125: Gone with the Wind

USA  221m  Dir: Victor Fleming  Key Cast: Vivian Leigh and Clark Gable

I had always assumed Gone with the Wind to be an epic love story with a background of the American Civil War, perhaps with a similar vibe to Casablanca. But that's not really a good description.

The film is the story of young Georgia woman Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh). When she's rejected by her would-be fiancée Ashley (Leslie Howard) she casually marries his brother in an attempt to make him jealous. When the South lose the Civil War (and her husband is killed) the O'Hara family are ruined and they struggle through poverty until Scarlett steals her sister's fiancée for his money. Throughout all of this Scarlett keeps encountering rogue rich man Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) who is in love with her- when Scarlett is widowed again she agrees to marry Rhett but as she still pines for Ashley will the marriage ever work? 

It's an unusual story which is episodic and though it's lengthy it doesn't really have a huge scale. In a lot of ways, Gone with the Wind is like a period soap opera with an enormous budget and an artistic flair. The basic premise of a woman repeatedly entering failing marriages has been replicated in that format many times. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a criticism of soap operas or the film- a good soap opera takes everyday life and adds a dollop of drama to it. Generally, each episode will feel plausible but when you stack them all together as a fictional tale of a character's life it becomes absurd what the character has been through, which is my feeling of Gone with the Wind. 

Indeed, the film ends on a soap style cliff-hanger as Rhett walks out on Scarlett. It doesn't really feel like the end of the story- it feels like we should be finishing on a point where Scarlett finally understands what she wants and acts like a good person. Does she continue with a series of failed marriages or does she manage to pursue Rhett and live happily ever after? It's as if the soap opera has suddenly been cancelled. 

Scarlett O'Hara is a really complicated character. There are times when she's utterly heroic- her speech just before the interlude about how she's going to make sure she's never poor again is incredible and when she shoots a Yankee home invader she has nerves of steel. But for much of the film, she's an awful person, leading men on and generally using the allure she knows she has to get what she wants. She will happily tread on anyone but somewhere within her, there's a caring friend and mother.

Recently this film has been discussed a lot due to its treatment of race and like every other aspect of that film, that's complicated. Now I'm not going to say this film isn't racist because it clearly is. It depicts a time when white people were exploiting black people as slaves and throughout the film they are treated as if they are less than human. Whilst Hattie McDaniel gives a great performance as 'house servant' Mammy, her character is still very much a caricature based on stereotypes. The other black characters are even more like this, especially Prissy. 

But it's more complicated than that. I didn't feel like the film was trying to say that slavery was a good thing- it's quite neutral on the subject and felt to me like it was trying to portray something which is historically accurate. It's Scarlett who is horrible to the black characters but she's a horrible person so that's no surprise- Rhett on the other hand only shows enormous respect for Mammy and Dr. Mead seems respectful towards Prissy too. Maybe the treatment of the black characters by Scarlett was intended as a way to show how awful she is? The other point is that the film gave opportunities to black actors that they'd never had before and paved the way for them to appear more regularly in films (there's still a long way to go obviously, but it was still better than what came before). 

Ultimately though, this doesn't forgive the film of its failures in regards to race. It should have made the black characters real people and not caricatures and it should have commented in some way on how awful the concept of slavery was. The film will always be tainted by these failures. 

A unique film which is far from perfect with its strange ending, enormous length and horrendous attitudes towards race but it remains a beguiling watch that's a fascinating moment of popular culture.