HBO removes Gone with the wind.

[Rev. Rye]

For what it's worth, by most accounts, HBO's taking the film down is temporary.


And, apparently, according to a Washington post article that I cannot read because they put it under a paywall, "‘Gone With the Wind’ will probably be back on HBO Max next week, with an African American scholar at the front of it." This would be nice, if only because, even when it was released in those huge 4-disc DVD and Blu-Ray sets, there was no featurette devoted to exploring the more fucked-up racial subtext of the film (and, for the record, my copy of Breakfast at Tiffany's does have one on Mickey Rooney's character, and while incomplete and failing to mention the changes that they made to him for the film, namely that he was originally written as a normal Japanese-American photographer and not the icon of Asian racist stereotyping, it's thoughtful).

And for what it's worth, it's still in print on physical media. If you have trouble finding a copy online, it's only because this whole controversy has caused sales to spike. And, if that Washington Post article is accurate, if my experience with the post office under COVID is any indication, by the time you actually get the copy you ordered in the wake of this controversy (Amazon Prime being the most likely exception), it could probably be back on HBOMax anyway.

Also, as a side note, the fact that streaming services can remove content from their services at all is a major part of the reason I strongly prefer physical media. If I want to watch it, I can do so anytime I want (provided I have access to the disc and player) and I'm not at the mercy of the whims of either the platform or whatever copyright issue's taking it down.