The temporary removal of the Oscar-winning drama is renewing a conversation about the film industry’s murky past and its effect on society at largeThere is a scene in 1974’s underground blaxploitation-era film The Spook Who Sat by the Door where a group of black militants comically mock the ubiquity of Gone With the Wind-like imagery that is so embedded within American culture.
As the others laugh out loud at the performative racism essential to this historical representation, the film’s main character, Freeman, expounds on the larger meaning of such things: “You have just played out the American Dream.
And now we’re going to turn it into a nightmare.”Related: Gone With the Wind dropped from HBO Max over depiction of slavery
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