Making of a Legend Gone with the Wind
A disclaimer:
This is a disclaimer that will be at the start of every episode relating to this movie.
Gone with the Wind is the 1939 film based on Margret Mitchell’s 1936 novel of the same name. It is set in the antebellum south and the reconstruction era. It is told from the point of view of slave owners who long for the civilization that has Gone with the Wind. It is full of revisionist history and false narratives surrounding the atrocities committed by white slaver holders and the confederacy. I feel this film is important to review and discuss. We must understand the history of systemic oppression in media in order to properly move into the future and ensure it does not repeat itself. Gone with the Wind and films like it must be examined with a critical eye in order to identify propaganda, and white washing when we see it.
I will attempt to handle this subject as best as I can as a white women who is from Canada, and I do acknowledge that I am not able to understand full nuance as it is not my lived experienced.
And to anyone listening who is bothered by a statement like this or any warnings like it that appear before films because you find it “woke” or “unnecessary” this isn’t the podcast for you. I am committed to my own learning and unpacking of systemic racism and if that bothers you, you are part of the problem.
