“Forgotten Hollywood”- Back with a Breeze…
Manny P. here…
“`Gone With the Wind has returned to HBO Max, having been restored to the streaming service’s library with a new prologue about the movies problematic themes and depiction of the antebellum South. Here to offer perspective is Jacqueline Stewart, host of TCM’s Silent Sunday Nights and professor in Department of Cinema and Media Studies at University of Chicago. In addition to Stewart’s opening, an hour-long panel discussion, The Complicated Legacy of Gone with the Wind, appears as a special feature with the movie on HBO Max.
JACQUELINE STEWART
“`After offering the obligatory achievements by the epic, Stewart acknowledges that it paints the picture of the antebellum South as a romantic, idyllic setting that is tragically been lost to the past. Producer David O. Selznick assured the NAACP at the time that he was sensitive to the feelings of minority peoples, yet proceeded to depict a world of grace and beauty without acknowledging the brutalities of the system of slavery as well its legacies of racial inequality.
“`Understanding that this was literary fiction should not allow us to ignore realities of a time when a race of people were routinely sold as property, and left to fend for themselves while under the harsh scrutiny of their so-called owners. HBO’s prologue at the very least offers a measured explanation that resembles historical context.
“`An honest question… Is it enough?
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2020 at 8:58 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
You must be logged in to post a comment.