Protest Effect: HBO removes 'Gone With the Wind' movie due to racism scenes

Leading streaming companies are removing film and television products from their film libraries that reflected the racist attitudes of previous years, writes Air force.

Photo: video frame YouTube / Michael and Stephanie Sandberg

One of the first was the streaming platform HBO Max. She removed the film adaptation of Gone with the Wind, a Hollywood classic starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable.

The company said the 1939 film was "a product of its time" and demonstrated ethnic and racial prejudices "that were wrong then and remain wrong today."

In its official statement, HBO Max indicates that it would be irresponsible to leave this film without any explanation or overt condemnation of the racism it portrays.

The company promised that the film will return to the platform in its original form, since any other option would suggest that such phenomena never existed. There was no specific date for the return.

A similar explanation has been given previously on other streaming sites regarding some older cartoons, such as Tom and Jerry and Dumbo.

"Depressing stereotypes"

The film Gone with the Wind was based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell, in which the minor characters - dark-skinned servants, in particular the maid Mammy - are shown happy with their life of servitude; they remain loyal to their masters even after the abolition of slavery.

Hattie McDaniel, who played Mammy, became the first black actress to be nominated by the American Film Academy and receive an Oscar for her role.

In total, this film received eight Oscars and to this day remains the highest grossing film in the history of cinema, taking into account inflation (if calculated according to the Guinness Book of Records method; Avatar of 2009 and Titanic of 1997 are behind it by a significant margin ).

American screenwriter John Ridley wrote in the Los Angeles Times this week that the film "glorifies the antebellum [slave-owning] South" and perpetuates on screen "depressing stereotypes about people of color."

“This film features the best talent in Hollywood at the time, working together to poetize a story that never happened,” said the screenwriter of 12 Years a Slave.

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Without Little Britain

Late last week, the comedy series Little Britain was pulled from the BBC iPlayer, Netflix and BritBox streaming platforms due to the way some of the characters in the sketch show, written and performed by two British comedians, Matt Lucas and David, were portrayed Walliams.

Netflix on June 5 removed another series created by the same authors, Come Fly With Me, which has not been available on BBC iPlayer since its premiere in 2010-2011. Britbox removed it from its film library in November 2019.

The BBC and Britbox axed Little Britain on 8 June. A BBC spokesman said times had changed since the TV shows first aired.

The first season of Little Britain premiered in 2003, and the fourth season premiered in 2008.

In both shows there are scenes where white actors portray people from other ethnic groups.

Matt Lucas told Big Issue magazine in 2017: “If I could go back in time and do Little Britain again, I wouldn’t make jokes about drag queens. I wouldn't portray dark-skinned characters. By and large, I wouldn't do this show now. It would offend someone. Back then we were doing more merciless comedy than I would allow myself now.”

His comic duo partner David Walliams also admitted that in today's world he would have definitely done differently.

In early 2020, Matt Lucas announced that he and Wallyiams would like to revive the show in some form for the foreseeable future and that they had talks with Netflix about it.

However, Netflix then denied reports of such negotiations. She did not name the reason why both shows became inaccessible for viewing.

In early June, in the wake of anti-racism protests, British comedian Lee Francis also apologized for portraying black celebrities in his TV show Bo' Selecta (urban slang for "cool DJ"), which first aired in 2002.

In the show, which was aired on British Channel 4, Francis parodyed Michael Jackson, Craig David, Mel Bee, and many white pop stars using masks.

“I talked to a few people recently and realized that I just didn’t realize how hurtful it was at the time, so I want to apologize,” the comedian said.

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Reality show about cops in a landfill story?

On June 9, cable channel Paramount decided to stop filming its popular reality show “Cops,” which had been airing since 1989.

At the end of May, the show was temporarily off the air when protests erupted over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis during police custody.

The future of another police reality show, Live PD, is also in question.

In early June, cable network A&E pulled several episodes from the air, saying it was reconsidering whether to return the show "out of respect for the loved ones of George Floyd and others who lost their lives."

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