There is about to be an enormous overhaul of content Hollywood pumps out.
For example, Hollywood just canceled “Cops” after 32 seasons and it’s adjacent relative “Live PD” for fear it has a negative effect on society, while other violent video games and movies are just fine. But this isn’t about just reality cop shows.
And HBO just proved that by blacklisting this all-time classic movie for the most absurd reasons.
Did you know that “Gone With the Wind” is the highest-grossing movie of all time?
People think the passing-of-the-torch succession went from “Gone With the Wind” to “Titanic” to “Avatar” and then to the current title holder which opened last year, “Avengers: Endgame.”
That’s technically true but the more nuanced version is that “Gone With the Wind” is still the all-time record-holder per adjusted inflation.
If you start adjusting for inflation, “Gone With The Wind” stands head-and-shoulders above both the other aforementioned titles with an estimated $3.44 billion worldwide, but the Academy Award-winning film also benefits from having seven national releases between its original 1939 premiere and 1974.
And when you consider population increase coupled with the exponential amount of theaters available, it’s incredible to think “Gone With the Wind” still holds this title, technically. More people went to see “Gone With the Wind” than other biggest box-office grossers.
The 1939 film, based on Margaret Mitchell’s widely popular novel of the same name, tells the story of young Scarlett O’Hara, who struggles, and schemes, to maintain possession of her family’s property amid Civil War devastation. However, the movie has received some unnecessary backlash in recent years due to its depiction of black people. Even more aggressively, some critics think it has a positive portrayal of slavery.
And that’s specifically why HBO decided to blacklist the Civil War epic on its new HBO Max streaming service, until they can write an absurd disclaimer talking about the historical context.
Last week, screenwriter of “12 Years a Slave,” John Ridley, wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times calling for HBO to “consider removing” “Gone With the Wind” from its platforms adding, “It doesn’t just ‘fall short’ with regard to representation. It is a film that glorifies the antebellum South. It is a film that, when it is not ignoring the horrors of slavery, pauses only to perpetuate some of the most painful stereotypes of people of color.”
Ridley also explains it “romanticizes the Confederacy.”
HBO absurdly obliged this one opinion.
A spokesperson for the Home Box-Office said, “’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. These depictions are certainly counter to WarnerMedia’s values, so when we return the film to HBO Max, it will return with a discussion of its historical context and a denouncement of those very depictions, but will be presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. If we are to create a more just, equitable and inclusive future, we must first acknowledge and understand our history.”
If HBO’s concern is that by showing this movie without a disclaimer is complicity in the movie’s content, then maybe there are a whole lot of other movies they should do that for too, right?
What about all the movies that glorify gangs, mafias, thieves and the countless other criminals as “good guys.” What about all the movies with anti-hero protagonists?
There are literally a countless amount of movies that fit that exact description. Why are they ignoring those movies as well?
The reality is there are thousands of movies that depict controversial painful moments in American and world history. When you watch a biopic or a historical event movie, don’t you want it to be accurate instead of being lied to that it was all cupcakes and rainbows?
For the same reason that Hollywood canceled “Cops” and “Live PD,” Hollywood doesn’t think you understand or can compartmentalize what you’re watching. That’s obnoxiously condescending.
