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The Birth of a Nation

Spike Lee Thinks Gone With the Wind and The Birth of a Nation Should Be Screened With Proper “Context”

Legendary director Spike Lee thinks that problematic films like Gone With the Wind and The Birth of a Nation should still be seen — provided the viewing experience includes “historical social context.” Lee shared his thoughts in an interview with Moonlight director Barry Jenkins. The conversation about Lee’s career and latest movie Da 5 Bloods quickly veered into a discussion on two of the most famous movies in history — both of which are also notoriously racist. 1939’s Gone With the Wind is America’s highest-grossing film ever, adjusted for inflation, but its depiction of Black people as cheerfully dumb and eternally grateful to white people was bad when it was first released and hasn’t improved since. 1915’s The Birth of a Nation was originally titled T...