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I always thought it was weird that I had never seen Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939). Somehow, it didn’t click in my mind that the movie is four hours long. FOUR HOURS.
That’s a huge deterrent in my book, so I understand that not many people will be running to Blockbuster or adding to their Netflix queues in a fury. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t know what the film is about.
Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) loves her luxurious lifestyle as a Southern Belle in the antebellum South. She adores the attention of men, flirts ostentatiously, and plans for a comfortable future. But soon (very soon– within the first half hour) Civil War breaks out and the South that Scarlett knows transforms. Distraught that the man that she truly loves has proposed to another woman, Scarlett agrees to wed another young man and does so before he leaves to join the Confederate forces. Next scene: she’s a widow. The war has turned the civilized South into a war-torn society waiting for news of their men’s deaths. Scarlett adapts by doing whatever she can and slowly she transforms from the precocious girl to the (wo)man of the house… who desperately wants a man to take care of her. Meanwhile, Captain Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) falls for this woman who pretends to be hopeless but is actually a calculating, independent woman. She makes enemies while she learns to survive, but can Rhett look past her imperfections and convince her to love him the way he loves her?
Clearly, a very abbreviated plot. But really, that’s what it all boils down to. Most of the movie is about how Scarlett doesn’t really care about anyone except for herself and how it breaks her down until she has nothing and no one. But the movie begs the question, “What does Scarlett deserve?” She’s a petulant spoiled brat to her mammy and family at the beginning, and when she realizes that the love of her life has proposed to another girl, she sets herself on being the object of affection of every other man to drive him wild with envy. She lies and cheats her way into the heart of another man to facilitate an easier life for herself and to gain the agency to start her own business. And even during her third marriage, she falls over and over into the arms of the man she’s always loved and expects that man’s wife — her best friend — to love and pamper her.
So even though this film focuses on Miss Scarlett O’Hara’s evolution, she proves only one thing: she’s a spoiled brat who cannot accept happiness in hopes that there might be something better. Rhett, with his money and his honor, throws all his love and affection onto her, but she resists. That’s enough to make any man bitter and distant.
Because the film was made in 1939, the cinematography was impressive. The sweeping landscapes that were included gave the audience an appreciation for the beauty of the South and a realization of how desolate, but hopeful, it was after the war.
Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard), the focus of Scarlett’s love, helps illustrate the complexities of love– and, almost to a greater importance, provides another example of How I Met Your Mother’s situation of getting “hooked.” Just like Lily could not say no to Scooter’s puppy-dog eyes, Ashley cannot completely deny Scarlett, with her coy
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manner and devoted love for him.Finally, she realizes that Ashley’s heart will never belong to her, but Scarlett has spent so much time and energy in focusing her life on him that the rest of her personal life lies in shambles around her. It shows the destructive nature of love and how unrequited love can affect and destroy the lives of those around you, especially friends and family.
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My Intro to Film 