Gone with the Wind
Originally on social media on February 5th, 2022
The last time I saw this film was in my 8th grade history class. Watching that film with my peers was a fun experience, but watching it by myself allowed me to pay attention to everything. For this review, I am going to respond to all the 8th grade thoughts I had about this film:
- “This film is really long”. Okay yeah, but not in a way that feels unnecessary to the story. I wouldn’t have changed a thing about the timeline. Also now that I’m older, I loved the set design and musical score.
- “Scarlet O’Hara is the worst”. Maybe partially true, but she’s not as awful as I thought. While she is selfish, mean, and has questionable morals, she is always helping other people even when it is an inconvenience.
- “Melanie is an angel”. This is still true. Olivia de Havilland’s performance is amazing .
- “I feel bad for Ashley Wilkes, Scarlet is a stalker”. Honestly, I don’t feel bad for him at all anymore. The whole time he was saying no to her, they still somehow ended up kissing or hugging a lot. He led her on until the end.
- “Rhett Butler delivers the best insult at the end of the film”. It is iconic, I didn’t find it funny this time. I felt sorry for Scarlett at the end of the film and yes she deserved what she got, but it still felt unfair.
- “Prissy is annoying”. I feel extremely guilty about this old thought because her character was a hurtful and offensive display of old African slave stereotypes created by white people. Rather than being annoyed by her character this time, I realized how scared she always was and how previous abuse left her with mental health issues. Poor girl
- “Mammy is the best”. This is obviously still true. Hattie McDaniel was incredible in this film, and that’s why she earned an Oscar. In fact, she was the first African Americans to win an Oscar. This film is still is offensive, but it is very significant to #blackfilmhistory .
I encourage everyone to read at the message on the 2nd picture that Warner Bros created to play before the films starts on DVDs.