Gone with the Wind

[Dapper Dan]

I'm interested to know what we think of the film 'Gone with the wind'. I know there was considerable criticism from the black intelligensia around the time it was made.

I know that many today will consider the film a quaint anachronism, but in fact I think it well captures the average social mindset of an era (early 20th cent.). That romanticized view of slavery and the aristocratic manorial system in america was perhaps as askew as the demonizing view popular today.

Was the portrayal of 'Mammy' as the powerful and canny force in black culture inaccurate at the time? Is it inaccurate now? The other black characters are peripheral and/or vapid. Many of the white characters are also correctly portrayed as vapid and naieve.

It would be interesting to see a re-make of the film, complete with the superlative cinematography, but with a parallel black drama included. One that shows the black degradation as an equal story, not a trivial sideshow to the destruction of southern white autonomy. And one that includes a powerful male black role; perhaps a depiction of slave-to-legislator or slave-to-independent farmer, such as did occur in fact. One that shows an evolution that makes possible a Booker T Washington not long after, for instance.

[Jill Monroe]

i think by today's standards..a movie like this couldnt have been made without a firestorm of controversy.

at THAT time...as you said..many of the depictations that were shown (the interaction between Mammy and Scarlett...their places in the social heiarchy, etc) were acceptable. Many of them same obviously dated, corny or quaint BUT the over all appeal of the movie still endures when seen for what it is. Although i will not hesitate to say that with regards to social standing, some white people STILL walk around with that vapid/naive mentality to this day...and think that they are AUTOMATICALLY "royalty" simply because they are white.

Obviously that kind of setting will not be found anywhere in the south or america today.

"Mammy" became one of the most memorable characters from that movie...and while some people may revile her and consider even the name "mammy" to be a racist term, i know some black women (and men) that ive talked to that have seen this movie consider "Mammy" to be a physical embodiment of the empowerment that black women have. Yes she may have been in a position of servitude in the movie...but she was far from stupid..and saw/perceived more than she was given credit for. She was robust, strong, and constant...and those are some of the POSITIVE things that some of my closest friends that are black have said with regards to her.