GONE WITH THE WIND

GONE WITH THE WIND Gone with the Wind Movie Review

Audiences are captured by stories that grip their senses, emotions, and their need for beauty. Whereas books allow readers to create their own visions, movies create the visions for viewers. This allows audience members to fall into the plot, to really see and feel what the characters may be feeling. Perhaps this is why Gone with the Wind fascinated audiences when it first came out in movie theatres. Perhaps this is why it still leaves people speechless.

Based on the great book of the same name by Margaret Mitchell, the movie is filled with true-to-life characters. Scarlett O'Hara, for instance, is a refreshing change from the traditional rendering of a lady. She is a Southern lady, bred to submit to the strict ideals surrounding ladies of her time. Rather than being submissive and innocent, Scarlett is flirty and brash. She hardly finds the quiet and simple life of a Southern lady appealing to her. Charming and beautiful, Scarlett adjusts her morals to be advantageous to her charming qualities. Instead of marrying for love, she marries once for revenge and once more for money. She is spoiled and arrogant; the thought of anything other than great things happening to her is unbearable.

Along with Scarlett, Mitchell creates Rhett Butler. Rhett is as much unlike a gentleman as Scarlett is unlike a lady. He is arrogant and cocky and does not seem to enjoy conforming to the societal rules by which everyone else lives. Unlike most of the Southern gentlemen of the time, who carry on about how strong the South is, Rhett is quick to disagree. He sees no point in lying to himself and others; instead, he speaks out. His frankness puts him on the outskirts of society more than once. Rhett is also a lewd man. He flaunts himself in whorehouses and around whores. He is very attractive, knows it, and plays on it. He is also very rich, which is the main reason he and Scarlett get married in the first place. Scarlett and Rhett are quite a pair. It could be argued that Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler are what make Gone with the Wind such a hit.

Making these two characters come alive on the screen is probably the best thing anyone could have done for Mitchell's novel. Audiences can see Scarlett's charming beauty and Rhett's handsome physique and hear their Southern accents. Their romantic story--illuminated against a background filled with Southern gentlemen in elegant clothes, and Southern ladies with modest frocks and pale skin, all chatting carelessly in front of large white plantation houses with cotton fields in the distance--lets audiences enjoy a picture perfect setting.

When the Civil War begins, audiences begin to see the South lose its a careless beauty and become a harsh environment. They watch Scarlett change, using her toughness to get herself and her family through the troubling times. Viewers see Rhett and Scarlett carry on like infatuated teenagers and imagine how their story should end.

The attraction between Rhett and Scarlett is simple to explain. Scarlett is the one woman Rhett cannot seem to get to fall in love with him. Likewise, Rhett will not fall at Scarlett's feet like other Southern gentlemen. However, Rhett is in love with Scarlett, who unfortunately is only in love with herself and money. The story of the two characters carries on throughout the novel, adding some romance to the gruesome tale of the Civil War. Their romance is a chase full of challenges, and the teasing between them is what makes audiences continue to watch Gone with the Wind.

The story behind Scarlett and Rhett is about the challenge of finding, getting, and keeping love. The story behind Scarlet herself is defined by strength and triumph. She overcomes all odds and manages to become victorious. It is not a typical success story. Some may criticize the way she handles her troubles and the way she gains her successes, but no matter how one looks at it, Gone with the Wind is a story of a woman who has strength, courage, and the ability to make things happen. To women all around the world, no better lesson can be taught.

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