The streaming service HBO Max temporarily excluded from its catalog the 1939 film “Gone With the Wind” with Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable in the lead roles due to the peculiarities of displaying a racial issue in the film.

Gone With the Wind is a product of its era. The painting reflected some ethnic and racial prejudices, which, unfortunately, were commonplace in American society at that time. Aspects of the film related to the racial issue were wrong then and remain wrong now, ”said the service representative in an interview with Variety.

“We felt that it would be irresponsible to leave this picture in the catalog without any explanation condemning such coverage of the racial issue,” he added.

To such a decision, the platform’s leadership was prompted by the column of filmmaker John Ridley, published on June 8 on the Los Angeles Times website. Oscar-winning screenwriter of the film “12 Years of Slavery” turned to service representatives with a request to temporarily hide the tape. 

Ridley stressed: he is aware that the film reflects the social trends that existed during his filming. In his opinion, “Gone with the Wind” does not deny the horrors of slaveholding society, but nevertheless they transmit painful stereotypes about “colored” ones.

“Positioning the war of the North and the South as a“ hopeless struggle ”, the picture romanticizes the Confederation and reinforces the idea of ​​this separatist movement as something larger and more noble than it actually was. And it was a bloody uprising with the goal of preserving the “right” to own other people, to buy and sell them, ”the filmmaker insists.

However, the scriptwriter explained that he was not a supporter of censorship and did not require the film to be forgotten. He suggested that HBO Max would later return the feed to the catalog along with other materials that would give users a comprehensive understanding of the issue of slavery in US history. 

Ridley stated that at the time of publication of his column, the picture was not accompanied by a disclaimer that would indicate the controversial content of the film, while part of the production of Warner Bros. has similar warnings.

HBO Max supported Ridley’s idea: “Some of the film’s scenes run counter to WarnerMedia’s values, so when Gone With the Wind returns to HBO Max, the picture will be accompanied by a commentary on the historical context condemning its racist aspects,” quoted Variety platform spokesman.

He emphasized that controversial scenes would not be removed from the film, thus recognizing that prejudices and stereotypes did occur.

"Veiled Racism"

Claims to the legendary picture of Victor Fleming do not arise for the first time. In 2015, film critic of The New York Post, Lou Lumenic, called Gone With the Wind a racist symbol similar to the flag of the Confederation, and urged movie theaters not to show the tape.

Gone With the Wind makes an enormous effort to reinforce the myth that the Civil War was not waged because of the institution of slavery, which is shamelessly romanticized here. And such veiled racism in a sense is much more dangerous, ”the expert said.

According to Lumenik, the critical mistake of the filmmakers was the image of the Yankees, who opposed slavery as villains.

Discussions about a possible refusal to show a painting in the USA are also not uncommon. In 2017, representatives of the Orpheum Cinema in Memphis (Tennessee) reported that it would no longer show a tape that returned to the screens every year for 34 years.

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Site manager Brett Butterson said that such a measure was caused by dissatisfaction on social networks and the interests of regular customers. However, on the movie theater page on Facebook, the opinions of users were divided, many criticized the decision.

By the way, actress Hattie McDaniel, who played Nanny Mummy in Gone With the Wind, became the first Oscar winner of African American descent for best supporting actress.

Renunciation of Huckleberry Finn

On June 9, it also became known that Netflix, BBC and BritBox removed the show “Little Britain” from their collections, as the actors used blackface in their images - a make-up for a black person. Director and actor Matt Lucas admitted in an interview for The Big Issue in 2017 that if this show was shot later, he would not have exploited such techniques and, in general, would not have made a program that could upset the audience.

Interestingly, the prohibitions related to the eradication of racism affect a wide range of cultural fields and many well-known and internationally recognized works. So, Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” was excluded from the school curriculum of educational institutions in several US cities. According to the Washington Post, the word “niger” caused a particular outrage of critics, in addition, the text saw incitement of ethnic hatred. Also, several schools do not recommend their students to read John Steinbeck's book On Mice and People.

Mark Twain’s novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is often criticized - in 2007 the book entered the top 10 banned and contested works.