Gone With The Wind NOT pulled from HBO. It will include a caption

[karbatal]

I've just read that HBO has pulled Gone With The Wind out of the catalogue because of the racist content. 

Twitter is on fire, of course. Some think it's a classic, others point out that Oscar for Hattie McDaniel and her beautiful speech. And amidst it all I'm sure there's lots of people agreeing with the decision (but there's such amount of messages that I couldn't find them but I'm sure they are). 

I find it very hard to give an opinion because I am not black. I can't decide what should or shouldn't be offensive for a social group.  I would love if black Madonnanation users give their opinion. 

(I hope I formulated the petition correctly? English is my second language)

[Hobbit]

the contents are racist because the historical era in which the film is set had a racist matrix and the film must be coherent with this. I do not understand this obtuse censorship, it is in the viewer's intelligence to understand that the protagonists of a work set in the past must have a psychology and actions consistent with that historical period, even if today they are considered negative

[domyeyebrows]

It's not censorship. They're just putting a trigger warning on it and then putting it back on there. Clickbait.

[karbatal]

30 minutes ago, domyeyebrows said:

It's not censorship. They're just putting a trigger warning on it and then putting it back on there. Clickbait.

I don't think the most famous and profitable movie of all time needs clickbait. 

[HolidayGuy]

Clickbait for the media outlets reporting the "news." 

[domyeyebrows]

15 minutes ago, karbatal said:

I don't think the most famous and profitable movie of all time needs clickbait. 

The clickbait is not for the film, it's for the 'news' outlets that need it.

[domyeyebrows]

7 minutes ago, HolidayGuy said:

Clickbait for the media outlets reporting the "news." 

What he said ^

[Camacho]

Let’s ban all films made before the 2000s.

[domyeyebrows]

On the plus side taking it off to put a trigger warning on it is better than outright banning and pretending it doesn't exist. I've got the original Tom and Jerry cartoons on Blu Ray as they remind me of my childhood and they come with a lengthy introduction about how they are a product of their time. Whilst I'm intelligent enough to realise the context and therefore take no offence, I get that some people need to see this stuff acknowledged to watch their content without guilt or shame.

[karbatal]

31 minutes ago, domyeyebrows said:

The clickbait is not for the film, it's for the 'news' outlets that need it.

oh sorry I didn't understand what you meant. I have read the news in Twitter. Are you telling me they're simply putting some caution and not pulling out the film indefinitely?

[domyeyebrows]

1 minute ago, karbatal said:

oh sorry I didn't understand what you meant. I have read the news in Twitter. Are you telling me they're simply putting some caution and not pulling out the film indefinitely?

Yeah that's what I read. They're taking it off temporarily and putting it back with a nice safe trigger warning on it.

[horn]

Are they going to ban "Body Of Evidence"? 'cos Rebecca fucked white guys only in the movie.

 

[domyeyebrows]

8 minutes ago, horn said:

Are they going to ban "Body Of Evidence"? 'cos Rebecca fucked white guys only in the movie.

 

Ha! That's the least of that movie's worries...

[Kilt]

Reminds me of 9/11, when American radio banned songs from airplay that had lyrics about plane crashes, like Alanis's Ironic

[mamifero]

Me reading this:

[Jazzy Jan]

Everyone knows this is a racist film. It is a product of it’s time. No new information about that. The racism in it is horrible. Personally, I have always found it massively over rated and far too long. Just a personal opinion. Movies are all subjective and that goodness we all don’t love the same films.
 

In saying that though, banning films from the past is ridiculous. People and new generations can also see how racist, sexist etc life was in the past. Kind of debunks the whole “ life was kinder” narrative people throw around. I watch an enormous  amount of old movies and love them. Many are so superior to films made today. All of the actors spoke clearly and acted so well. 
 

 Viewers  should easily know that what is often depicted is now considered completely wrong. We can’t erase the past or past movies. 

[Camacho]

 

[VogueMusic]

I am not one for censorship, especially of artistic works. That's a slippery slope if there ever was one. Everything must be put in the context of its time, or else you are bound to censor everything from the past, which in some form or fashion, is probably problematic. And the racist aspects of this film/story have been addressed for a long time, so it's not as if it's anything entirely new. Teach it, study it, and put in a proper context. People can (and should) be able to hold more than one idea/perspective on something at a time.

I commend TCM (Turner Classic Movies) for saying they don't believe in censorship, but they will address certain subjects/depictions in the intro and/or outro of the films they present, and give context and background to those issues. That's how you should do it. And then let the audience decide if they want to watch or not.

And for the record, this is not a defense of the film. People are free to find it, or anything, offensive...and then decide for themselves what they want to give their time, attention and money to.

[IsaacHarris]

6 hours ago, Junior said:

 

A shame she had to give this speech in a segregated ceremony to a predominantly white audience.

 

As for the movie itself, there’s no point in removing or censoring something that’s been released for decades (like some schools did with Tom Sawyer). Besides, HBO has other titles that are far more ‘offensive’ than Gone With The Wind

 

[MadFan]

This is silly, and another example of the infantilization of people in our culture -- stop babying grown ass men & women. Let us see the work and trust that we can view it through the lens of 1939. 

It's different than taking down a statue, which I support because they commemorate a person. They're not neutral. A film is neutral.

