Classic romance movie Gone with the Wind has been removed from HBO’s streaming platform HBO Max. The epic 1939 story focuses on main characters Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler, who were played by Vivian Leigh and Clark Gable respectively. The film also starred Olivia McHavilland and Hattie McDaniel in the supporting roles of Melanie Hamilton and Mammy.
Now HBO have taken the decision to temporarily get rid of the Hollywood favourite until they can provide explanations for the racism and stereotypical depictions of black people
The film also romanticises the climate of the American South at the time, and given the current situation following George Floyd’s death in the US HBO deemed it inappropriate to keep it in their library for the time being.
In a statement from a spokesperson at the network, they explained: “’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.
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“We felt that to keep this title up without an explanation and a denouncement of those depictions would be irresponsible.”
“These depictions are certainly counter to WarnerMedia’s values,” the representative continued to US publication Variety.
“So when we return the film to HBO Max, it will return with a discussion of its historical context and a denouncement of those very depictions.
“But it will be presented as it was originally created.
“Because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed.”
“If we are to create a more just, equitable and inclusive future, we must first acknowledge and understand our history,” HBO added.
The network’s move comes after 12 Years A Slave screenwriter John Ridley wrote an editorial piece for the Los Angeles Times about Gone With the Wind.
He called for the network to temporarily remove the film.
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“It is a film that glorifies the antebellum south,” Ridley wrote.
“It is a film that, when it is not ignoring the horrors of slavery, pauses only to perpetuate some of the most painful stereotypes of people of colour.
“It is a film that, as part of the narrative of the ‘Lost Cause’, romanticises the Confederacy in a way that continues to give legitimacy to the notion that the secessionist movement was something more, or better, or more noble than what it was.
The writer added the reality was “a bloody insurrection to maintain the ‘right’ to own, sell and buy human beings”.
Gone With the Wind was released in 1939 and won a whopping ten Academy Awards.
These included Best Director, Best Picture and Best Actress for Leigh.
McDaniel also won the Best Supporting Actress and became the first African-American person to win an Oscar in a monumental moment for the industry.
The movie is the highest-grossing film of all time when adjusted for inflation.
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