When I first read that HBO Max pulled Gone With The Wind, the adjusted for inflation bestselling movie of all time, I was concerned.
After reflecting on their intentions and seeing several weeks of protests (many are peaceful, btw), looting and more, and realizing this is a temporary action to ease tensions, it makes more sense.
But where does this end?
“Let me be real clear: I don’t believe in censorship,” Ridley wrote. “I would just ask, after a respectful amount of time has passed, that the film be re-introduced to the HBO Max platform along with other films that give a more broad-based and complete picture of what slavery and the Confederacy truly were.”
HBO Max pulls ‘Gone with the Wind’ until it can return with ‘historical context’ – CNN
This is a very slippery slope. If streaming companies start pulling every type of movie that is historically offensive, where does it end? This is entertainment, not reality. Fiction and fantasy, regardless if the time it depicts in history is no longer relevant or socially acceptable. Or does it matter?
Don’t know why, but I’m getting a Fahrenheit 451 vibe. Metaphorically. What do you think? Good idea for HBO Max to pull this movie? Bad idea?
Movies, Movies, Movies 
As a Black woman from the South and currently lives in Atlanta, the home of the author who wrote the book, I don’t agree with removing the movie. We can’t erase history. What needs to be done is a deep, open and honest conversation about race. There are tons of movies that characterize Black folks in a negative light. The goal is to make more movies with Black people in them, directed by them, produced by them, etc. We need to see the old films to get context so that we don’t forget where we came from and that we remember the past so that we don’t repeat it.
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Thank you for commenting. I think it’s a good idea that HBO Max plans to bring the movie back along with a discussion, hopefully including everything you mentioned. They aren’t planning on editing the movie, which is another good idea. A film that people can continue to discuss, dissect and critique in its original form is better than an edited version.
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Agreed! Bad idea. Statues are in your face, part of our shared furniture. But a film on a streaming service, that’s the choice of the viewer.
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Well said. So many choices of what to watch on HBO Max. Don’t have to watch this one movie (given it’s sales success and popularity over time, however, any film historian worth his/her salt needs to see this classic film).
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I think it’s a bad idea. One of my teachers in high school used GWTW as a contrast to what was portrayed of the time versus what was “really happening.” She pointed out the things that were illogical (Catholics weren’t regarded well at that time either). It can be used as a tool to learn from.
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