As gilded and over-the-top as the Old South itself, the Gone with the Wind 70th Anniversary Collector's Edition Blu-ray release is an impressive tribute to one of the best loved films of all time. The Victor Fleming-directed (at least Fleming gets the credit) classic, based on Margaret Mitchell's book of the same name, looks exceedingly good in high definition, and the bonus items (video and otherwise) which accompany the release are sure to please fans.
Everyone knows the tale of Gone with the Wind – Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) comes of age as the Civil War breaks out. It forces her to become an adult far sooner than she, and her family, may have wished, but Scarlett somehow manages – usually through conniving, lying, deceit, and other less than ladylike methods – to hold her family and her fortune together. .JPG "Gone with the Wind")
That is, until true love (if it is true love) in the form of the dashing and handsome Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) comes along.
Gone with the Wind is an epic. It is a war film, it is a history, it is a love story, it is a melodrama. It is also one of those films which represents incredibly different things to different people. Someone in the film industry might note that the film has sold more tickets than any other film ever. Someone who focuses on fashion might note the incredible costumes worn by the characters. Some might note the idyllic way it paints the pre-Civil War South with much pomp and circumstance and the post-Civil War South as constantly having to struggle against wretched northern Carpetbaggers. Still others might note that the same portrayal of the South is full of negative portrayals of African Americans and that a film made in 1939, even if it is one that highlights plantation life, ought to have made a far stronger attempt to not create racial stereotypes.
As beautiful as the film is, and as great as the performances by Leigh, Gable, Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Howard, and the rest of the cast are, it is hard to watch the film and not note these stereotypes. The film seems to be completely uninterested in drawing any representation of African Americans that is remotely three-dimensional.
Ultimately, and without getting too academic here, the most interesting question is whether or not the film approves of Scarlett and her actions and attitudes. Perhaps the film is rejecting of Scarlett's less than Southern attitudes towards men, love, business, slavery, .JPG "Gone with the Wind")
dealings with the North, and/or the employing of convicts. Perhaps it's just upset that she left her childhood home and the land, or, perhaps the film happily accepts all of Scarlett's actions and leaves her exactly where she wants to be.
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Article comments
1 - sam
This is my favorite film of all times! I had the chance to "hear" Olivia de Havilland today - she is the narrator of a 2009 film called "I Remember Better When I Paint".