Where do I begin?
How can a humble blogger adequately describe a movie that’s been the subject of so many books and documentaries? How can an amateur film critic with no formal education in film do justice to a movie that students the world over have studied at length and written graduate theses on? How can an aspiring movie nerd pay tribute to the greatest Academy-Award winner and the highest-grossing movie (adjusting for inflation) of all time?
I’m not sure I can. But I guess the place to start trying is with the main character.
Has the world ever seen a woman like Scarlett O’Hara? There are so many reasons not to like her as a protagonist. She’s selfish, manipulative, short-sighted and more than a little bitchy, yet she remains such an enduring and powerful character because she’s made out of some deceptively strong stuff.
The movie revolves around Scarlett’s character arc, which could be simplified into two words: “ebb” and “flow.” Scarlett begins GWTW as a pampered child. She’s a product of the wealthy and prideful Confederacy and she knows how to use this world to her advantage. But then the Confederacy and everything it stands for is “gone with the wind,” or rather, gone up in flames. Every comfort she had has been obliterated. Everyone she knew and loved is taken by the Civil War. She’s surrounded by death and destruction at every turn.
But Scarlett isn’t just any spoiled child. She perseveres. She keeps going until she can’t keep going anymore, and then she proclaims for all the world to hear that she’s going to rebuild her life so she’ll never be hungry again. She keeps her promise through her sheer stubbornness and courage, and that’s part of what ultimately damns her.
Scarlett’s big problem throughout the movie is that she can only ever see in the short term. In the movie’s second half, for example, she spends all her time and effort toward making money, but with no plans for how to spend it or how it will bring her happiness. Perhaps more importantly, she marries three times in the movie and not for one of them does she ask if this is the man she could happily spend the rest of her life with. The first marriage was done purely to spite Ashley Wilkes, but it’s luckily short as the husband went to get KIA mere minutes after the wedding. The second marriage — done entirely for monetary gain — is also cut prematurely by the husband’s death, but not before we see that his affections for Scarlett are unrequited. The third marriage, however, is a true catastrophe. Scarlett marries Rhett Butler, a man every bit as flighty as she is.
If I may digress momentarily, attention must be paid to Rhett Butler. This can’t be helped as he’s naturally the center of attention at any room he happens to be in. If there was some awesome inter-dimensional crossroads incident in which James Bond, Francisco D’Anconia, Bruce Wayne and Han Solo all got together for drinks at Rick Blaine’s place in Casablanca, all five of them would buy Rhett Butler a drink and give him the floor if he were to walk in. He’s got endless charm, a wit sharper and faster than any rapier and a “rascal” streak miles wide. That’s not to say that he’s perfect, it’s just that unlike Scarlett, Rhett knows his flaws and he’s come to terms with them. His only blind spot in this regard is his daughter, Bonnie Blue. Rhett spoils Bonnie endlessly, failing to foresee the moment when she dies disobeying him.
Throughout the entire movie — even during her marriages — Scarlett pines for the affections of Ashley Wilkes. Never mind that he’s married to his cousin through the whole movie (hey, it’s the South. During the Civil War, no less) and never mind that Ashley is a rather boring man who’d be a horrible match for Scarlett. She fancied him when they were teenagers and he was the one thing Scarlett wanted that she could never have, so she naturally never stopped trying. This continuous attraction, plus Scarlett’s obsession with only her most immediate needs, plus Rhett’s epiphany after Bonnie Blue’s death provides enough reason for Rhett to break off the marriage. Scarlett, meanwhile, is left with no other short-term goal to live for, save to make it until tomorrow.
If Scarlett is the focus of GWTW, then its heart would have to be Melanie Hamilton. She starts off as something of a naive nitwit, eagerly buying whatever lies Scarlett feeds her. As the film progresses, however, she becomes a saint. She becomes compassion incarnate. Melanie is the only person who sees Scarlett as the strong and well-meaning if misguided person that she really is underneath the rude and egocentric exterior seen by everyone else. It’s very telling, in my opinion, that the movie essentially dies with her.
Then we have the black supporting cast. Naturally, GWTW is set in a place and time in which slave ownership is still going strong, so the black performances in this movie are a touch unsettling for the modern racism-sensitive viewer to watch. I’ve certainly seen worse, however. Additionally, it’s worth noting that Hattie McDaniel deservedly became the first black person ever to win an Oscar, as reward for her marvelous performance as Mammy. I found Prissy to be totally stupid and annoying, however.
Still, in my humble opinion, the real stars of this movie are the visuals. The set design, the costume design and the cinematography are gobsmackingly gorgeous. The makeup is also incredible, considering the necessary requirements for glamor and aging. They also had to make Vivien Leigh look unattractive a few times, which had to be a Herculean task. Also, the special effects in GWTW could easily be replicated today by anyone with Photoshop, yet the illusions here are still damn near flawless. Even by 21st century standards, this has to be one of the most beautiful movies ever made.
The long and short of it is that they just don’t make films like this anymore… and given what I learned in the DVD’s making-of documentary, I’m not really sure they should. If someone tried to make a massively over-budgeted movie today with a domineering producer, frequent directorial changes, a production that stopped for two weeks halfway through and no final screenplay draft, moviegoers everywhere would be fearing the worst if the movie in question ever got released at all. Moreover, the traditional three-act structure doesn’t seem to exist and the opening credits look more like a playbill than anything else.
Gone With the Wind was made during a time when filmmaking was still a developing art and there’s no denying that this movie played a key part in the art’s development. Its visual influences can be seen in movies even today. The characters have become icons and their actors have become legends.
I can understand how the daunting four-hour running time would discourage modern film-goers from seeing this movie, especially when those four hours are devoted solely to the problems of one woman who lived a long time ago and whose actions are ultimately inconsequential. But those four hours are spent in a romantic and chivalrous vision of a time and place long past, and however inconsequential her life may be, the fact remains that the world has never seen a woman like Scarlett O’Hara.