Why is "Gone With the Wind" considered offensive?
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Anonymous
| It's definitely about an offensive topic, but it does such a remarkable job illustrating the fact that the world isn't as neatly split into "good guys" and "bad guys" as we'd like to believe. |
Anonymous
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Racial stereotypes
old news discussed much during the 1980s catch up |
Anonymous
Still a great story though |
Anonymous
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I don’t think it needs to be censored, but I do think it needs critical context, both before reading the book or watching the film.
I believe that AMC still airs the movie (over Thanksgiving?) but with an informative introduction. I hope that newer printings of the book come with a critical foreword. It would be one thing if GWTW was told from a first-person narrative; it is not. It is told from an omniscient narrator. So it’s not Scarlett saying that watermelon and barbecue are “so dear to Negro hearts,” it is an omniscient narrator. When you consider that the omniscient narrator is racist, that says a lot about the author and about majority culture. It would be an entirely different critical reading if it were literally just Scarlett’s perspective. But it’s not; the omniscient narrator is racist AF. |
Anonymous
Many parts of the movie glorify slavery. |
Anonymous
You’ve got to be joking. It’s a reflection of the highly segregated and racist and abusive south. |
Anonymous
That OP has to be told this is so so sad. They are so out of touch. |
Anonymous
No it most certainly is not. You would have a leg to stand on if a single one of the “connected to the main characters” enslaved people in the book tried to run away or successfully ran away, or tried to subvert their oppression in any way. THAT is reality. There was an Underground Railroad, there were uprisings, there were revolts, there was running away and subversion. Instead, all the enslaved people we get to know in the book are yes ma’am no ma’am I love my family this is where I belong, Ms. Ellen is a saint and Scarlett you saved us and oh Miss Melly what would we do without you, and Tara is home. If there had been rebellious, subversive, justice-seeking enslaved people portrayed in that book, or even enslaved people speaking out against injustice, you would have a half a point. You do not. |
Anonymous
I’m sorry I replied to the wrong poster, my point was meant to apply to a different poster |
Anonymous
| I think it can be a good book/movie to show your child/children what the unfortunate predominant thought process was at the time. But you need an educated adult to guide and frame it properly and to know whether your child is ready for this type of nuance. BUT: white children need to grow up learning about this. It is real and it was real. Maga folks will like to say, “We do not have racial anymore!@ but kids need to learn how to identify it. |
Anonymous
Sorry, how so? The “bad guys” (the south) weren’t so bad and the “good guys” (the north) weren’t so good? |
Anonymous
| OP, google and read the many, many articles about this. |
Anonymous
Who are the “good guys”? |
Anonymous
The "good guys" are supposedly the yankees, while the "bad guys" are supposedly the confederates, but it's really not as simple as that. Humans are complex. |
Anonymous
NP. Agreed. Also who exactly do you think was making all the money off slavery? Cotton was shipped up north. The north was not perfect. Most southerners did not own slaves. |