Gone with the Wind

This weekend I watched Gone with the Wind, a romance movie adapted from the novel by Margaret Mitchell. This movie is set during the Civil War. It centers on the life of a young southern belle name Scarlett O’Hara. She is naive and selfish and a famous anti-hero of film. Scarlett lives a wealthy lifestyle, growing up in the family plantation named Tara. She is forced to mature quickly as the North declares war against the South. Scarlett assists as a nurse during the war and then works on her hands and knees trying to farm Tara without her slaves. This is when she states the famous quote:

“As God is my witness, as God is my witness they're not going to lick me.
I'm going to live through this and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill.
As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again.”

Scarlett soon realizes that the only power she holds in the world is the ability to control men.

Scarlett marries three times in the movie, the first out of jealousy. She discovers that her true love Ashley Wilkes is to marry her friend Melanie, and marries a man she cares nothing for in retaliation. Her second marriage is one of necessity. Scarlett it to lose Tara to tax collectors. She marries a family friend who has money in order to save her plantation. This husband dies in a fight defending her honor. Her third husband is Rhett Butler. Scarlett loves Rhett more than she is capable of understanding. He cares for her deeply. He states that “I love you. Because we're alike. Bad lots, both of us. Selfish and shrewd. But able to look things in the eyes as we call them by their right names.” However, the loss of their daughter Bonnie and the buried but present feelings she has for Ashley doom their relationship. This changes only when Melanie dies leaving Ashley to Scarlett. Rhett leaves Scarlett without a future exclaiming "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.” Then and only then does Scarlett understand what Rhett means to her.

Gone with the Wind is plagued with racial, gender and economic stereotypes. The most obvious are the overt racial stereotypes in the slave characters. Mammy is a caring motherly figure that watches over the family as though they were her own. Even after the war, she stays caring for the family until the end of the movie. Butterfly McQueen as Prissy (Scarlett’s personal servant) is hard to watch without annoyance. Prissy is depicted as a sniveling frivolous liar, incapable of caring for herself. The movie portrays Prissy as needing the O-Hara family to survive…

Throughout the film, economic status is present in the main character’s lives. They remain comfortable even during the war. Scarlett only has a peek into the world of poverty after the war, before marrying her second husband. All of the soldiers are portrayed as poor and uneducated. It is obvious that they are disposable, while Rhett and Ashley were both not. The socialites in the south still throw parties to raise money for the war effort.

Gender stereotypes are present throughout the film as well. Male characters Rhett and Ashley are depicted as noble and loyal, exhibiting bravery throughout the film. Scarlett and Melanie (their counterparts) are depicted as either conniving or helpless. Melanie is portrayed as a sap, who allows everyone to step on her throughout the film. She dies at the end, still thinking all the characters around her were loyal. Scarlett is depicted as a conniving and backstabbing fiend who marries her way into power. I think these two character choices have plagued female roles throughout history. Female actors are often only offered these two roles to choose from.

Although overt gender, economic and racial stereotypes are present throughout Gone with the Wind, it is a corner-stone of American film history and integral to the construction of modern filmic conventions. It is important to take into consideration the time period in which this film is set and also the period in American history that is was produced. This allows one to be critical of the negative aspects of the film, while still enjoying it as a masterpiece!

Niki