‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s,’ ‘Psycho’ And Other “Problematic” Films Get Retrospective Series on TCM

TCM is the latest network to reflect on some its problematic content with a modern day lens. The classic movie network is airing a new screening series starting tonight titled Reframed: Classic Films in the Rearview Mirror, in which they’ll look back on some of their most popular films which are now viewed as “troubling” and “problematic” today, Entertainment Weekly reports.

Among the films featured in Reframed are Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Psycho and Gone With the Wind, which had its own very public reckoning this summer when it was pulled then reinstated to the HBO Max library. With their new series, TCM will explore the “cultural context” of such films and “discuss how these movies can be reframed so that future generations will keep their legacy alive.”

TCM hosts joining Reframed include Ben Mankiewicz, Dave Karger, Alicia Malone, Eddie Muller, and Jacqueline Stewart, who will all discuss the films and their legacies, which range from releases from as early as the 1920s up to the 1960s. The series will touch on topics like the use of blackface as seen in The Jazz Singer; racism in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Searchers, and Dragon Seed; and anti-LGBTQ themes in The Children’s Hour.

Reframed comes after a summer of racial reckoning in the U.S., which was sparked by the death of George Floyd. As protests continued across the country, streamers and networks were forced to reckon with the content they showed audiences. After HBO Max removed Gone With the Wind and added it back with a disclaimer, The Dukes of Hazzard came under fire for its prominent use of the Confederate flag, which is featured on the show’s famous General Lee race car.

While both Gone With the Wind and The Dukes of Hazzard were released in a different era, more recent series had their own wakeup calls this summer. In the past year, cult favorites like the The Office, 30 Rock and Scrubs all removed episodes containing blackface, while hit series Golden Girls also took down its own blackface episode from Hulu.

Reframed: Classic Films in the Rearview Mirror airs tonight at 8/7c on TCM. See the full schedule of films featured in Reframed below.

March 4
Gone With the Wind (1939)
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
Rope (1948)
The Four Feathers (1939)

March 11
Woman of the Year (1942)
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)
Gunga Din (1939)
Sinbad, the Sailor (1947)
The Jazz Singer (1927)

March 18
The Searchers (1956)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
Swing Time (1936)
Stagecoach (1939)
Tarzan, the Ape Man (1959)

March 25
My Fair Lady (1964)
The Children’s Hour (1961)
Psycho (1960)
Dragon Seed (1944)