing Gone With the Wind‘s strengths as a piece of cinema with its weaknesses as a portrayal of the antebellum South?
Frankly..............I don’t give a Damn
Painful?? I’d say maybe abortion is more painful.
Hmmm, how about we intersperse scenes from “Harriet” and “Gone with the Wind”?
LOL! I was just thinking about that scene in one of the greatest movies of all time!
Vivian Leigh was a little bat-sh*t crazy but that was an excellent movie!
Sincerely, your Friend, Julie
Slavery is horrible and still continues in countries TO THIS DAY!! However, not ALL enslaved people were unhappy or mistreated and many had good working relationships with the families they worked for...in fact many freed slaves took the last name of the farm owners and continued their free lives bearing that name...there are two sides to every story and we’d better start teaching BOTH sides...we’re seeing the outcome of putting poorly educated people out into society and onto the streets.......
I watched the original version the other evening. I last watched it on a big screen in 1966 or so when it made a second run of movie houses after being renewed, but not edited.
All I can say, is that none of the Southerners were portrayed sympathetically. They are really caricatures of what Hollywood libs think of hicks from the South, even if they were the “elites” of the South. Other than a few stereotypical scenes of slaves and servants being less than bright (and understandably offensive), the slaves and their plight were not romanticized. It was pretty clear, that being a slave basically sucked.
That’s my view, for what it’s worth.
I don’t know if this streaming service can be fast forwarded, but the lectures might be a good time to do while waiting for the movie to start.something else
I am so sick of hearing this virtue-signalling wrote, I’m seriously considering becoming a racist again. I’m a bit rusty, but I’m sure I can still pronounce the N word. But it would upset two of my little granddaughters, who are black and sweet as candy to the 10th power. But Gad, how I hate these idiots and their virtue signalling!
Have you ever seen “Night at the Museum?”
If you haven’t, you have to do so! Funny and just great! I promise! I’ve seen it at least twice or three times!
Ben Stiller and his parents are awesome!
If you have nothing going on tonight, please check it out!
Julie
You can’t fast-forward through it either. so the best thing to do is put it on silent and watch 4 minutes of Ted danson in blackface on your computer until it ends
Will there be an intro discussion of Wakanda in Marvel movies?
You know, I don’t think I need movies and books explained to me. I have a mind, and I am more than capable of deciding things on my own. Do they have some kind of disclaimer on the leftist drivel that spews from Hollywood on a regular basis? Yeah, I didn’t think so.
Great. Now do “Fiddler on the Roof.” Talk about fake history.
You know what? I think I am falling in love with you!
LOL! Julie
It was made in 1930’s Hollywood. HBO MAX should should put a disclaimer on the movie explaining the Hollywood studio culture to explain why the movie is what it was rather than pander to the race hustlers of today.
Also denies the horrors of Democrat rule.
BTW I went to the University of Chicago.
Not pleased with this turn of events. Think I’ll cancel my donations.
Still trying to pay off my student loans! Not a cheap school.
As long as they leave Blazing Saddles alone, I’m okay.
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