TCM Reframed: Putting Iconic Stories Through a 21st Century Lens
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One of my favorite and something I’m probably going to miss most about being home is watching the Turner Classic Movie channel with my dad. Classic cinema is always something we bond over when I come home. It’s the thing I fell in love with and wanted to do when I got older, and it’s in large part due to watching older films with my dad. When I left for school in New York, I was learning all about the importance of representation, the need for diversity in casting and behind the scenes jobs like writing and directing, and further involved, making sure that the portrayals and stories that were being told were nuanced and authentic, not gross stereotypes or complete misrepresentations of oppressed people. I was one of the larger older classic cinephiles in my school. My other friends didn’t have the same actor influences as me; actors like Ingrid Bergman, or Vivien Leigh. A difficult reckoning for me in school and even now is, how do I reconcile loving these older films with these problematic themes or portrayals? Do I have to leave these films that influenced me and other artists so heavily in the past because of things that weren’t seen as problems then are hugely problematic now? If history is important so it isn’t repeated, what do we do about films that not many in younger demographics really know anymore?
This is something I think about often and am really passionate about, so I was delighted when Turner Classic Movies, the place that opened up the world of classic cinema to me was thinking about it as well. Similar to February’s discussion on Wednesday nights about extraordinary performances by black actors, we have this special once a week assignment where they bring up three iconic or at least critically acclaimed films from the 20th century with problematic elements. Like TCM always does for their primetime selections, they have their hosts come on and discuss history surrounding the movie and bring up stories of behind the scenes aspects of the film. The unique thing about Reframed is, it’s not only one host, it’s three hosts discussing what problematic element of the film they are going to be discussing, and providing historical context and never shying away from talking about why exactly it’s problematic and how it can effect viewing the film today.
An example is the first movie they decided to show is Gone with the Wind. The problematic element of this film isn’t difficult to parse out. It’s a romantic view of the Antebellum and Reconstruction South. The Black characters are all stereotypes of slavery that Hollywood was familiar with and known for doing. These problems and portrayals make the film occasionally difficult to watch. TCM doesn’t shy away from this and even discussed how one of their hosts Jacqueline Stewart (she’s their main silent film hosts and along with the TCM gig is the Film Studies professor at University of Chicago) provided and wrote the intro for HBOMax to add onto Gone with the Wind. I’m speaking of when HBO decided to take it off the streaming platform then decided to put it back on with an intro to provide context to the film. This way, we can show that we are trying to learn from our mistakes. It isn’t lost to history because of the fact we are (appropriately and importantly) taking into account the problems with telling problematic and harmful stories.
Some other films heavily featured the problem of racial stereotypes because so many iconic films from the “classic” Hollywood era use it so explicitly. Other examples included going into depth discussing the portrayal of Indigenous people in The Searchers, and Asian stereotyping in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. It was important, and brought my attention to those issues while also letting me enjoy other aspects of the film for which it is famous. Like the cinematography of The Searchers (the first shot after the credits is enough to take your breath away; or deeply and rather loudly sigh out an expletive), or the love story and Hepburn’s almost most famous performance as Holly Golightly.
They aren’t stopping with the discussion of race either. This week they discussed the harmful and misogynistic aspects of My Fair Lady. A large part of the beginning panel with Jacqueline Stewart, Dave Karger and Alicia Malone, was Malone discussing the harmful affects and ideas surrounding a makeover plot. One of the questions she posed that I thought a lot about during the time I was watching My Fair Lady was:
Which character is more interesting, the rough around the edges but full of personality ugly duckling, or the refined and well-rounded ‘perfect’ woman?
While these discussions are important to have past March; and I hope TCM continues doing similar programming to this, I’m glad it is taking the steps to bring these classic films to an audience like me. Younger folks who will enjoy them and find the beautiful and exciting aspects of the film that make them classic cinema; but will also enjoy these discussions and viewings for finding these paths of inquiry the TCM hosts pose about them.
