My love of Gone with the Wind and other problematic films/literature

[RedSquirrel111]

Interested in other opinions on this.

I first read Gone with the Wind in school and since then have gone through 3 copies. It's my favourite comfort book that I re-read a couple of times a year. I also adore the film, Vivien Leigh and the gorgeous technicolor cinematography.

However it is undeniably and explicitly racist. Both the film and the book, more so the book (if you can measure such things). I fell in love with Scarlett as the first 'fuck you' 3 dimensional female character I'd ever read, and I still love her.

Do you read it as 'a book of its time'? (With a critical eye but still enjoy it?) Or is it one that whilst I don't want to say 'cancelled' should be resigned to history in the way that, say, birth of a nation, has been?

When it comes to artists I'm very much 'separate the art from the creator' and therefore have no problem reading Roald Dahl for example.

However this is different as its the subject matter and not just the author.

I'd especially be grateful for the view of any BAME women - especially if American!!!

I don’t agree with cancelling books. Not read GWTW but I still have a collection of Tintin books from many years ago, that I’ll dip into once in a while. Some character depictions are problematic, however it doesn’t stop me enjoying them. They’re a product of a particular time, and I think societies that start trying to erase uncomfortable parts of history reflected in literature or art are going in a backwards direction.

Race has always been america's besetting sin. Check this out-massive popular hit only 30+ years before GWTW. prepare to be shocked/amazed this ever got published-voices.pitt.edu/TeachersGuide/Unit%206/AllCoonsLookAliketoMe.htm

@dreamingbohemian Put me on the side eye list because I love Gone with the Wind. 😔

Really OP, if you can't read and enjoy that, you can't read and enjoy most literature written more than five minutes ago.

Doing what I hate here as I haven't read the full thread - but read the first few pages

BUT
Shakespeare, Dickens et al. We know life is not like that now - even were there are uncomfortable comparisons. It does't stop us appreciating their version of what happened then - Dickens particularly.

I'm old and I watch the 'it was alright in the xxs' and sometimes I agree and sometimes I think 'it still should be' (maybe rarely). But I also see things happening now that I am damn sure are going to be questionable in a few years time. Things that younger people than me think are fine and I know won't be.

Slavery is worse than most/all of these but we can't know what we don't know. And hindsight is always 20-20 (or 8-8 in modern terms)

I do think a lot of people think GWTW was written during or soon after the Civil War, rather than in 1936.

As pointed out on the first page, GWTW was protested for being racist at the time of its release (well, at least by the time of the movie’s release). I guess the difference is that the majority of US society still thought racism was okay in the 30s. All to say, while standards (particularly among white people) have changed somewhat, it was always a controversial book.

Margaret Mitchell based her novel on the accounts of Southern soldiers/contemporaries who lived during the war. It wasn't too long after the war. The war ended in 1865 and she was born in 1900, so she grew up with stories of the war and the old South.

It's easy to look back on slavery and think it was, quite rightly, horrendous and that we'd never accept it now. What is harder, is to answer the question of how on earth it was allowed to go on for so long. How can humans commit such awful atrocities.

GWTW is from the perspective of a spoilt plantation owner's daughter. She was brought up with slavery being a part of life and acceptable. It takes a lot of insight to truly question what is deemed normal in your lifetime. GWTW is interesting from this angle.
I don't think books should ever be banned.

Is anyone calling for it to be banned?

Then perhaps you should read it again before saying it’s not racist?

Exactly @ancientgran

I loved that film as a teen. I loved all historical romances/films and was in love with Rhett and though Scarlett was so beautiful. Her child dying was heart breaking.

I want to watch it again with adults eyes.

However in terms of being horrified, I have been horrified by the xenophobia and racism I have witnessed in recent years when we should know better. The condemnation of muslims. The lack of humanity and help towards refugees like the Syrians. Brexit and the hatred towards eastern Europeans.

We grew up learning about the horrors of slavery. About nazis and ethnic cleansing. We have a world of knowledge at our fingertips, yet, a little propaganda by odious white men and so many people support it. That's what has really worried me in recent years. Before I would have bet my life that it would never happen in our society and in our times.

People are sheep and most follow the crowd. They are self serving and are willing to sacrifice others wellbeing (people, animals, planet) for their own comfort.

The way animals are abused and yet we still consume them, leaves me speechless too. How can you see footage of these sentient creatures being tortured and yet be happy to eat them?

My friend's white, educated father told her that white hetero men are being hard done by now. People are so deluded that it is mind boggling.

I can excuse people who lived in a time when there wasnt all this knowledge at hand. Where conditions were a lot more different but for it to happen now is unforgivable.