BACK WITH THE WIND
HBO adding Gone with the Wind back onto streaming service but will include a new intro to give ‘historical context’
HBO will be reinstating Gone with the Wind back onto its streaming service but a new introduction will provide some "historical context."
The 1939 movie will be returning to our screens after being removed on June 9 amid and anti-racism protests following 's death.
But when the film starring Vivien Leigh returns to our screens, it will include an introduction from a professor in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of .
Jacqueline Stewart, the host of Silent Sunday Nights on Turner Classic Movies, will endeavor to place the film in its “multiple historical contexts.”
“Originally released in 1939, the film romanticizes slavery as a benign and benevolent institution," she wrote in a titled "Why We Can't Turn Away From Gone With The Wind."
"Still the highest-grossing film in history when adjusted for inflation, ‘Gone with the Wind’ continues to have a profound impact on the ways mainstream audiences visualize the antebellum South and the Reconstruction period that followed the Civil War," Stewart continued.
“Moreover, the classic films we showcase on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) have played a major role in that devalue Black lives and normalize the use of excessive force against Black people.”
Stewart explained that people should still be able to watch Gone with the Wind in order to analyze it.
“Right now, people are turning to movies for racial re-education, and the top-selling books on Amazon are about anti- and racial inequality,” she said.
“If people are really doing their homework, we may be poised to have our most informed, honest and productive national conversations yet about Black lives on screen and off.”
Her comments come after HBO Max decided to remove the film as public pressure mounted to remove it in light of global demonstrations.
In a op-ed, John Ridley, the screenwriter of 12 Years a Slave, urged HBO to remove the movie because of its perpetuation of racial stereotypes.
Ridley suggested it was re-introduced to the streaming giant "with other films that give a more broad-based and complete picture of what slavery and the Confederacy truly were."
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HBO Max said that 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, and we felt that to keep this title up without an explanation and a denouncement of those depictions would be irresponsible," their continued.
It hasn't been confirmed what date the film will be returning to HBO Max.
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