To answer your question, MissW...

[Dargo2]

Apparently THAT was the reason nobody had started a Hattie McDaniel SUTS thread!

 

LOL

 

Because apparently even in this day and age, people are still unable to discuss the topic of Hattie being black, or to discuss the issue of race and race relations in more an academic mode and without interjecting past grievances into said discussion.

 

(...because as we can now see, your thread has been obliterated)

[mrroberts]

its unfortunate that the moderator couldn't have selectively edited the thread. Yes, I believe a moderator should have that power to edit even if that effects any or all of us at one time or another. And any offenders should be warned or even banished if their conduct warrants it. There were some legitimate points made in that thread. When watching any of these old films there are things I find very distasteful but I realize that at that time those things were considered the norm. I am glad that we feel that way because it shows that we have changed for the better (at least some of us have changed). I also don't believe the old films should be edited or altered in any way because they are history and we should be able to watch and learn. I thought I had a good question on the Hattie thread just before it was removed so I'll ask it again. If "Gone With The Wind" had never been filmed and it was to be done today would it be filmed much different? Would Hattie's character be much different and would any current actress have been able to play it better than she did (in 1939)?

[Dargo2]

Excellent points all there, Mr.R.

 

And in regard to your question, I would say that any modern day GWTW made would be almost unrecognizable to the '39 version, with as my guess the storyline presenting the O'Hara and Wilkes family as much less benevolent toward their slave population, among other changes.

 

This of course would be due to the changes in public perception about the Antebellum South after all these years.

 

And in regard to who might be best cast as the character Mammy, right off Oprah Winfrey comes to mind, however I have a feeling that even after all these years, most well-known African-American middle-aged actresses would run from the idea of recreating the character in ANY form, due to the potential controversy such an endeavor would almost assuredly create, and witnessed by how the now gone "Hattie McDaniel SUTS" thread ultimately took the turn that it did.

[mrroberts]

Dargo2, I get what you're saying, that a 2013 Gone With The Wind might be made more sanitized concerning some issues but I believe we do see some films from time to time that do "tell it like it is" or as Jack Webb would say, "just the facts maam". Of course a new film may go the other way like showing how some masters had relations with their slaves too. I do believe that some actresses would welcome the challenge of portraying that character as long as they could demonstrate the strengths of that character much like Hattie did in 1939. And my point is that Hattie McDaniel did a great job of that, at least as far as she could go in 1939.

[Dargo2]

Good points made again, Mr.R, however I would suggest your use of the word "sanitized" to describe any possible remake of this film is somewhat misplaced, because as I'm sure you know, one of the most often made accusations(and probably a valid accusation) about the '39 version is that THAT version is a "sanitized" version of events which would have taken place in the Antebellum and Postbellum South.

[SansFin]

> mrroberts wrote:

> its unfortunate that the moderator couldn't have selectively edited the thread.

 

I believe it is akin to battling a Hydra - deleting the thread caused two to grow in its place. To delete posts within a thread would surely cause two or more posts to be created within the thread for each one deleted and these would debate whether the deleted post deserved to be deleted and at least one of these would surely contain the original text which warranted deletion.

[Dargo2]

>I'm curious now - didn't bother to read any of it because I wasn't interested in Hattie McDaniel. Missed some racism, did I?

 

I wouldn't say you missed any "racism" per se, dark, but perhaps more a "debate" about how viewing stereotypical roles in older films can tend to upset some people who might not have yet gotten to the point of being able of putting away past grievances enough to view them with more an analytical mindset.

[Dargo2]

Well, nothing I WOULD have thought the fate of the thread deserved.

 

(...but there WERE a few posts by some members which had me somewhat shaking my head in amazement after I read them because their content was, let us say, "born of over-emotion and lack of clear thought")

[mrroberts]

Lets just say a few comments got way out of hand, some people aren't very good about getting their points across in a proper manner.

[JamesJazGuitar]

Anytime someone asks your type of question I always go back to the original source material, in this case the book. I have never read the book. It is my understanding the book is written from the white southern perspective. But maybe I'm wrong about that. Does the book portray slavery as being 'not so bad' and the 39 version just reflected that?

 

Anyhow, my guess is that a modern version of the book would be more realistic in how it portrayed the treatments of blacks in the south at the time (regardless of how the book actually presented this).

