That Was Then

Okay, here's the thing: My mother, the social justice warrior, has seen Gone With The Wind more times than she can count. She has a poster for that movie hanging in her house. Her sons got if for her. I am one of those sons. So, if there is a reckoning to be had here, then it is multi-generational. It should be pointed out that my mother was born in the 1930's, and she lived a life of dreams fueled by the movie magazines she read behind the counter at her parents' drugstore in Granby, Colorado. It was some fifty years into her life that her sons chose to join in her fondness for Margaret Mitchell's tale of the Antebellum south and how "This war talk's spoiling all the fun at every party this spring." 
Except it is a monument to another time. Not even the Civil War. Or the Confederacy. It is a sweeping four hour epic about the burning of the sets from King Kong. 1939 was a watershed for Hollywood, a year in which armloads of films that have become classics by most definitions: The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Stagecoach, Goodbye Mr. Chips, The Women, Of Mice and Men, Charles Laughton's Hunchback of Notre Dame. This list does not include Tarzan Finds A Son. This particular feature does not appear on HBO Max, but you can stream it on Amazon and Apple TV. Or you might wait around for Turner Classic Movies to dip into their vault and enjoy all that Tarzan has to bring to the discussion of racial equality and justice. 
1939 was not a time in America when things were better than they are now. While it is true that the Great Depression was in the rear-view mirror for most, there were still huge gaps between the haves and have nots. Blacks and whites. This was the year that John Steinbeck published Grapes of Wrath. The film version didn't come out until the following year. Shortly after that, the world was at war. This time America was fighting fascists. Nazis. It should be noted here that Hollywood like so much of the rest of the country spent a good deal of time before Pearl Harbor was bombed ignoring or making excuses for what was happening in Germany. For many, there was money to be made.  
At the end of the day, that's really the business part of it. HBO makes money by pulling a film from its streaming lineup as an exhibit of their understanding, only to return it a week later. Except now there is a lecture preceding the feature that will explain its historical context and significance. Meanwhile, Amazon reported that Gone With The Wind had vaulted to the number one position on their movies and TV bestseller list. 1939 continues to make money in 2020. 
And my mom could not be less interested, beyond a certain amount of chagrin for having introducing it to us all way back when. She has seen a lot of movies since 1939. She has new favorites now.