Quote:
Originally Posted by DNSB
As far as I remember from the item, the major issue was the investors having qualms over the portrayal of slavery in the book preventing the movie from being able to reach profitability. The colour green rules!
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Ah, yes, that makes sense. This very different from what you wrote at first:
Quote:
Originally Posted by DNSB
There was a group trying to raise money for a remake of Gone With The Wind but they ran into the issue that they would not be allowed to have even a small majority of the slaves played by persons of African descent.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DNSB
The colour green rules!
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Um, yes, obviously, in this context? If I ask you to invest in a business venture, and you think my venture won't make money, you're hardly going to invest, are you?
You
do know how slavery is portrayed in the book? Slavery is shown as good. Slaves are happy and loyal. When they are freed they stay to work with their previous masters (if they are good people), or turn into troublemakers or criminals if they decide to live on their own. Black people are compared to animals and to children. KKK is described as a group of gentlemen who heroically maintain law and order. Ashley (one of the heroes of the book) is a klan member, and is injured while lynching Black people. I could go on.
I
loved this book and film as a teenager -- it was balls and big dresses and war and drama and heroics, and a female protagonist who was good at maths and not very good at understanding people (so despite all the vast differences between me and Scarlett I felt kind of seen?). I didn't notice or think of the racism at all. When I reread parts of it now (because of discussions like this) I cringe.
Do
you think making a film based on this book would be a good investment today?
This is such a good example of why these kinds of discussions annoy me.
- Someone makes a business decision about an old work of art. The decision is based on the fact that norms change. Things which would make money fifty or seventy or a hundred years ago won't necessarily make money today without changes.
- [Edit.] Some scary, shadowy "they" are forbidding freedom of expression!
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Added a bit later: I'm probably unfair to you, DNSB, in my last paragraph. You're not (as far as I remember) close to the most hyperbolic poster on this issue.