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

[redman41]

Are we Farting in colour now AOG ??
Where on earth do you find this trash from ?
Get a life, along with those so called 'Students'

[jno]

it seemed to have no problem with slavery, all part of the romanticisation of the Old South. I wonder what they expected black students to dress as?

[anotheoldgit]

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/03/19/article-2584135-1C69095A00000578-241_634x489.jpg

/// Stereotype: Much criticism stems from the fact that the principle black characters such as Mammy played by Hattie McDaniel (pictured with Vivien Leigh) are reduced to playing stereotypical maids offering up cheerful servitude ///

Wasn't there also white stereotypical maids, who also offered up 'cheerful servitude' to their British Victorian and Edwardian mistresses?

[anotheoldgit]

redman41

Actually it was from the Independent, but the Daily Mail do these things so much better.

http://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/exclusive-cambridge-university-college-forced-to-drop-racist-may-ball-theme-9200646.html

[albaqwerty]

I always thought that students were broad-minded.

ho-hum.

Presumably, there won't be any 'My Fair Lady' balls either.

[jno]

were they slaves?

[jno]

come on, alba, you really think a Slaveowners' Ball is a good idea?

[albaqwerty]

put like that, jno, absolutely most definitely not.

I took the idea to be a nod to the fashions of the day and nothing politcal about it.

(gawd, I hate the typed word at times)

[joggerjayne]

I hope they don't have the traditional student Toga Party.

The Romans enslaved countless Britons as slaves. Many of our ancestors were not only enslaved, but also brutally killed in the arena.

Until the Italian government formally apologises to Britain for this disgusting period in their history, I for one will not be going to Italy.

Okay, I might be going this weekend, but I will be boycotting the place in spirit.

[humbersloop]

I can't wait to get the dirt on Three Men in a Boat..

[joggerjayne]

Venetian masked balls !!

Those Venetians were the descendants of the early Italian invaders who enslaved Britons and put them to death.

No more masked balls, I say.

[jno]

mm, well, I still wonder what happens to a black student who wants to go to the ball. Women dress like Mammy and men dress like Pork (I think his name was)?

[sandyRoe]

Has Montmorency written an exposure in some salacious Sunday rag?

[jno]

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

You sure you're not making that up?

They were going to execute Caratacus after hauling him through town in a victory parade, but he gave such a stirring speech to the Senate that they let him go.

[albaqwerty]

according to AOG's piece, the college is attended by students from 50 different countires, so if your country didn't appear in GWTW, would that mean you couldn't have gone to the Ball anyway?

[albaqwerty]

wasn't Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

Why was he at a Senate?

[andy-hughes]

Was Gone With The Wind racist?

Yes, but as the Civil Rights movement was in its infancy, the makers can perhaps be forgiven for going with stereotypical characters - as all cinema directors did in those days. This was the time when the good cowboy wore a white hat, and the bad guy was usually chosen because the actor's eyes were close together, or he had a particularly heavy beard growth. It was of its time.

Now, people are more enlightened, and to look at the film in context is to see it as a work of fiction - it is not a documentary, nor is it trying or pretending so to be.

But the idea of a themed ball like this is not a good one, simply because it does throw up the argument about slavery and opression - and there are plenty of non-specific themes, such as the replacement they have chosen, which will not cause any offence to non-white students.