It was a very personal forum that made noise. Several days after it went online, this article continues to be at the top of Variety's most widely read web papers . Under the pen of its editor-in-chief Tim Gray who oversees reporting related to the award season, the trade journal published a list of " ten problematic films " that deserve as Gone with the Wind, temporarily removed from the HBO Max catalog, be accompanied by an explanatory notice and a warning.
" The Hollywood archives are full of films that could benefit from a word on obsolete representations of race, sexuality, the disabilities they perpetuate, " notes the journalist who recalls the purpose of this approach. "It is not a question of banning these works, but of reviewing them with a critical eye ". " These films represent the era in which they were made, and it is important to remember the story - and the bigotry that accompanied such and such an era - so as not to repeat these things. "
Tim Gray first recalls feature films on the hot seat for a long time and whose racist character is not disputed. Birth of a nation of DW Griffith, in 1915 formed an ode to the Ku Klux Klan which he revitalized. The Walt Disney cartoon Mélodie du Sud depicts in 1946 an idyllic cohabitation of former slaves and their masters in a cotton plantation.
He adds Diamonds on the Sofa where Mickey Rooney plays a stereotypical Japanese, West Side Story where the Puerto Ricans are unilaterally represented as gangsters and Mandingo , portrait of a plantation owner who uses his right to roast his slaves.
After this preamble, the journalist enters the heart of the matter and draws up a list of ten films ... more unexpected. There are pell-mell Forrest Gump " hostile to Vietnam veterans, AIDS patients, disabled and political activists ", Inspector Harry archetype of " rebel cops who follow their instincts rather than the law and who ridicule understanding judges and good souls ”. Indiana Jones and the cursed temple make fun of " Hindu customs " with their " villains portrayed in primitive tunes ". The romantic comedy Avant Toi with Emilia Clarke, already highly contested when it was released in 2016 for its “validist” point of view on disability, is accused of “praising suicide. Death is better than life with a disability. "
Tarantino and Cameron pinned
Once Upon A Time ... in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino concentrates several grievances: "exaltation of an era" which rejected "the emancipation of women, minorities and hippies" , his thankless portrait of Bruce Lee and the invisibility of African American talents. The Rumor with Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn, in the running for five Oscars in 1962, shows a very negative vision of homosexuality presented as " a source of self-hatred and a reason for pity ". The Silence of the Lambs does not assume the transsexuality of the character of Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine). The western The prisoner of the desert with John Wayne caricatures the Amerindians like savages thirsty for blood. Love sings and dances with Fred Astaire shows characters making up as African-Americans. James Cameron's True Lies also takes it for his rank because of his “ Arab characters confined to fanatics. "
This Prévert-style inventory of a boiling film buff sparked many jibes on Twitter. Excess of political correctness for some, joke potache between journalists critical of cinema for others, will to make the buzz ... Everything happened there. In the meantime, she runs she runs the rumor.
Director and screenwriter Victor Saint Macary ( Le Brio ) said he had laughed when he read the article. The debate is in any case well launched.
