Was Gone With The Wind Racist?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2584135/Cambridge-University-college-forced-drop-racist-Gone-With-The-Wind-ball-theme-complaints.html

[jno]

I think GWTW (the book rather tha the film) was quite in favour of the Ku Kluz Klan, so foreign students could probably attend the ball in white hoods and sheets.

[emmie]

not for its time, it might be considered so now, but Margaret Mitchell who wrote the book, showed a south in decline, the idea of gentility of the south was going and then gone, plantations were a fact of life, and slaves were a part of that, in pretty much the same way that 12 years a slave shows the reality, harsh but true.

[albaqwerty]

GWTW was my late MIL's favourite film, I think she'd be horrified if I told her it was racist.
Next time it's on the box, I'll sit through it (with gritted teeth) and opened eyes and ears.

[joggerjayne]

// Many of our ancestors were not only enslaved, but also brutally killed in the arena.

You sure you're not making that up? //

What? We're slaves not made to fight in the gladiator arena ??

(Googles)

"the first gladiators were slaves who were made to fight to the death"

"Most gladiators were prisoners of war, or slaves bought for the purpose"

"The Gladiators came from criminals, prisoners of war or slaves"

"In general, gladiators were condemned criminals, prisoners of war, or slaves"

Etc.

[emmie]

have they read the book or seen the film i wonder.

[jno]

andy - with respect, GWTW was made in 1939, not 1909. It's true the civil rights movement as we know it wasn't around, but the NAACP had been fighting all century to end discrimination against African Americans, and slavery had long since been regarded as abhorrent. Politically, GWTW was widely seen as a throwback even then.

It was also the year of Stagecoach, so Westerns weren't that primitive any more either!

[joggerjayne]

"Our Latin conquerors benefited enormously from enslaving us" ...

http://www.theweek.co.uk/politics/28175/rome-must-apologise-enslaving-britain

[joggerjayne]

Our major export, apart from hunting dogs, was slaves for Rome ...

http://www.theweek.co.uk/28181/britons-were-slaves-too

[jno]

just querying the "many of our ancestors" bit, JJ. Actual statistics welcome, though.

[joggerjayne]

Nobody can tell the British about slavery.

We were being exploited as slaves waaaaaay before anyone else.

[jim360]

Slavery started in 43AD?!

[jno]

have you manumitted Olive yet?

[ludwig]

Gone with the wind was definitely racist. All the black characters were slaves and servants. Surely some of the black actors could have been cast as plantation owners and army generals?

[joggerjayne]

Not sure if the statistics are all that detailed, jno. I think they misplaced the floppy disc.

But I suppose it's possible that the Romans just took a small handful of slaves, and went away and left us in peace.

Although the suggestion that "Britain's major export was slaves for Rome" is another possible view.

[albaqwerty]

I know I shouldn't type this as it's in News,
but wouldn't Olive have been Seagulled instead of manu'ed?

[Zeuhl]

It was a product of its time and reflected the society that produced it which was still (in many States) practising segregation and authorised murder.

It also glamorises a society that was built and maintained by slavery

So not a very suitable theme for a Ball in 2014

Why not a Holocaust Ball, or Cambodian Killing Fields Bop?

[sandyRoe]

Most of the black actors also played characters that were feeble minded. A skill in eye rolling must have been a great asset at their auditions.

[jno]

lol, very good alba.

Free the Olive One!

Olive must go to the ball!

[joggerjayne]

Olive seems moderately content.

I only whip her if she forgets to wash my gym kit.