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Butteryfly McQueen and Gone with the Wind


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I watched Gone With the Wind for the first time last night.

 

I was a interesting film.  Apparently, the NAACP boycotted it when it came out in 1940. (Does the NAACP boycott anything nowadays?) Several of the films stars Clark Gable (I read somewhere that he is Black), Hattie McDaniels (who won an Academy Award for her role), and Vivien Leigh all died young.   One of the films stars, Olivia Mary de Havilland is still running around and will be 99 in July!

 

I knew McDaniel was the 1st Black actor to win an Oscar, however after seeing the film, it was for a role, in my opinion, no more remarkable than the one Halley Berry earned her award.

 

Butterfly McQueen's, career took a serious hit as a result of her role. This is unfortunate as she seemed quite talented.

 

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I have to have seen GWTW at least 50 times starting back in 1939 when it actually came out, at which time I was a little girl. But my mother worked at the local movie house so I was able to go and watch pictures for free. I saw it many more times when it was periodically re-released in theaters and then even more times on TV where it still appears regularly.  I've also read the massive 1000-page book, twice.  It is a classic movie and timeless love story and it has held up well over time.  They had to get clearance from the censors for Rhett Butler to utter his famous  "I don't give a "damn" line in the end because movies didn't allow profanity back then.  There was quite a search to find the actress to play Scarlett OHara .  All the young ingenues in Hollywood were vying for this plum role, and there was a lot of indignation when Vivian Leigh landed the part because she was from England.  But she was the perfect choice.  I never heard anything about Clark Gable being black. He was, of course, one of Hollywood's favorite leading men, a matinee idol who was also perfect for his role in this movie.

 

I also wasn't aware that GWTW was boycotted by the NAACP. I don't know any black person who didn't go and see it whenever it came out all down through the years, attracting new gnerations of fans. Butterfly's famous line in her Prissy role about  "not knowin' how to birth no babies" actually became a part of the Black vernacular back in the day, jokingly used by anybody who had misled someone into thinking they could do a certain task. When chided about playing her subservient role, Hattie McDaniel was rumored to have said that she'd rather play a maid than to be one, undoubtedly referring to the affluent life style she lived thanks to her long career in hollywood playing maid roles. 

 

GWTW was a movie that was demeaning to black people but I always tolerated this because it was a depiction of the way things were back during slavery times. 

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I knew you would have an interesting perspective on the film Cynique.  I got the release date (Release date: January 17, 1940 (USA)) from Google, who probably pulled it from Wikipedia, so I'm not surprised it is wrong.

 

What made Prissy's line about not knowin' nothing 'bout birthing no babies so funny was that a scene or two before she was saying she knew all about it LOL!

 

Regarding Clack Gable being Black; this is from Madamenoire Of course this site even less reliable than wikipedia, but it grabbed my attention when I was searching for info on Gable, which is the main purpose of the site, to grab your attention to serve ads...

 

I ran a quick search and could not find where I read the NAACP organized an actual boycott, but I did hear that, perhaps it was in a video (maybe even the one above).  At any rate, the NAACP was actively involved in trying to ensure the film was not too demeaning to negroes.  I watched a number of trailers for the film (including the one I posted below); you would not know Black people where in the film by looking at them.

 

Here are a couple of titles from newspaper articles articles; “‘Gone With The Wind’ Put On The Spot by Earl Morris: Predicts Picture Will Be Worse Than ‘Birth of a Nation’” by Earl J. Morris, motion picture editor for the Pittsburgh Courier, on February 4, 1939 and  “Hollywood Goes Hitler One Better” from the February 9 issue of the Los Angeles Sentinel.  Both papers are Black owned.

 

I wonder what those papers would say about Black made movies today?

 

One thing I liked about the film was that there no no sex scenes.  There was sex but I did not have to see folks take off their clothes.

 

While there was no gory violence, not sex, and virtually no cursing, the messages came across.  The brutality of the war was clear.  

 

While there was not sex there was a marital rape.  Clark just took Scarlet and when it was over she was a new woman.  Can you image?!  I'm surprised women's rights activists were not up in arms over the message it sent.

 

I would definitely recommend the film.  It gives you some insight into the American psyche.

 

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