Ever wondered why the Samaritan decided to stop and help the man left for dead next to the road to Jericho? What made him different from the other two passersby before him? After all, there existed a lot of distrust and animosity between their peoples. Not a lot of love there, yet the Samaritan does the unexpected and reaches out to help a despised enemy. One would hope that if we would find ourselves in similar circumstances we would do the same. But would we? After all, two religious and faithful persons looked the other way, before the Samaritan came along. Would you and I really be able to see beyond the social and cultural norms and convictions of our time? Are you and I capable of seeing beyond the social-economic and cultural world we are immersed in?

Consider for instance one of the most successful and popular movies in cinema history: Gone with the Wind – winner of ten Academy Awards. It’s a love story set in the Old South during the Civil War, an adaption from Margaret Mitchell’s novel Gone with the Wind which depicts the devastation of the Civil War on the South.

Margaret Mitchell seemed to have set out to break down some stereotypes: the hero of the story, Rhett Butler, is a profiteer with a unsavory reputation and the heroine, Scarlett, is a selfish character willing to lie, steal, cheat and kill to get her own way. Not your typical hero and heroine. Mitchell also exposes the “honor and glory” myth of war, and her main character, Scarlett, dismisses the Confederate cause as a justification for war. And yet Margaret Mitchell was still a product of her time.  She portrays the “Yankees” as immoral thugs, romanticizes the Old South and slavery, and her patronizing racist caricatures of African American slaves are nauseating and disgusting to say the least.

It is reported that the overt racism in her book was “sanitized” for the film adaption. Yet, the movie still employs racist stereotypes in its depiction of slaves. Watching the movie, one is filled with a deep sense of humiliation for the actress Butterfly McQueen who plays the slave Prissy – the squeaky voice and childlike demeanor is truly painful to watch.

Alice Walker (African American historian and feminist) describes viewing Gone with the Wind as a “nightmare… in which the suffering of millions of black people over hundreds of years of enslavement is trivialized to the point of laughter. It is a film in which one spoiled white woman’s summer of picking cotton is deemed more important than the work, under the lash, of twenty generations of my ancestors.”

Gone with the Wind premiered in 1939 in Atlanta. It’s true that Hattie McDaniel received an Oscar for her role as “Mammy,” but let’s not forget that both African American actresses, Hattie McDaniel and Butterfly McQueen, were barred from attending the premiere because of the segregation laws. Not only the book but also the movie were products of their time.

That was then, but what about now? For audiences in 2010 Gone with the Wind must seem a bit dated, the plot rather simple and a bit long – it is three hours long. If that doesn’t put you off, one would think the patronizing depiction of African Americans would make for some uncomfortable viewing – yet, it is still one of the most popular movies of all time. How is that possible?

Maybe Lawrence Wood gives the best explanation: “As we read Gone with the Wind or watch the movie, we may get so caught up in its great characters and the story that we miss its racism. Many fans seem unaware, for example, that Rhett Butler and Ashley Wilkes are member of the Klan. Then, again, some of Mitchell’s attitudes troubled even her editors, who suggested that she delete descriptions of Mammy’s ‘ape face’ and ‘black paws.’ Ever the lady, Margaret Mitchell apologized, saying she ‘meant no disrespect,’ and wrote instead of ‘Mammy’s kind black face, sad with the uncomprehending sadness of a monkey’s face.’ She preferred to minimize the extent of slavery and its harms, and never depicted it as an injustice. Her childlike black characters support the Confederacy and choose to serve their former masters. Supposedly farsighted white characters dismiss Reconstruction and the black vote as ‘darky government.’ Mitchell simply couldn’t see Southern History for what it was, and while she gained a mass audience (Gone with the Wind is the most popular American novel of all time), she lacked vision for her own time. Despite her intention of breaking with Southern literary stereotypes, the very title of her book pined for a vanished past – a past that really never was. It’s hard to see a society clearly when one is immersed in it.”*

We would love to think that in the gospel story of the Good Samaritan we would behave like the Samaritan, but I suspect that most of the time the first two characters probably exemplify our conduct. It’s hard to see a society clearly when one is immersed in it. It blinds us to the injustice, the alienation and estrangement that exist in society.

Thankfully God is still at work in the world, calling Samaritans to help us see the world as it is and lead us to bridge animosity and break down the walls of injustice; calling for those singular individuals who are capable of seeing beyond the social-political, -economic, and -cultural world we are immersed in. In December 1939 in Atlanta, the night before the premiere of Gone with the Wind an African American church choir, dressed as plantation slaves, performed for the guests at the celebratory ball. It was the choir of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Singing in the choir was 10 year old Martin Luther King Jr.

Blessings,

Kobie

Post Script:

Margaret Mitchell defended her book vehemently claiming that: “The one thing I’ve always wanted to avoid is the stirring up of old hates and prejudices, because I wrote my book with no hate and no prejudice.” And it seems she truly believed that. It has come to light that she donated money anonymously from the proceeds from the sales of Gone with the Wind to support the African American community in Atlanta – to set up a clinic and 50 scholarships to Morehouse College, which is, incidentally, the very college which Dr Martin Luther King Jr. King attended.  (For more info see following link: Gone with the Wind)

* News to Me: Gospel Stories for the Real World, (2008), p.145

This entry was posted on Monday, April 19th, 2010 at 10:43 pm and is filed under Bread for the Journey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.