HBO Max, the newest incarnation of the channel's popular streaming platform, has removed "Gone with the Wind" (1939). This, the company claims, is because it portrays "ethnic and racial prejudices" that "were wrong then and are wrong today." The film, based on the Margaret Mitchell novel set during the American Civil War, is about a slave-owning family who retain the loyalty of their slaves after the war has ended and slaves are freed. It was first released to streaming in March 2020.
"The movie had the very best talents in Hollywood at that time working together to sentimentalize a history that never was," said John Ridley, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of "12 Years A Slave."
Hatti McDaniel, who played Mammy in the film, was the first black actress to be nominated for and win an Academy Award for her role. The movie won 10 Oscars and was one of the highest grossing films of its time.
But does that make it a staple of American filmmaking, or is it time to take a long, hard look at what is allowed on streaming platforms? "Gone with the Wind" stands high on the Rotten Tomatoes scale at 91%, and has a G rating. This means it has been deemed acceptable for audiences of any age. By removing it from their streaming platform, HBO Max is not only calling out a film that "glorifies the antebellum south," but is raising an important question about how films are rated.
In his Los Angeles Times op-ed , John Ridley asserts, "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."
"At a moment when we are all considering what more we can do to fight bigotry and intolerance, I ask all content providers review their libraries and make a good-faith effort to separate programming that might be lacking in its representation from that which is blatant in its demonization."
Some have strongly protested HBO's actions and proclaimed their support for the film by propelling its DVD edition to the top spot on the Amazon's online sales charts. Megan McCain, TV host, expressed shock and dismay at HBO's decision, tweeting, "Are we going to pull all of the movies in which women are treated as sex objects too? Guess how many films we'll have left? Where does this end??"
According to Forbes, "Gone with the Wind" is not retired from HBO Max forever, but instead "temporarily removed…with the intent on returning it alongside contextual content." The film is expected to return to the streaming service at a future date with an introduction from Jacqueline Stewart, a Turner Classic Movies host and professor in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago.
