On Tuesday night, HBO Max removed Academy Award winner, Gone With the Wind from its catalog. The 1939 movie has long been considered a triumph of American cinema and one of the best films of all time, but one that romanticizes the Civil War-era South. In a statement on Tuesday, An HBO Max spokesperson stated,
” HBO Max will eventually bring the film back “with a discussion of its historical context” while denouncing its racial missteps”
“‘Gone With the Wind’ is a product of its time and depicts some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that have, unfortunately, been commonplace in American society,”
“These racist depictions were wrong then and are wrong today, and we felt that to keep this title up without an explanation and a denouncement of those depictions would be irresponsible.”
Gone With The Wind won multiple Academy Awards, including best picture and best-supporting actress for Hattie McDaniel, the first African-American to win an Oscar. No word on when the film will return to HBO Max.
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David Gonzalez is the founder and chief film critic of Reel Talk Inc. and host of the Reel Chronicles and Chop Talk (80s horror) podcasts. As a Cuban American independent film critic, David writes fair and diverse criticism covering movies of all genres and spotlighting minority voices through Reel Talk. David has covered and reviewed films at Tribeca, TIFF, NYFF, Sundance, SXSW, and several other film festivals.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-Approved Critic and a member of the Latino Entertainment Journalists Association (LEJA), New York Film Critics Online, Hollywood Film Critics Association, and the North American Film Critic Association.
As an avid film collector and awards watcher, David's finger is always on the industry's pulse. David informs and educates with knowledgeable and exciting content and has become a trusted resource for readers and listeners alike. Email him at david@reeltalkinc.com or follow him on Twitter and Instagram @reeltalkinc.
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