Michael Moore, Exhibit panel in "From Real to Reel: The Making of Gone with the Wind," 2013

Michael Moore, Exhibit panel in "From Real to Reel: The Making of Gone with the Wind," 2013

Though it provocatively addresses the racism and romanticization of Gone with the Wind, this panel stands virtually alone in the scheme of the broader exhibit, which essentially follows the production and legacy of a beloved American classic. Because this interpretation is placed within a dominant celebratory narrative thread, its impact is subdued and its message secondary.

Moore, Michael

Michael Moore, Exhibit panel in "From Real to Reel: The Making of Gone with the Wind," personal photograph by author, Raleigh, NC.

2013-03-12

Moore, Michael

Still Image

Raleigh, North Carolina

Photograph

Racial Response

 In the early years of cinema, films were not only forms of entertainment, but they also served as a lens for how people perceived each other.  In the 1930s African Americans were fighting for racial progress, and groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Urban League, as well as African American newspapers, objected to Gone with the Wind's romanticized view of slavery.

 Throughout the production of Gone with the Wind, Selznick was shoced at the hundreds of letters he received from African American protestors about issues with the treatment of race in the novel.  Their objections to the book's propoganda led Selznick to omit from the film the Ku Klux Klan and racially offensive terms found in the novel.

 After the movie was released, rallies, boycotts, and protests broke out throughout the nation condemning the portrayal of African American characters in the film as loyal and simple-minded slaves, content with their situation.  The opponents argued against the motion picture's "anti-Negro" sentiment and glorification of slavery.