So if we’re watching “I Love Lucy,” do we consider how belittling Ricky (and most everyone else) is to her? Or do we take away the fact that no matter what, she is never contained? If we’re listening to the Beatles, what do we make today of John Lennon’s 1965 song that began with the lyrics, “I’d rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man”?
If we put “Gone with the Wind” in front of our kids, what do we say when Mammy (Hattie McDaniel) acts like a happy slave who adores her masters? And for the Gen-Xers among us: What of Hughes, who captured teenage life’s authenticity but also sent some fundamentally confusing and problematic sexual messages to adolescents?
“If you could erase all the scenes that are offensive to us today, even if you could, would that be a good idea? I don’t really think so,” says M. Alison Kibler, who teaches American studies at Franklin & Marshall College and researches how groups struggle for fair representation in entertainment.
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