Sure enough--based on the books you speak so glowingly about (#204), slavery was no doubt unpleasant. However, there are many who didn't do as well when free than when they were slaves.
How the end of slavery led to starvation and death for millions of black Americans
Indeed, there were many who profited from the slave trade, meaning of course that they suffered when they were forced off the gravy train. Your sympathy for them is... interesting.
A similar thing happened when the way of life in the old Soviet Union (communism) collapsed and the people there became "free". They were so used to the old way that they didn't know what to do with their new freedom. Sort of like a pet bird who actually sees his cage as a refuge from the dangers of the world rather than a prison. You could release the bird into the wild, but he wouldn't survive, not having been used to being free--and responsible for his own survival.
It's been said (which I don't personally believe, but find interesting nonetheless) that the reason Moses kept the Hebrews wandering the desert for 40 years was for the older generations -- the ones that lived as slaves -- to die off for precisely this reason. They would've been unprepared for the responsibilities that would come with their new freedom. Only the subsequent generation -- the ones who were born free, but nomadic -- would be socially and psychologically prepared for "freedom."
If you do enough reading (something you claim to do), you'll discover many things about slavery that you don't know, but would learn if you don't just rely on the movies. Here's a good start:
FACT CHECK: 9 Facts About Slavery They Don't Want You to Know
All of which are interesting, especially the true ones. I would like (though not necessarily expect) to see a connection between this and the issue of Hollywood whitewashing slavery, members of the public requesting a theater not to be party to it any more, and the Orpheum Theater's decision to comply.
Of course, as I've said before, we must remember that
Gone With the Wind was screened at the theater this year -- on the very same day as the Charlottesville "alt" right rally which ended in violence and murder. An unfortunate coincidence, of course -- but it makes the theater's decision to retire the film all the more prudent.
The same time next year, people will be marking the anniversary of the deaths of Heather Heyer, Lieutenant H. Jay Cullen, and Trooper Berke M. M. Bates, who all died -- directly and indirectly -- as a result of Nazis, Klansmen, and White Supremacists.
Gone With the Wind might not be the most appropriate film to screen during that time. It'll seem like bad taste.
That's a sound business decision right there -- if I owned a theater, and wanted to host, say, a middle Eastern Film Festival, I wouldn't want to schedule it anytime around 9/11. Similarly, the film
Heathers, a very witty dark comedy about teen murder (which includes a plot by the film's villain to blow up a high school, killing the entire student body) probably shouldn't be shown on the anniversary of Columbine... or Virginia Tech... or Sandy Hook...
Incidentally, I know this question got lost in the shuffle -- have
you ever seen
Gone With the Wind? I don't just mean parts of it while channel surfing; the whole film, beginning to end? It's been a while for me; I'm tempted to dig it out of my collection and screen it tomorrow.
BLM and their kind have already shown that it's what they think of.
