First things first. TCM is a product that I purchase, therefore I elect not only to view it, but to pay for it. Thus, knowing that critics are going to critique, I don't get to decide for them what they chose to say, so having said that, while I personally find the concept of another human being instructing me to refocus movies which I have seen dozens of times in my lifetime through a lens in which they deem problematic, somewhat offensive, I can honestly say the actual discussions by the TCM panel were 1) not extreme, but instead, were 2) balanced, and 3) entertaining.
One can appreciate that the TCM team had to stand up to HBO who clearly wanted to cancel Gone with the Wind forever and so the 'problematic' panel discussions were the resultant compromise. Kind of a 'if people don't recognize they are racist, let's show them how racist they really are' approach. So the discussion is made at least partly through the lens of the current cancel culture movement. The problem, using GWTW as an example is that even GWTW exists on a continuum of change. Believe it or not, there are progressive changes within the movie that reflect a inward look at the problem of harsher language used in the book, though written only three years earlier, removed from the movie. That is not to suggest that the softer language used in the film is not still problematic, it is, just that the road to progressive change in the movie industry is constant, but never fully attainable because people are never truly aware of the offensive nature of their own times towards later generations.
An example of the problem above would be the sexual revolution of the 60, seen largely a feminist movement, in which sexual mores of women appeared to have relaxed somewhat from the traditional pre-revolution days. Movies of that late sixties and seventies therefore from Lolita to Deep Throat felt liberating for women at the time, seem problematic through today's lens where they can equally be viewed as created through the lens of the male dominated Hollywood system. Likewise, movies made today under the 'wokeness' of the 21st century will undoubtedly be problematic for future latter day 21st Centurians. In essence, the moral dog can never capture its own moral tail.
Concerning Swing Time, as a White person, while I can verbally condemn the offensive black face scene, I must be honest and understand that I will never have the visceral effect that clearly Jacqueline Stewart would have watching the same scene. Clearly she should feel offended that not only a person, but an entire system existed that allowed that scene to be made. I can't feel the same depth of offense as she because the offense was not aimed at me. That is not to say that that I am not empathetic to her feelings of the offense. I am. But empathy can never replace the strength of actual victimization. I'm just being honest. If I am supposed to feel personal guilt about it, I don't because a) I am not Fred Astaire, b) I didn't live in the 30s, and c) I didn't make this movie. Any guilt on my part would need to be based on how I personally perceive the scene. Again, looking at the continuum, if one suggested that it stretched from being fully' woked' to the max and demanded that not only should the film never be shown, but every copy should be destroyed and people who attempted to discuss the film positively or attempt to view should be jailed or to the other extreme in which one would argue the scene is not only not offensive, but should be praised in its caricature portrayal of black people, we would all fit somewhere on that spectrum. Hopefully more towards the reasonable middle.
So for TCM, the question going forward is must they continue to always remind us that GWTW and other films are problematic, or one day just accept that each of us gets it and move on? I'm smart enough (I think) to understand that if we could look forward 10 years inti the future, TCM if is still exists at all, will hardly resemble the TCM we know today, just as if we are being honest, TCM of today looks very different from the TCM from 10 years ago and earlier 10 years earlier than that and so on. I would like to think that it would be able to return to a more casual approach, instead of constantly being reminded that I can no longer enjoy a part of 'who I am' (TCM's own perspective per its movie into).
Hopefully at a minimum, the three staples of what I believe makes TCM what it is and has been, will remain. Show classic movies from every era of film history with an emphasis on the golden age (This is what makes TCM unique), show movies uncut/uncensored, Show movies commercial free. Additionally, provide the intros with context, history, and most importantly, fun.
