Over two weeks after HBO Max initially removed the 1939 Southern war epic Gone With the Wind from its service, the film has returned, with additional context and a disclaimer attached.
Now, before the film plays on the service, it is preceded by a video from TCM host and University of Chicago cinema and media studies professor Jacqueline Stewart, who tells viewers, “You’re about to see one of the most enduringly popular films” of all time, but warns “the film has been repeatedly protested, dating back to the announcement of its production” due to its romantic depiction of the antebellum South and stereotypical Black characters.
The film, 1940’s best picture winner at the Oscars, also is now accompanied by “extras” including videos titled “Gone With the Wind: A Complicated Legacy” and “Hattie McDaniel: What a Character!” as well as Stewart’s introduction as its own video.
In her introduction, Stewart adds, “Watching Gone With the Wind can be uncomfortable, even painful. Still it’s important that classic Hollywood films are available to us in their original form for viewing and discussion.” Watching such films can prompt viewers to reflect on their values, Hollywood history and what pop culture says about a previous era, she suggests.
Gone With the Wind was initially removed from HBO’s streaming service on June 9, amid nationwide protests over systemic racism following the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police. In an opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times on June 8, 12 Years a Slave screenwriter John Ridley called on HBO Max to “consider removing” the title because “it is a film that glorifies the antebellum South” and, “when it is not ignoring the horrors of slavery, pauses only to perpetuate some of the most painful stereotypes of people of color.”
(Excerpt) Read more in: The Hollywood Reporter