‘Gone with Wind’ has left HBO Max until it can return with a ‘historical context’

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'Gone with Wind' has left HBO Max until it can return with a 'historical context'
The removal of the film comes after a mass protest passed across the United States following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, who was killed while in police custody.
The 1939 film, which tells the love story of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler during the American Civil War, is considered by many to be a cinematic classic and is one of the most popular films ever made. However, the film is also incredibly controversial. A portrait of a film about slavery, African Americans, and the Civil War South has been received much more critically in the decades since its release.

HBO spokesman Max, who like CNN owns WarnerMedia, told CNN Business that “Done with the Wind” is a product of its time and portrays some ethnic and racial prejudices that are, unfortunately, common in American society.

“Those racist depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. We thought it would be irresponsible to keep this title without explaining and canceling those depictions,” the spokesman said.

The spokesman added that the film, when it returns to HBO Max, will return with a discussion of its historical context and a renunciation of those highly portrayed images, “and will be presented” as originally created, otherwise it could come to the same as he claims those prejudices never existed. ”

“If we want to create a fairer, fairer and more inclusive future, we must first acknowledge and understand our history,” the spokesman said.

The removal also comes after John Ridley, an award-winning academic screenwriter for “12 Years of Goods.” he wrote this week in the Los Angeles Times asking HBO Max to remove the film from its rotation.

“It’s a film that glorifies the antebelum in the south. It’s a film that, when the horrors of slavery are not ignored, pauses just to perpetuate some of the most difficult stereotypes of people of color,” Ridley wrote. “The film had the best talents in Hollywood at the time working together to sentimentalize history that never was.”

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Ridley has made it clear that he does not want “Gone with Wind” to be transferred to a vault in Burbank, California, but to be reduced to “respectable time.”

“Let me be clear: I don’t believe in censorship,” Ridley wrote. “I would just ask that, after a respectable time has passed, the film be re-introduced on the HBO Max platform, along with other films that give a broader and more complete picture of what slavery and confederation really are.”

Ridley added that the film “could be paired with conversations about narratives and why it’s important to have many voices sharing stories from different perspectives, not just those that reinforce the attitudes of the prevailing culture.”

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