Gone With The Wind Reaction

 

Gone with the wind was a, in my opinion, a rollercoaster of a movie about the American Civil War. Although it is about the American Civil War, the film doesn’t follow the solders, rather, it follows the story of a woman by the name of Scarlett O’Hara. 

Scarlett O'Hara

Scarlett O’Hara is the character that the film follows. She is a white woman who lives at her families cotton plantation in Georgia. When we are first introduced to Scarlett, we see her as, in short, an arrogant
brat who just wants the best of life. Immediately this puts a bad taste in my mouth because of the way she acts and behaves towards people. The only point’s where she plays as the sweet and honest girl is when she is in front of the man she wants to marry. Of course, it is later revealed that he will instead be marrying Scarlett’s best friend. We do see her attitude change over the course of the movie although it isn’t by much. 

Moving on to one of the more controversial aspects of the movie is how we see the ownership and treatment of slaves as well as the showing of the Confederate flag. 

Because the movie is primarily focused around Scarlett we don’t see much of how Slaves are treated in the movie. For a majority of the movie Scarlett treats her slaves with care, for the most part. In the movie there are two notable slaves, Mammie and Prissy. The actor who played Mammie, Hattie McDaniel, did win a award for her role in the movie. However, the actor who played Prissy was more notable. Not much is known about Prissy in the movie. She is perceived as "dumb" and "clumsy", but her treatment is a different story.

Prissy would often be criticized due to her actions as a result of how she is portrayed. at one point in the film, Prissy is slapped across the face by Scarlett. During the time that this movie takes place this would be normal behavior and treatment of slaves. 

The Confederate flag is shown in the movie during one particular scene where we see confederate soldiers
who have lost their lives during the battle. This scene has been discussed many times in news articles and TV interviews in the past. One of theme you can watch here by Inside Edition. some say that the movie should be banned and some say it should be put in a museum. Personally I don't think it should be banned. its a great movie that talks about the history of slavery and the American Civil War. Movies like this should be shared so we as a nation can study our own history. This can help us improve ourselves and help us avoid any situations in the future that can be caused by not viewing a movie like this. 

Overall the movie is great and perfectly fits into what we are studying as a class. I am excited to see the rest of the movie and see how it all unfolds.