“Forgotten Hollywood”- Gone with the Wind Not Going Away…
Manny P. here…
Calm down, folks… No one in the Federal Government is planning to ban Gone with the Wind from purchase or future theatrical screenings.
A New York Post columnist last week started the fuss by suggesting the classic flick and its themes were suspect in its romanticizing of the Confederate war against the states. He concluded by asking his readers to consider (as he surmised): The offensively sympathetic celluloid portrayal of slavery and enshrining the falsehood that the Civil War wasn’t fought over slavery — in the wake of the Charleston church slaughter.
The reason for the panic: Ultra-conservative social media sites suggested the Post writer was a flaming socialist fanatic. They also piggy-backed the charge with an inflammatory photo still of a book-burning scene from the film — Fahrenheit 451. So called Fair-and-balanced websites decided to pick up the right wing slant, nationally, and suddenly, Gone with the Wind skyrocketed in popularity as of Friday. It seems, Americans do give a damn about the epic feature!
Warner Brothers, which has distributed Gone with the Wind since 1996 (it has sold more theater tickets than any other film, ever), is a politically progressive company, sensitive and socially responsible enough about outdated racial attitudes to have placed disclaimers on some older films and cartoons. Still, they are a company with stockholders, and there is no way they are going to completely withdraw a film as lucrative as Gone with the Wind from circulation.
Truth be told… Columnist Lou Lumenick stopped far short of calling for ANY cinematic censorship; even for the more blatantly racist The Birth of a Nation. However, his soul-searching words caused a run on Gone with the Wind blu-ray purchases, surpassing sales of the highly popular Fifty Shades of Gray and American Sniper on Amazon.
One can argue the merits of the Best Picture of 1939, but I assure you, this movie will not be banished to a museum for viewing. Meanwhile, the South Carolina State Assembly seems headed for voting to remove the Confederate flag from its premises as early as next week.
By the way, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Olivia de Havilland who celebrated her 99th year, last week. She played Melanie Hamilton Wilkes in the motion picture classic.
Oh, the GWTW poster above is meant simply as satire; that’s Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and an atomic bomb. My tongue is firmly planted against my cheek. It’s the kind of political humor that drives terrorist groups like ISIS crazy, and what makes America great.
Have a safe-and-sane 4th of July…
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Saturday, July 4th, 2015 at 1:43 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
You must be logged in to post a comment.