Gone With The Wind

Gone With The Wind!…. Yeah… that's exactly what we're going to talk about… hurry?

Okay so as you can tell I'm not a fan of this film. although i will applaud the production value and just sheer scale of this Hollywood Opus. there is just one part of it. ONE part that takes me out of the whole thing. Well two parts but we'll get to those in a moment. lets get to the story.

It's the eve of the American Civil War,  and the place is a Georgian Plantation by the name of Tara, and on this plantation is our protagonist, Scarlett O'Hara. She has no interest in the looming war as her only interest is socializing at parties, perusing the love of a man who is already betrothed to some one else, and just being an over all spooled brat. 

knowing that she cannot have her crush, a man by the name of Ashley Wilkes, she chooses another suitor. who soon after joins the confederacy and dies in war. The life Scarlett knows is quickly turned upside down as the union tears the south apart, on the verge of loosing everything Scarlett joins the nursing effort where she finds the pregnant wife of her lost love.  As the war comes to an end and the Union closes is in on Atlanta. Scarlett returns to her home plantation, as it is what her father always said it was "the only place that matters".

what follows is a broken family trying to recover form a devastating war, that brought their empire to ruin. now without slaves Scarlett must run the farm herself, and soon takes another husband who dies attempting to defend her honor.  she then takes over his  business sand saves the plantation. now on her own she chooses to be with the only man who will put up with her, the charming Rhett Butler. 

But will this be the marriage she's always wanted has she finally found peace and stability in a world that has gone crazy? has she changed for the better?

well no… not really… especially on the last part. 

Lets just be clear and to the point. I HATE SCARLETT O'HARA.  I hate her even more than I hate Jake La Motta, and he hit a woman square in the face. The entire movie all i saw was a woman who was nothing more than a spoiled rotten brat. what ever she wanted she got and if she didn't get what she got she would take advantage of people just to get it.  The entire film I felt like this is the villain this is the woman we're supposed be rooting for. the one who is supposed to make us feel good a the end.  But no! she's just a rotten woman through and through. 

Let me explain so in the beginning of the film she's in love with a man who cannot marry her. so she chooses to mary someone else who loves her dearly to make the other man jealous. during the war all she hopes for is that he'll die and then once he does die she complains about having to mourn for him and then immediately throws away her wedding ring. Then after the war she gets married a second time only to absorb the second husbands business. and when this man dies trying to kill the man who tried to RAPE he, she says that she's "glad that he's dead".  and then when she finally meets a guy who not put up with her BS, someone who is a no nonsense guy who love shed but can offer her a chance to grow. she makes efforts to cheat on him with her lost love all the while HIS wife adores the living hell out of her!

Scarlett O'Hara people a woman who cares nothing for human life. 

And no don't give me that garbage about how " oh she's doing all of these things of rthe right reasons she wants to preserve her family and her home. And I'm sorry but you can't tell me thats okay when the men she  marries genuinely  love her. it'd be one thing if they were jerks but no the's guys go out of their way for her they worship the ground she walks on. It'd be one thing if the film portrayed her as a bad person, but thats not at all what the tone of the film suggests. 

to be honest her character reminds me of ( and God help me for saying this, BUT) Bella from Twilight. both characters are terrible role models and all around terrible people and yet both are portrayed as heroes. Why!? what does scarlet do in this entire e\movie except whine and moan about how she can't get what she wants?

According to this picture, Scarlett died for our sins. 

Whew! now that i got that off my chest let's talk about the secondary characters because they do save the film. I particularly enjoyed the Mrs. Wilkes character as she always seemed to be the exact opposite of Scarlett in every way.  She's a kind caring and all around loving woman.  and for some reason she treats Scarlett like she's God. which i never understood. Hell there's a point in the movie where She cows Scarlett was trying to have an affair with her husband, and not only does she forgive her she honors her at her husbands birthday party. This woman is a saint!

other notable characters are of course Rhett Butler played by Clark Gable, who always reminded me of a southern Han Solo. he's always the odd man out and i genuinely loved his performance because despite the fact that he ends up being the one everyone hates, he alway retains his composure and is never afraid to tell Scarlett off. 

Another wonderful character is Mammy, played by Hattie McDaniel.  Boy does she own this film. every time she appears on screen you can't help but love her. her character has a lot of passion and a lot of attitude, but also a lot of wisdom behind he which makes her a great driving force behind the story. you get the feeling that despite the fact she's treated as a sec on class cities, she's still one step ahead of everyone and that she really is wants keeping everything together for so long.  there are white characters that talk about ho much they want to to be approved of by her. its no wonder she won an oscar for her role. 

If my least favorite part of this films is the main character and the story, then what is my favorite? and thats simple. the scale and look. This move is Massive, the coloring is beautiful, the costumes, are elaborate, and the sets are vividly detailed. everything about the look of this film is just amazing.  my favorite par of this film has to be towards the end of the first act of the film when we start to see that the Confederacy is going to lose the war. You see the city of ATlanta in a panic, and then you see hundreds of wounded men in the streets, an then you see the entire city ablaze. Wow, thats all wow. the entire film is so beautiful and simply epic you almost forgive the terrible lead…. almost. 

Something else that makes the film just grand and beautiful is how it is structured. there was a period in time where emotion pictures where almost create don the same level as opera's and plays. people won;d dress up to see them, and the films them,selves were presented as if they were operas.  Gone With The Wind does no differently. when we begin we are shown an overture which sets the mood of the entire picture. half way through we are given an intermission. Yeah! an intermission to a movie. followed by an Entracte and then the second act of the film.  there is something about this that just makes the film seem more like an experience than an actual film

Now it's time for me to address the elephant in the room, the racial issues. this is my othe brig issue with the film. it doesn't quite portray an accurate image of slavery in the south. half of the characters appear happy with he work their doing and they some how were bale to work in some humorous banter between field slaves in certain parts of the movie. While the film does make the characters very believable, it just doesn't sit well with me to see slaves portrayed as  people content and happy with their place in life. while I can see a small handful of people being like this I doubt there was a major consensus  on the matter. And thats the problem, Gone With The Wind isn't an accurate portrayal of the south, it's a Confederate Sympathizers idea of the south. it's a antebellum fairytale which makes the union look like monsters and the Confederates appear completely innocent. and while i will admit that the Union were not entirely innocent of their actions during the war, and I do sympathize with SOME of the confederacy's principals. I really can see  a lot of biased inaccuracies being put in the film and while all historical films have inaccuracies  the ones in this film are more insulting than forgivable. 

So yeah, that's Gone With The WInd. Do I like it? I think its pretty to look at. would I recommend it to people? Yes. despite my dislike of major parts of this film it is still an incredibly important part of motion picture history. its one of the first films to be featured in color  and the color is just stunning in this picture. It may not be my favorite but maybe you'll enjoy it.