Book burning.
Movie banning.
Hitler.
Stalin.
Potato.
Potatoe.
When it comes to the Left, it is always only a matter of time before they show their fascist colors. We’re seeing it all over the place in a media frenzy that began with a cause I agree with (removing Confederate Flags from state capitols) into what is now a full-blown mob waging a bullying witch hunt to completely memory-hole the flag.
Wednesday, the thing that you believe could never happen, did happen: a New York film critic has called for the banning of The Greatest Movie Ever Made.
In just three days, the left’s mob mentality took us from removing the Rebel Flag from a state capitol to banning “Gone with the Wind.”
Lou Lumenick in today’s New York Post:
If the Confederate flag is finally going to be consigned to museums as an ugly symbol of racism, what about the beloved film offering the most iconic glimpse of that flag in American culture?
I’m talking, of course, about “Gone with the Wind[.]’’ …
But what does it say about us as a nation if we continue to embrace a movie that, in the final analysis, stands for many of the same things as the Confederate flag that flutters so dramatically over the dead and wounded soldiers at the Atlanta train station just before the “GWTW’’ intermission?
Warner Bros. just stopped licensing another of pop culture’s most visible uses of the Confederate flag — toy replicas of the General Lee, an orange Dodge Charger from “The Dukes of Hazzard’’ — as retailers like Amazon and Walmart have finally backed away from selling merchandise with that racist symbol.
That studio sent “Gone with the Wind’’ back into theaters for its 75th anniversary in partnership with its sister company Turner Classic Movies in 2014, but I have a feeling the movie’s days as a cash cow are numbered. It’s showing on July 4 at the Museum of Modern Art as part of the museum’s salute to the 100th anniversary of Technicolor — and maybe that’s where this much-loved but undeniably racist artifact really belongs.
Lumenick isn’t beating around the bush. He’s serious about calling on Warner Bros. to smother the movie outside of museum screening — a self-imposed ban, but a ban nonetheless.
This is akin to book burning. Granted, Lumenick’s not suggesting government agents kick in your door, search your house, and burn your copy “Gone With the Wind” (maybe in another 3 days). Nevertheless, he is talking about removing from the marketplace one of the most treasured pieces of cinematic art the world has ever seen.
Lumenick is also assuming the classic bigoted role of the fascist white liberal patronizing black America.
Did Lumenick ask black America’s opinion before calling for “Gone With the Wind” to be banned?
Apparently not, because in a recent poll, a whopping 73% of black Americans rated “Gone With the Wind” as “one of the best” or a “good/very good” movie.
That doesn’t matter, though. After all, Gaia created white leftists to tell those “ignorant black folk” what’s best for them.
And let’s not forget that Hattie McDaniel won a well-deserved and historic Oscar for “Gone With the Wind,” the first black actor to do so. Are we going to memory-hole her magnificent achievement?
Art is not a flag to be moved.
Art is not a symbol to be nudged.
Art is art is art is art.
Just a few years ago, to make this point as clear as possible, I did an extensive series on The Top 25 Left-Wing Films of All Time. The hate, lies, and bigotry (Christians, Southerners, America) on display in many of these films is deeply offensive to me. Still, these are legitimate works of art. Time capsules. A point of view. A place to start a debate. All 25 of those titles are in my own film collection — and are therefore cherished.
The thought of burning or banishing these films repulses me much more than any of the ideas or prejudices they represent. And that obviously goes for “Gone With the Wind,” as well.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
