“Gone With the Wind” was restored to HBO Max on Wednesday after initially being pulled from the new streaming platform, and the film now opens with a video introduction that speaks to the film’s flawed, romantic view of the Antebellum South.
“The film’s treatment of this world through a lens of nostalgia denies the horrors of slavery, as well as its legacy of racial inequality,” TCM host Jacqueline Stewart says in a nearly five-minute video introduction at the start of the film. “Watching ‘Gone With the Wind’ can be uncomfortable, even painful, still it is important that classic Hollywood films are available to us in their original form.”
The film is also accompanied by a series of extras, including a panel discussion about the film called “‘Gone With the Wind:’ A Complicated Legacy.” The panel discussion was filmed at the TCM Film Festival last year when the film screened there. Also included is a five-minute short called “Hattie McDaniel: What a Character!” that gives a brief profile on the woman who stars in the film and became the first African-American Oscar winner.
Stewart added in the video that McDaniel was famously not allowed to attend the premiere screening of the film due to Georgia Jim Crow laws at the time of its release in 1939. The video gives some other context about its making and explains that even though it’s one of the most successful films of all time, “Gone With the Wind” is not universally praised and has been widely protested.
The intro even includes an anecdote about producer David O. Selznick, who assured the NAACP that he was “sensitive” to Black audiences’ concerns about how the film would handle slavery.
“Gone With the Wind” was pulled from the platform earlier this month after the writer John Ridley wrote a column in the Los Angeles Times calling for the film to be removed in the light of the protests around George Floyd’s murder, but he added that the film should not be censored or permanently removed.
In an interview after the film was pulled, WarnerMedia chairman Bob Greenblatt responded to Ridley’s column and defended the decision of pulling the movie, explaining that it should’ve always had the appropriate context before it was added to the service. He explained that the film has aired on TCM for years and always includes an introduction from a host that touches on the film’s complicated legacy, and he regretted not including the same context earlier.
“This is a complicated film, undeniably one of the most-watched films of all time, and most award-winning. And it has these issues which are not insignificant. Especially, you know in this moment in the world that we’re in right now. We really do want to put the right context around it,” Greenblatt said. “We shouldn’t deny that they exist, we should show them to people, but also in the right context. And, hopefully, shed some light on these issues, which you know, affected Hollywood. The last century in Hollywood, there are many darker moments on film that we need to talk about.”
“Gone With the Wind” stars Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh and was a huge hit upon release, becoming the highest-earning film up to the point, a record it still holds when figures are adjusted for inflation. It also won 10 Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actress for Hattie McDaniel, the first-ever African American to win an Academy Award, and Best Picture.
'30 Rock,' 'Scrubs' and Other TV Shows and Movies Pulled Over Blackface and Racial Insensitivity (Photos)
The May 25 killing of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police prompted protests over police brutality and racial injustice across the country — leading many networks and streaming services to reconsider programming. Here are some movies and TV shows that have been canceled or shelved (sometimes temporarily).
"COPS"
In the wake of protests over police brutality following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, the Paramount Network canceled the long-running reality show "COPS" one week ahead of premiering its 33rd season. The show, which ran on Fox for 25 years, jumped to Paramount Network (then called Spike TV) in 2013.
Paramount Network
"Gone With the Wind"
HBO Max quietly pulled the Oscar-winning 1939 movie, which has long been criticized for racist depictions of black people for for glorifying the Civl War-era south, from the weeks-old streaming service. In a statement on June 9, the company explained that the "ethnic and racial prejudices" depicted in the film "were wrong then and are wrong today." The company reintroduced the film with a video introduction noting “the film’s treatment of this world through a lens of nostalgia denies the horrors of slavery, as well as its legacy of racial inequality."
WarnerMedia
"Live PD"
On June 10, A&E abruptly canceled the Dan Abrams-hosted reality show "Live PD" that had been its top-rated series. The decision came amid ongoing protests over police brutality but also followed producers' admission they had destroyed footage of a 40-year-old Texas man who died in police custody after being tased while begging for his life.
A&E
Chris Lilley's “Summer Heights High,” “Angry Boys,” “We Can Be Heroes” and “Jonah From Tonga”
Four comedies from Australian comic Chris Lilley were pulled from Netflix in New Zealand and Australia due to criticisms of the shows’ depictions of people of color and the use of blackface and brownface makeup by Lilley, who is white, and others on the shows. Lilley uses blackface to play black rapper S.mouse in “Angry Boys” and brownface to play Jonah, a teenage Tonga native, in “Summer Heights High” and its spinoff series “Jonah From Tonga.” In “We Can Be Heroes,” he plays Ricky Wong, a Chinese physics student.
Australian Broadcast Company
"Little Britain"
The BBC sketch comedy show, which aired from 2003-05 and featured David Walliams and Matt Lucas playing a range of often stereotypical characters (sometimes in blackface) was pulled from most U.K. streaming services in early June, including Netflix, BBC iPlayer and BritBox.
BBC
"Fawlty Towers"
The BBC removed a 1975 episode of the classic John Cleese sitcom that included a number of racial epithets, including the N-word, from its UKTV streaming service. After lobbying from Cleese and others, the network announced it would reinstate the episode with "extra guidance and warnings ... to highlight potentially offensive content."
BBC
"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"
On June 11, Netflix pulled a sixth-season episode of the long-running sitcom from its service in the U.K. over the depiction of two characters wearing blackface. (The series streams on Hulu in the U.S.)
"W/ Bob and David"
On June 16, Netflix pulled an episode of Bob Odenkirk and David Cross’ sketch comedy series “W/ Bob and David” over a sketch that features Cross in blackface. Cross and Odenkirk have since defended the sketch.
Netflix
"The Mighty Boosh" and "The League of Gentleman"
These English comedies were pulled from Netflix in the UK over scenes involving blackface. They were not previously available in the U.S.
A scene from "The Mighty Boosh" via YouTube
"30 Rock"
Co-creators Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, along with NBCUniversal, requested the removal of four episodes containing blackface and other racially insensitive material.
Hulu removed three episodes of the sitcom “Scrubs” which featured blackface at the request of the show’s producers and ABC Studios. Series creator Bill Lawrence had previously tweeted that an effort to remove offensive episodes of the show was in the works.
In late June, Netflix pulled the “Community” Season 2 episode “Advanced Dungeons & Dragons,” which features Ken Jeong’s character, Ben Chang, wearing blackface during a game of “Dungeons & Dragons."
NBC
"Golden Girls"
Hulu pulled a third-season episode of the classic sitcom in which Rue McClanahan and Betty White's characters are mistaken for wearing blackface when they are actually wearing mud masks.
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New times call for a new look at what we should watch and stream
The May 25 killing of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police prompted protests over police brutality and racial injustice across the country — leading many networks and streaming services to reconsider programming. Here are some movies and TV shows that have been canceled or shelved (sometimes temporarily).