How the Portrayal of Houses in Cinema Shows Uncomfortable Truths About Hollywood’s Relationship to Race
This short excerpt is from Places Journal’s article “Prop and Property: The house in American cinema, from the plantation to Chavez Ravine,” which in turn was adapted from John David Rhodes’ book Spectacle of Property. The article, which investigates the many layers of property inherent in the production and viewing of movies, investigates in particular the films Gone with the Wind and To Kill a Mockingbird, revealing how their themes of race and property are made even more complex by the practicalities of Hollywood filmmaking.