CNA Staff, Jun 10, 2020 / 13:42 pm
Ongoing American conversation on race and history focused on cinema Wednesday, when streaming service HBO Max announced it would pull "Gone with the Wind" from its rotation of movies, adding information on its historical context and a denunciation of its racially charged aspects before returning the film to its collection.
The 1939 movie, adapted from Margaret Mitchell's bestselling Civil War novel, is the first film in which an African-American performer, Hattie McDaniel, won an Oscar. But critics say the movie perpetuates harmful stereotypes about African-Americans, and glorifies slave ownership in the antebellum South.
While the film will likely be the subject of ongoing debate, few outside Georgia know about the Catholic Church's connection to the enduring place of "Gone with the Wind" in American life.
In 2011, the estate of a nephew of Mitchell donated half the trademark and literary rights to the "Gone with the Wind" novel to the Archdiocese of Atlanta.