Los Angeles Times film critic Justin Chang said Friday on CNN that President Donald Trump mentioning the movie “Gone With the Wind” at his rally was a “racist dog whistle.”
Chang said, “It’s kind of unfortunate, I think, that we have a president whose entire presidency is founded on xenophobia and of course his comments are not surprising coming from someone who likes to dehumanize people of other cultures and people of color. So none of that’s surprising.”
He continued, “Well, that whole thing, “Gone with the Wind” and “Sunset Boulevard,” that all smacks of a dog whistle hearkening back to an earlier era of Hollywood greatness. Look, we can love “Gone with the Wind,” and also acknowledge it’s the romantic view of the old South, which many people find problematic. That is another racist dog whistle as well.”
He added, “I think it’s real laziness on his part. He is just someone who is very lazy. I think to say that. You know, a lot of people say this, there are no movies being made in the present today that are as good as the classics that were made 50 or 60 years ago. And it’s totally fine that Trump is, you know, out of touch with popular culture. You know, he has or should have better things to do like running the country, but he really should think twice about speaking about things of which he is so woefully ignorant.”
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