Memphis cinema drops Gone With the Wind after complaints of racial insensitivity

A cinema in Tennessee has cancelled a long-running annual screening of Gone With the Wind because of what it says is racially insensitive content in the classic 1939 film.

Officials at Memphis’ Orpheum Theatre have announced the film will not be shown during its summer season next year.

“As an organisation whose stated mission is to ‘entertain, educate and enlighten the communities it serves,’ the Orpheum cannot show a film that is insensitive to a large segment of its local population,” said Brett Batterson, president of the Orpheum Theatre Group.

The film was screened on August 11, the 34th straight year it has been shown at the cinema.

Mr Batterson said its most recent showing provoked complaints.

“While title selections for the series are typically made in the spring of each year, the Orpheum has made this determination early in response to specific inquiries from patrons,” he added.

Gone With the Wind tells the story of the daughter of a Georgia plantation owner during and after the American Civil War.

It is the highest grossing film of all time, if inflation is factored into the numbers, but in recent years its treatment of black characters – referred to as “darkies” - has at times put it at the centre of America’s race debate.

Critics suggest it portrays anti-slavery northern forces as villains while dealing sympathetically with the southern cause, and should be consigned to history along with Confederate battle flags and monuments around the country.

The decision provoked a largely negative reaction on the theatre’s Facebook page.

“Can't believe you ended a 34 year tradition and buckled to a few offended people!” wrote Gaetano Averella.

“Gone With the wind is a classic and Hattie McDaniel was the first black woman to win an Academy Award for her performance!”