[Flip The Switch]

This is getting really ridiculous. 

[horn]

Confession: I have never watched GWTW before.

@karbatal Should I?  

[Paul]

6 hours ago, MadFan said:

This is silly, and another example of the infantilization of people in our culture -- stop babying grown ass men & women. Let us see the work and trust that we can view it through the lens of 1939. 

It's different than taking down a statue, which I support because they commemorate a person. They're not neutral. A film is neutral.

totally. to paraphrase someone, films (or art in general) do not endorse a way of life, but describe one. It is up to us to decide how we response to it, be it ignore it, or engage in discussion about it to bring about change.

statues on the other hand ... public spaces should be used for the public good. Statues the propogate myths and represent a false history, or continue to be a symbol of pain for many, should go.

[Cyber-Raga]

Is this movie racist? Hell yeah, but it would have been anachronistic to set it in Civil War Atlanta and then not be racist.
This cancel culture is a slippery slope. Today it is Gone with the Wind, tomorrow it will be Who’s That Girl. Put a disclaimer before playing the movie and let people decide on their own. 
On top of that it is just playing into conservatives’ narrative, in my opinion, who exploit it and try to convince others how ridiculous and radical these socialists (aka Democrats) are. Just ask Meghan McCain. 
 

Statues in public spaces, however, is a different beast. Put them in a museum if necessary and have a tour guide provide some context with educational data. I have never understood how the South could get away with these Confederate statues today. That’s as if Germany erected a statue of Hitler in Berlin today.  

[Nikki]

let's hope it's clickbait and they just put up a disclaimer. I hate cancel culture. Since when have youth become pro censorship? what about being truthful about history and showing the full picture.

germany isnt ignoring their problems either. they face it and acknowledge it. that's how you learn and get better.

cancel culture looks like they want to pretend nothing bad ever happened. closing your eyes isnt gonna make it go away. sorry but this is such a simplistic way of dealing with these issues..  it's only gonna make some people even more angry while others will simply be unaware of the history

all that needs to be done is explain/give historic context

most old movies are sexist. will they start banning them too? 

[Jazzy Jan]

23 minutes ago, Cyber-Raga said:

Is this movie racist? Hell yeah, but it would have been anachronistic to set it in Civil War Atlanta and then not be racist.
This cancel culture is a slippery slope. Today it is Gone with the Wind, tomorrow it will be Who’s That Girl. Put a disclaimer before playing the movie and let people decide on their own. 
On top of that it is just playing into conservatives’ narrative, in my opinion, who exploit it and try to convince others how ridiculous and radical these socialists (aka Democrats) are. Just ask Meghan McCain. 
 

Statues in public spaces, however, is a different beast. Put them in a museum if necessary and have a tour guide provide some context with educational data. I have never understood how the South could get away with these Confederate statues today. That’s as if Germany erected a statue of Hitler in Berlin today.  

Agree. How can anyone make a movie set in the South in the civil war and not depict racism. It would be denying history and be completely false.  Showing life how it was at the time & location it was set in is important. It would be stupid to pretend that it was different. Some say that old movies should be banned due to the huge amount of people smoking in movies. Just stupid logic as people did smoke in those times without any knowledge of the health risks. Today it is different and everyone should realize it was what happened at that time.  Viewers have brains and can see that things are shown in movies as it once was, not how it should of been in hindsight which would be denying and erasing history and fact.

 

[jeditegovna]

Oh my. Ridiculous.

[Nikki]

5 minutes ago, Jazzy Jan said:

Agree. How can anyone make a movie set in the South in the civil war and not depict racism. It would be denying history and be completely false.  Showing life how it was at the time & location it was set in is important. It would be stupid to pretend that it was different. Some say that old movies should be banned due to the huge amount of people smoking in movies. Just stupid logic as people did smoke in those times without any knowledge of the health risks. Today it is different and everyone should realize it was what happened at that time.  Viewers have brains and can see that things are shown in movies as it once was, not how it should of been in hindsight . 

 

wonderfully said, as always

7 hours ago, MadFan said:

This is silly, and another example of the infantilization of people in our culture -- stop babying grown ass men & women. Let us see the work and trust that we can view it through the lens of 1939. 

It's different than taking down a statue, which I support because they commemorate a person. They're not neutral. A film is neutral.

a statue is indeed very different. the only intent is to honour the person. 

 

[karbatal]

1 hour ago, horn said:

Confession: I have never watched GWTW before.

@karbatal Should I?  

It's one of my favourite movies. But of course the issue is sensitive: the book is downright racist and the film is a bit less, but of course it was filmed in 1939. 

[Paul]

25 minutes ago, Jazzy Jan said:

Agree. How can anyone make a movie set in the South in the civil war and not depict racism. It would be denying history and be completely false.  Showing life how it was at the time & location it was set in is important. It would be stupid to pretend that it was different. Some say that old movies should be banned due to the huge amount of people smoking in movies. Just stupid logic as people did smoke in those times without any knowledge of the health risks. Today it is different and everyone should realize it was what happened at that time.  Viewers have brains and can see that things are shown in movies as it once was, not how it should of been in hindsight which would be denying and erasing history and fact.

 

I think the issue with GWTW is that it presents the slaves as happy and thankful to be oppressed. But yes, important to document how white people tried to represent slavery, which we can now compare to the truth.