 

I also think that black actors like OW would want to be in a movie that was realistic. Instead I could see push back coming from the white southern community if the movie had a To Kill A Mocking Bird type of vibe.

 

Note that in the deleted thread my last comment was made right after I saw the end of Giant. That ending was realistic but didn?t reflect well on the white Texan community of that time.

[DownGoesFrazier]

The Hattie thread has been purged, rather than merely locked? Why?

[lavenderblue19]

You obviously did not read the thread yesterday afternoon , last night or earlier today., if you had you'd know why the thread is now gone.To answer your question you asked on the other thread, Caramel wrote that they would not be posting anymore on that thread and would not be returning to the bds either.

Really enough said about the thread

[DownGoesFrazier]

I thought there were many very insightful comments on the thread. Sorry to see the entire thread thrown into the trash bin.

[JamesJazGuitar]

Well I still wonder who purged the thread and why, but I'm not going fret about it.

[lavenderblue19]

Had to be Admin, how else would a thread get purged. Probably a lot of complaints, I didn't like some of those posts, but I didn't report it, but other's probably did. It was getting ugly and I'm not going to fret about it either.

[Swithin]

I've seen some nasty threads here over the years, but the thread in question "took the cake." It was outrageous, way above and beyond mere incivility between posters, politics, etc. I couldn't believe the stuff I read last night.

[lavenderblue19]

I agree, Swithin

[JamesJazGuitar]

Must of got a lot worst after I left yesterday afternoon. Of course there was some disagreements and some personal 'stuff' going on between some posters but it was still mostly on what I felt was an intestesting topic.

 

But yea, it was 'borderline' when I left and if it crossed that border I can see why it was removed.

[DownGoesFrazier]

It obviously must have gotten a lot nastier after I last visited it at about 5:30 PM yesterday.

[fxreyman]

Hate to say it Swithin, but yesterday's and this morning's comments as bad as they were had nothing on a thread like Heinz57 from the mid 2000's.

[Swithin]

Good question. I have a feeling that if s(he) left, s(he)'s still here.

[Dargo2]

The new member's name was "CaramelSmoothie", dark, and her opening post while intelligently stated was basically a treatise on why in her opinion honoring Hattie McDaniel during the SUTS tributes was "an insult to her heritage"...and then things progressed(or maybe "digressed" being more an accurately descriptive term)) from there.

 

I have to admit I was "a little" hard on her myself, firing off rather "point-blank" opinions of my own in rebuttal, but nothing to the point of REALLY being "mean".

 

(...well, okay, there WAS those times I accused the poor thing as havin' "a chip on her shoulder", but other that THAT, I pretty much hit her with stone-cold logic!!!)

 

LOL

[JamesJazGuitar]

Well that was part of it, but can anyone really say Hattie wasn't an "uncle tom" actress? We can understand why she played those roles (i.e. I would rather play a maid than be a maid'), and that it was Hollywood that type casted her and only offered her those roles etc...

 

But at the end all she played were maids or servants. This is very clear based on the films TCM showed on her day.

 

As Dargo points out the real beef was with the SUTS tribute. Does it honor Hattie or sanction these negative roles? Of course the intent was to honor her but if one was to watch all the films TCM showed that day one could get a negative impression.

[Dargo2]

Yep, you got it, alright!

 

I'm actually sorry to hear of her leaving, because while I didn't agree with her opinion(an opinion based somewhat on her lack of actually never having watched the movie GWTW all the way through and thus unaware that Hattie played the character with more than a little measure of dignity, I MIGHT add), I thought her a very intelligent and articulate individual, and would have loved to have heard other opinions she might have shared about classic films in general.

 

Ya see, IF she would have just been JUST a little more "full of herself"(which was her VERY accurate opinion of ME, btw) then MAYBE she would have possessed enough "grit" to take the slings and arrows of holding a "minority opinion"(and I don't mean "minority" in THAT way here) and thus still be around so that could have happened!

 

(...uh-huh, NOW do you folks see how someone being "full of themselves" can sometimes contribute to their "longevity"???)

 

LOL

[lavenderblue19]

I don't think that's why they left or why the thread was removed. Some of the posts by a couple of other posters did get ugly and outrageous, and then the response was out of hand. You guys really ought to just drop it.