HBO Max pulls Gone With the Wind from its streaming service

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

In a clear sign of the times, and less than two weeks after its launch, HBO Max has made the decision to pull GONE WITH THE WIND from its streaming platform. The move is significant because, despite the film's cinematic stature and popularity, its subject matter has made it a bit of a problematic motion picture in the wake of racial tension that is dominating media coverage.

HBO Max says the film will return to the platform with "discussion of its historical context" but the movie will otherwise remain intact because altering aspects of the film would be like saying some of the prejudices within its story didn't exist. An HBO Max spokesperson had this to say about the decision:

"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. These depictions are certainly counter to WarnerMedia’s values, so when we return the film to HBO Max, it will return with a discussion of its historical context and a denouncement of those very depictions but will be presented as it was originally created because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. If we are to create a more just, equitable, and inclusive future, we must first acknowledge and understand our history."

The 1939 film told the love story of Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler, played by Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable. Based on the 1936 best-selling novel by Margaret Mitchell, the story takes place in the American South, on a plantation outside Atlanta in the aftermath of the Civil War. The argument has been made that the film has not aged well in an era of racial injustice and police brutality. The film portrays slaves as mostly happy with their conditions and loyal to their owners to the very end. The biggest complaint leveled at the film in modern times is that it plays down the horrors of slavery as it romanticizes the suffering of Scarlett O'Hara before, during, and after the Civil War.

On Monday John Ridley, the Academy Award-winning writer-director of 12 YEARS A SLAVE, personally called for the film's removal from HBO Max because he believes the movie "perpetuates some of the most painful stereotypes of people of color":

"It is a film that, as part of the narrative of the “Lost Cause,” romanticizes the Confederacy in a way that continues to give legitimacy to the notion that the secessionist movement was something more, or better, or more noble than what it was — a bloody insurrection to maintain the “right” to own, sell and buy human beings."

Despite the controversy surrounding GONE WITH THE WIND, the film is one of the most well-regarded in cinematic history. The film won 8 Oscars at the 12th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Art Direction, and Best Supporting Actress. The latter win went to Hattie McDaniel, who became the first African American to be awarded an Oscar for her role as Mammy, a loyal house slave. In an unfortunate product of the times, McDaniel had to sit separately from her co-stars at a table in the back of the room due to racial segregation. 

HBO Max did not give a timeline when the film would be added back to the platform with the proper discussions attached but their choice to remove the film is bound to spark a debate about if this was a necessary move or a decision made under intense pressure to reappraise content during this state of current affairs.