“Gone With the Wind” got canceled and “un-canceled,” but there’s a catch. (Isn’t there always?) HBO Max responded to an LA Times op-ed demanding that the 1939 film be memory-holed due to its troublesome portrait of the South, slavery and the Civil War. The epic drama doesn’t reflect modern thinking on race. (But then, how could it, as a product of some 80 years ago?)
Still, HBO Max’s knee-jerk reaction, clearly inspired by the George Floyd protests and riots, isn’t the right answer. Nor is its proposed compromise: An HBO Max spokesperson said the film "will return with a discussion of its historical context and a denouncement of those very depictions."
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