Micropics: 18 narrowly focused biopics that need to be made

When Hattie McDaniel became the first black person to win an Academy Award, she did so while sitting at a segregated table set up for her and her date. That image alone offers a fascinating insight into the complicated reality of Hollywood racism. McDaniel’s star-making performance as Mammy in Gone With The Wind allowed her to break down racial barriers at the Oscars even as the role itself required her to romanticize the slave system and perpetuate stereotypes about black women. McDaniel’s willingness to work within the racist Hollywood system to land high-profile roles makes her a simultaneously inspiring and tragic figure, and a biopic about her experiences on Gone With The Wind—including a scene in which she’s forbidden from attending her own premiere in Atlanta—could zoom in on the human experience of moral compromise. [Caroline Siede]