Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Gone With the Windis one of cinemas most seductive confections.
But Selznicks bit of salesmanship takes on a double meaning today, becoming a prescient description for the film.
The extent to whichGone With the Windhas seeped into American culture is massive.
It has been endlessly parodied, homaged, copied, and plucked clean for inspiration.
Its clever subversion and updating of certain archetypes puts any film dealing with similar subject matter in its shadow.
This quickly launchedmultiple conversationsabouttheplace of the filmwithin Hollywood history, dredging up older considerations of itsracial insensitivity.
Some haveargued forGone With the Windto be viewed a Confederate monument, andothers against.
But that is a half measure.
Not because it dutifully recreates actual history far from it actually.
It exists today in the loathsome, venomous beating heart at the core of American life.
It isnt just vile, it has been credited with the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan in 1915.
Despite all that,Gone With the Windhas had a curious place in my heart for years.
It is both tragic and endearing, electrifying in its romanticism and delightful in its humor.
It casts a spell that is hard not to be beguiled by.
Its this entrancing nature that makes its racism so tricky.
Slaves are grinning, dumb fools, loyal to a cause that runs on their subservience.
But McDaniels career and position withinGone With the Windactually proves to be a useful way to understand the film.
So, what are we to make ofGone With the Windand its blinkered perspective on history?
But these conversations have been happening since the film was released in 1939.
Hollywood has always loved presenting itself as a liberal mecca.
Its probably a good thing, he said.
Were the ones who talk about AIDS when it was only being whispered.
We talked about civil rights when it wasnt really popular.
In a more realistic assessment, it is nothing but Lost Cause Confederate propaganda.
[…] That is history.
But who is looking for history when watching narrative film?
No film should be a proxy for historical record.
Filmdoesoperate as a history of industry mores, audience desires, and societal constraints.
Touting12 Years a Slaveas a more important historic document and film thanGone With the Windengenders several questions.
Namely, what do we expect and need from films concerning this swath of time in American history?
How are we to truly understand a film if we ignore its context?
What makesGone With the Winds racism so important and difficult to taxonomize is the deftness of its characterization.
They are heroes it can be hard not to root for.
For all her cruelty and selfishness, Scarletts prickly nature make her a fascinating anti-heroine.
To be black in America is to exist in a liminal space.
