What’s On Our List of American Classic Movies: Should We Boycott Racist American Classics?
As I was sitting down to relax and watch some Netflix, I was searching for a nice movie to watch. I didn’t really have any particular type of movie in mind, but I saw they added Gone With the Wind (1939) to Netflix-Austria. I’ve never seen the whole movie, only parts of it — mainly because it’s 3 hours and 40 mins. I decided to watch it since it’s deemed as one of the ‘American classics.’ After the long introduction of credits, text flowed up the screen with lovely romantic music playing in the background. While I expected this text to talk about the protagonist and what would be her new love story in the midst of war, I soon realized this romantic movie was also romanticizing a time when my ancestors were still slaves. The text reads, original text by Ben Hecht:
“There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South. Here in this pretty world, Gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave. Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered, a Civilization gone with the wind…”
The “Cotten Fields” are actually plantations on which Black slaves were working. While Master and [of] Slave refers to white people who own, are masters of, Black (African) slaves. “The land” he is talking about is the South, in the United States… and the time is before the Civil War. This wonderful time, fleeting like a dream, is a time when inequality was at its climax in the United States. For many of our ancestors this time in history was neither like a dream nor a “pretty world.” There was nothing romantic or wonderful about masters and slaves. The slaves and other exploited non-white populations could care less about knights, fair ladies, or white Christian Southern privilege.
I won’t say I’m surprised that this American Classic, said to be a whirlwind of romance, takes place during a time when most Blacks in the United States were still slaves. I’m not surprised that it positions the Southerners as happy, loyal, honest citizens who want to keep their beautiful life the way it is — that is not an untruth. Whites in America benefitted and lived good lives because of slavery, as did Greeks in Athens. Even now, many of the films that are critically acclaimed and have Black actors are films where slavery or segregation in America is the central theme. Hollywood loves movies that are about Blacks suffering because of inequality, even if these films are supposed to somehow be empowering like Django and 12 Years a Slave.
I’m annoyed because American Classics are movies that are made by white people, for white people, and often have no other ethnic groups visible. If they are visible at all, they are almost always in subordinated, stereotypical roles. (Only now is this beginning to change with more and more Black actors, producers, and directors releasing movies and television shows).
Quite a few of the films considered American Classics provide no context for other people who are non-white, even if they are set in North Africa (e.g. Casablanca). The fact that you can make an American movie in Morocco during colonialism and World War II without any reference to other ethnic groups simply shows the pervasiveness of white identity as normative. Again, not surprising. However, I wonder why there has not been a popularized updated American Classics lists which include movies from non-white American populations.
Buzzfeed did a piece on 70 Classic Black Films (written by Kelley L. Carter), which was very good. The only movie I think they left out was Stormy Weather featuring Lena Horne. I couldn’t find a list called “Classic Chinese Movies” or one for any other major ethnic group in the United States. For lists of Chinese or Mexican American movies the lists were either called “Great” or “Best,” not Classic. Although these other lists do exist, they are less heard of and are not considered “American Classics.” They are considered Insert Name of Ethnic Group Classic Movies. So in many ways, the only “real” American Classics are those movies that feature a white cast, made by white people.
An integral part of inclusion and historical, global awareness is representation of the non-normative, dominant population in a country’s cultural aesthetic and artistic history. By not including movies with meaningful black, Mexican, Chinese, etc. characters and by not updating this list, certain populations are completely excluded from what is seen as some of the best American cinema. Why is Stormy Weather not an American Classic, or any of the other movies on Kelley Carter’s list? Should we even worry about Rotten Tomatoes’ American Classics list or only use lists that show more ethnic diversity and the actual demographic reality of the United States?
I’m sure film historians or film buffs have plenty of valid reasons why certain films are on the American Classic list and others not. There is more than one American Classics list, however the majority of them have the same movie titles and do not include movies that do not have a majority, or fully, white cast. It is not that these movies are not necessarily good, romantic, important. It is just that they show one side of the United States. This implies only certain people are significant or impactful in American cinema. The #OscarsSoWhite idea is just an extension of this continued history and legacy of racism in Hollywood and American cinema. Thanks to people like the Smiths (Will & Jada), Ryan Coogler, Jon M. Chu, Mira Nair, and others for making movies that show all the sides of the United States.
One must always look for all versions of the story and support those who try their best to tell stories that reflect the many varied populations in the United States — not just racially and ethnically, but also in terms of sexual-orientation, gender and all of the other realities excluded from normativity. I love seeing lists of classics from other cultures, and hope these become integral to the way we see the history of American film in the future.
