Gone with the Wind (1939) & Birth of a Nation (1915) -- Plantation Myths and Dangerous Sexualities
Gone with the Wind (selected scenes)
Starring
Clark Gable Vivien Leigh Leslie Howard Olivia de Havilland Hattie McDaniel Butterfly McQueen
Directed by Victor Fleming
The Birth of a Nation (selected scenes)
Directed by
D. W. Griffith
The two movies about the trials of Southern whites dispossessed of slave property in the Civil War and Reconstruction, are among the most popular, and most racist, ever produced in Hollywood. Based on novels that support white supremacy, tacitly and explicitly, these movies have worked to distribute and reinforce some of the most problematic stereotypes of blackness. Their popularity has been central to the establishment and maintenance of such stereotypes, as well as distorted narratives of Reconstruction, at the heart of American social thought. As both are long (and arguably often boring), we will only watch relevant scenes. We will ask: What do Griffith and Fleming seek to tell us about the life of slaves on plantations, how slaves related to their masters, and the supposed hypersexuality of African Americans? What are the effects of such depictions today? How engrained have they become in popular culture today? How do the ideas in these movies compare to the realities of slavery? What have these racist stereotypes obscured then and still obscure now?
