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

[sandyRoe]

Be careful if you catch her humming We shall overcome as she goes about her chores.

[emmie]

Ludwig, i don't think they had Black plantation owners at the time the story is set, nor indeed Black Generals, they were just getting around to having freed slaves, those lucky enough if you like, to fight in the civil war when it came
as to British slaves, not just the Romans, as i have pointed out, Europeans were taken in large numbers from many ports, by North African Pirates, the estimate of those taken is over a million, over a fair period if time, but those enslaved rarely made it back, i am not just referring to British, but other European people. I will find the link if you like.

[emmie]

one link, there are others

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/white_slaves_01.shtml

[ludwig]

// Ludwig, i don't think they had Black plantation owners at the time the story is set, nor indeed Black Generals //

Good point em. I never thought of that. While we're on the subject of racism in films though, I've always thought that we never see enough black people in the role of vikings.

[humbersloop]

^mops keyboard

[jno]

I don't really want to get into an argument with the classicist Peter Jones (I did once, and I think it was a draw though he probably thinks he won), but that piece of his isn't as convincing as it might be.

"There may have been as many as 100,000 slaves. Two documents found in London provide the evidence..." Two documents, each about one person; I'm not sure where the existence of the other 999,998 may-have-beens is demonstrated.

[andy-hughes]

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?"

In the same way that modern writers and directors would not dream of offending audiences with stereotypical racist characters - so at that time, they would not offend audiences without said racist characters - hence the absence of any black characters in any position of power or authority, or even reasonable social standing.

As I have said, it was of its time, and film makers are of their time, and looking to put bums on seats, not make political and socio-ecconomic points.

[joggerjayne]

Personally, I can't believe we still allow people to open French restaurants.

The French landed here on the south coast, and took over our entire country. The entire population was held in thrall to our invading French masters.

As far as I know, they've never gone home.

Are we supposed to just forget about it? They slaughtered our defenders with bows and arrows, and took over the whole of our land.

That's the last time I eat French fries!

[emmie]

Kirk Douglas was a slave, in Spartacus, as to the evidence, plenty of documentation of the capture and enslavement of British people, they were needed for the same sorts of reasons slaves are needed, to do the work, and if you didn't then your chances of living on were slim, many didn't survive, most didn't make it back to blighty

[albaqwerty]

what is really despicable, tragic, shocking and disgusting is that slavery is still around in the 21st century.

[jno]

there may have been black Vikings, but it's hard to be sure: some Vikings were called black, but it may just have been a reference to hair colour (as with Erik the Red). Black skinned people seem to have been described as "blue".

[humbersloop]

yes alba, but that doesn't sell papers

and that must have been very confusing for Bluebeard jno

[Zeuhl]

Adding to Andy's point;

it is worth recalling that as recently as 1983, Godley & Creme were briefed to produce an 'abstract' video for Herbie Hancock's 'Rockit' (and made the famous and award winning animatronic film) because the record company reckoned they could sell the record to a white southern audience but not if the ethnicity of the artist was clear.

And many of the American rock and roll stars of the 50s and 60s were white kids created by the record companies plying versions of black music for a white audience because the record companies believed the white audience wouldn't accept the original.

[jno]

The French landed here on the south coast, and took over our entire country

Those weren't French, they were Normans - Vikings who'd settled down. Different people in those days.

#normanwisdom

[jno]

sloopy, it's something to do with the way light reflects. Most people with blackish skin look like shades of dark brown. But there's a cat in my garden at the moment that I'd say was "so black it looks blue". Maybe if you stuck him onto your chin...

[joggerjayne]

Norman Wisdom ... life long Seagulls fan :0)

[jno]

they deserved each other