Turner Classic Movies Examines ‘Problematic’ Classics – Transgender Identity, Violence…

Film lovers at Turner Classic Movies are on the move

Are your classics packed with stereotypes? This past summer, amid BLM protests, TCM’s programmers and hosts decided to make a change.

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The result? Brand new series, called “Reframed Classics” will bring joy to many people across the world. The series offers discussions about 18 classics from the 1920s through the 1960s that may have problematic “spots.” The series includes “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and Mickey Rooney’s role as Mr. Yunioshi and Fred Astaire’s blackface thing in “Swing Time.” It starts off Thursday at 8 p.m. with “Gone With the Wind.”

“We know millions of people love these films,” said TCM host Jacqueline Stewart, who is participating in many of the conversations. “We’re not saying this is how you should feel about ‘Pyscho’ or this is how you should feel about ‘Gone with the Wind.’ We’re just trying to model ways of having longer and deeper conversations and not just cutting it off to ‘I love this movie. I hate this movie.’ There’s so much space in between.”

Stewart is a professor at the University of Chicago. In 2019, he became TCM’s first African-American host. He has spent her entire career working on classic films. She was pleased to study films from the silent era. Black audiences were also part of the process. Steward knows first-hand the tension of watching classics packed with racial stereotypes.

“I grew up in a family of people who loved classic films. Now, how can you love these films if you know that there’s going to be a maid or mammy that shows up?” Stewart said. “Well, I grew up around people who could still love the movie. You appreciate some parts of it. You critique other parts of it. That’s something that one can do and it actually can enrich your experience of the film.”

We know her as the host of Silent Sunday Nights, but this past summer Steward took the spotlight when she was given the opportunity to introduce “Gone With the Wind” on HBO Max and provide proper context after the classic was removed from the streaming service.

“I continue to feel a sense of urgency around these topics,” she said. “We’re showing films that really shaped the ways that people continue to think about race and gender and sexuality and ability. It was really important for the group to come together to think about how we can work with each other and work with our fans to deepen the conversations about these films.”

TCM hosts Ben Mankiewicz, Dave Karger, Alicia Malone, and Eddie Muller will join some of the conversations. They have selected “the classics of the classics,” as Stewart likes to say.

Fans will be able to watch the series every Thursday through March 25. The list includes “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “Gunga Din,” “The Searchers,” “My Fair Lady,” “Stagecoach,” “Woman of the Year” and “The Children’s Hour.”

Hosts will be able to think about Hollywood pieces more broadly. “Psycho” will be airing on March 25. Hosts discuss the transgender identity and “the implications of equating gender fluidity and dressing in women’s clothes with mental illness and violence.” It triggers a big discussion about sexuality in Alfred Hitchcock’s films.

“My Fair Lady” will be airing on March 25. Hosts discuss the ending of the film and its lack of feminist detail. Henry Higgins abuses Eliza Dolittle both physically and psychologically, and the whole concept was taken in the wrong conception.

Hitchcock’s “Psycho” faces scrutiny about its representation of transgender identity and gender fluidity. Mental illness and violence are also part of the discussion. “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” will be airing on March 11, and Stewart talks about Sidney Poitier’s legacy.

“His career is so important for the ways that white Americans really started to have more sympathy and understanding of Black people. But at the same time, there are aspects of his films that are clearly oriented primarily to white audiences,” Stewart said. “That opens up all kinds of complications for Black viewers who felt that he wasn’t a representative of the race as a whole.”

“His career is so important for the ways that white Americans really started to have more sympathy and understanding of Black people. But at the same time, there are aspects of his films that are clearly oriented primarily to white audiences,” Stewart said. “That opens up all kinds of complications for Black viewers who felt that he wasn’t a representative of the race as a whole.”

“Reframed Classics” gives audiences enough tools to discuss classics from another era instead of dismissing or canceling them. It’s almost impossible to remove problematic films from the culture.

“I think there’s something to be learned from any work of art,” Stewart said. “They’re all historical artifacts that tell us a lot about the industry in which they were made, the cultures that they were speaking to.”

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Source: Breitbart