'Gone With The Wind' is back on HBO Max but with a commentary on racism; Read here

The 1939 classic film Gone With The Wind is finally back on HBO Max. About two weeks ago, HBO Max decided to pull down Gone With The Wind after several critics pointed out that the film had racist undertones. In a statement, HBO revealed that they were removing the film, and that they would only reinstate it after adding a trigger warning and message on racism. 

Gone With The Wind was an oscar-winning film set in the American South during the Civil War. However, the film included black slave characters, which many critics deemed inappropriate in the modern context, especially after the recent Black Lives Matter protests in the US. Which is why HBO Max's Gone With The Wind now has a four-minute commentary on the brutality of slavery. 

HBO Max adds commentary on slavery as an introduction to Gone With The Wind

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On Wednesday, June 24, 2020, Gone With The Wind returned to HBO Max with a four-minute introduction. This introduction included a recording of a panel discussion at the Turner Classic Movie (TCM) festival in 2019. Jacqueline Stewart, the host of TCM, starts off the introduction by saying that Gone With The Wind presents antebellum South as a world of grace and beauty without acknowledging the brutality of chattel slavery upon which the world was based. 

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Jacqueline Stewart adds that eighty years after its initial release, Gone with the Wind is still a film of undeniable cultural significance. Further, she states that the film not only documents Hollywood’s racist practices of the past but it also shows that popular culture is still deep-rooted in racism and discrimination against Black Americans. Jacqueline Stewart then talks about Gone With The Wind's historic achievements.

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She reveals that the film won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Moreover, it also made history when supporting actor Hattie McDaniel, who played a maid in the film, became the first African-American actor to ever win an Oscar. However, Jacqueline Stewart noted that during the Oscar ceremony, Hattie McDaniel had to sit far apart from her White cast members due to the racial protocols of that time. 

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[Promo from gone_with_the_wind1800 Instagram]