Couch: Gone With the Wind

Summary:
It is the year 1861, with civil war threatening to tear the United States apart. Amidst this, Scarlett O'Hara, a rich spoiled Southern belle of 16 years old, tries to win the heart of her childhood friend Ashley Wilkes, while Scarlett, in turn, is pursued by the dark, enigmatic charmer Rhett Butler. As Scarlett lives her life during these tumultuous times, her life is forever turned upside down and becomes gone with the wind...
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After discussing and reviewing various movies released in the present day era of cinema, for this entry I decided to dip back into the pages of yesteryear and review movies of the past. But this is not just any movie. This is a movie that is considered to be one of the greatest of its kind ever made. A movie with so many memorable characters, dialogue, and imagery. A movie that practically that practically defines the word "classic". This is Gone With the Wind, made in 1939 during the so-called "Golden Age of Hollywood" starring Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler.

Watching this was like being in a time machine. The way movies were presented back then was so different; 3-4 hour run times, intermissions, credit scrolls at the beginning of the movie instead of at the end,  you can just imagine yourself being transported to the 1930's in a time when movies were treated like operas and theatrical plays. I imagine back then, especially considering the decade, watching a movie was an immense privilege.

I watched Gone With the Wind about once or twice growing up, and I read portions of the original book back in Middle School, but as is the case for many things I was exposed to as a child/teenager, I can see and fully appreciate certain elements more as an adult. On the surface Gone with the Wind seems like a love story, and its understandable considering one of the iconic images of the first kiss between the two main characters. Others see Gone with the Wind as a tragedy, a coming-of-age story, etc. I fall under the latter, because for me the strongest element in the movie is the character of Scarlett.

We've all seen this type of story before; the protagonist starts out with a flaw that is ultimately resolved through the trials and tribulations that are encountered by the protagonist's journey. But what makes this particular one appealing is how utterly...unlikable Scarlett is. In the backdrop of 1861, Scarlett is a Southern belle with no cares in the world and the apple of every county boy's eye. She sees the coming war as no concern to her and is content with breaking men's hearts and pining towards Ashley, the forbidden fruit that she'll lust after but never will get. For all intents and purposes she is an utterly horrible character with so many faults, but in a way that just makes you curious in a sadistic way to see how much she'll suffer throughout the movie.

The counterpoint of the movie is the character of Rhett Butler. In another memorable shot from the, he is first introduced as being the tall dark mysterious stranger in the middle of young men and teenage boys at a party. Scarlett has no problem wooing and being simperingly ladylike towards them, but the moment she makes eye contact with Rhett she is unnerved. Throughout the movie Rhett approaches life in such a calm, cool and almost uncaring stance, and he applies this to Scarlett as well. The two flirt throughout most of the movie and Rhett doesn't care that Scarlett loves the character of Ashley Wilkes because he knows it won't work out anyway. Rhett doesn't really get put through the wringer until the last portion of the movie, but until then his character is one of the most fascinating in the whole movie.

Two other important characters are Ashley Wilkes and his wife (and cousin) Melanie. These two are practically the polar opposites of Scarlett and Rhett. If Rhett is the dark, sly charmer who doesn't care if he's being rude, Ashley is the proper gentleman with a set of morals to follow. However, he's also too polite to a fault, and can't completely rebuff Scarlett's affections on top of her stubbornness. Ashley, like Rhett, knows that a relationship with Scarlett is doomed to fail, but his attempts to act nice only heightens Scarlett's lust for him. Melanie Wilkes is definitely the nicest character in the whole movie. Perhaps a little too nice, because she believes in the goodness of everyone around her, almost to the point of naivete She sees Scarlett's love for Ashley as familial love and concern. Melanie gets exposed to so much conflict in the movie you really want to root for her instead of Scarlett.

A major criticism of the movie that has endured for the longest time is the movie's portrayal of Blacks, with many arguing that it is not an accurate portrayal of how they were treated during the Civil War era and over-exaggerating certain aspects. This could be the case of Scarlett's wet-nurse, Mammy. I like to believe that the sassy, "up-in-yo-face", no nonsense Black woman in media today originated from this character, because she certainly doesn't put up with whatever Scarlett does. She's definitely one of the best parts of the movie because of her attitude and her acting as a counterpoint to Scarlett.

The story, the veeeeeery long story, details the struggles of Scarlett as she starts out as a spoiled rich brat that gets broken by the events of the Civil War, and being changed for the worse in the aftermath, losing everything and managing to get back on top, but at the cost of alienating a lot of people around her. Betwixt all of this is Scarlett's love and familial life, marrying other men, and eventually Rhett, and having her own children, but even that has its own hardships because of, again, how utterly unlikable Scarlett is. In a way, you can almost get a sadistic sort of pleasure watching her character be put into the wringer. What happens to her in the end is almost poetic justice.

The memorable scenes and lines in this movie are just way too many to count; "Great balls of fire!", "Fiddle-dee-dee!", "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.", Scarlett meeting Rhett, the sunset on the Tara Plantation, the burning of Atlanta, Scarlett's and Rhett's first kiss, etc. The special effects used in the movie really stand the test of time, long before the days of CGI and using methods like miniatures, matte paintings, and long, panning shots with real life people. Even though I'm normally not a special effects person and don't focus all that much on production design when it comes to movie reviewing, I gotta give credit where credit is due.

However, not every movie is perfect, and this is just my personal opinion, but I find the second half of the movie, specifically when Scarlett marries Rhett, to be the point where I lose interest. Like I said, Scarlett's and Rhett's banter when they are unmarried is very entertaining and dramatic, but when it comes time for them to actually marry and settle down, a lot of the plot focuses more on soap opera drama. Don't get me wrong, it's good drama and all of that, but as a person who's not a big soap opera guy to begin with, seeing the third part is rather tedious. I don't find it bad, I just find it inferior to the rest of the movie.

Final thoughts:
All in all, what else can there be said about Gone With the Wind that hasn't been said? It rightfully deserves its place as the highest grossing film of all time (counting inflation), all the accolades, praises and celebration. It just oozes classic cinema, and it still stands the test of time with its timeless story and characters. A few hiccups here and there detract from an otherwise fine piece of entertainment that many can rightfully declare to be the greatest movie of all time. It certainly isn't for me, but I can understand why many people do. I am pretty sure that, when the time comes for its 100th anniversary, it'll last for a hundred more years.

My score: 4.3/10