HBO Max removing Gone with the Wind is a mistake

I don't usually foray completely out of the sports world, but there are some occassions I cannot resist. 

That catalyst usually occurs when film comes up. While I like sports, I love film.

It was recently reported by National Public Radio, and other outlets, the streaming service of Home Box Office (HBO), known as HBO Max, announced it was pulling "Gone with the Wind" from its catalog, for the time being. 

The decision comes after an upswing in support and protests for racial equality and police accountability across the country after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis law enforcement. 

LINK: Clemson's Dabo Swinney's remarks on race fall short 

HBO's reason is below:

"Gone with the Wind is a product of its time and depicts some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that have, unfortunately, been commonplace in American society."

"These racist depictions were wrong then and are wrong today, and we felt that to keep this title up without an explanation and a denouncement of those depictions would be irresponsible."

This is a mistake by HBO. If they want to play content police, maybe they should start with some of their own, original programming, if decency is their concern (just to be clear, I'm not advocating they censor their work. Art works best when constraints are removed).

No question, aspects and images presented by the film in question are uncomfortable at times viewed through today's lens. That is the case with anything, including some aspects of the orginal Star Trek and Andy Griffith television shows.

Older films act as a window into the mindset of past eras, and are great learning tools to grow as a person. 

Parts of the film do glorify antebellum life, and seeing the treatment of African-Americans in that period is uncomfortable. But if the themes and images in Gone with the Wind are uncomfortable and warrant removal, would HBO also remove the mini series Roots, which is objectively more uncomfortable to watch than anything in Gone with the Wind.

I do understand where the company is coming from, and where my comparision to Roots does not synch up: The villians in Roots are clearly the slave owners, and their way of life is not glorified. 

But I would also argue that in Gone with the Wind, the slave owners are the ones who end up losing in the end (and that to me, sends a powerful message).

Another example would be To Kill a Mockingbird (a film I do enjoy). That film deals with very tough material: Race relations in Depression-era Alabama. And while that film uses language of the time (and those parts do make me wince), there are two things to remember:

One, to sterilize that era takes away from the raw message of how horrible things were and two, the film establishes through Atticus Finch, the protagonist, that the racist way of thinking is wrong, and the fact he is fighting to do what he can to give Tom Robinson an equal, fighting chance, is a message that resonates today. 

There should be context for watching "Gone with the Wind," which is usually what the synopsis is for before you click play, that is without question. And if you really want to watch it, there are other avenues. 

But I would argue film can be a mirror for those who haven't had their world views challenged. When you remove them, you take away that opportunity for personal reflection, and hopeful growth.