Gone With The Wind Film Analysis

Sally Thomas family is given an opportunity to make a name for herself by being given social and business opportunities. While the southernmost states have a different outtake on slavery, Sally and her family are treated with much more respect. Sally is able to own her own business as a laundress and comes to be popular in the town for her kindness and fairness.

Rarely has a film impacted an audience and held the test of time as the film Gone with the Wind. I have always been curious if director, Victor Fleming and producer, David O. Selznick and screenplay writer, Sidney Howard knew what they were creating a masterpiece and how this film would have such an enormous impact on audiences for years to come. Interestingly enough there were some who thought the film should not be made, as Irving Thalberg said to Louis B. Meyer in 1936, “Forget it Louis, no Civil War picture ever made a nickel” (Ten Films that Shook the World).

This presentation will offer an overview of the plot and circumstances of the film, and one of the main characters, Shelby Eatenton.

“That’s why they were only taking a few things at a time; they weren 't really coming for ivory and paintings. They wanted me!” Even when she wasn’t in her room she was always afraid of something. “I always dreaded that my parents would divorce. It was my third biggest fear, right next to the fear that one of them would get abducted by heartmen on the road to Sugar Beach, or my first fear, that I would get sucked into the lagoon by neegee.” Out of all three fears only one seemed to happen. Her parents relationship finally came to an end after a lot of fighting, disagreement, and cheating. “Daddy, I hold your foot, don’t leave us. Daddy, please, I beg you” she cried that day. From then on, except the servants and cook, “it was only women at Sugar Beach.” Even after dealing with something so hard in her life that wasn’t even what affected her the most.

Bailey, the son of the character known as the Grandmother, decides to go to Florida anyway. Along their way to Florida with Bailey’s wife, the baby, and the two disobedient children; June Starr and John Wesley, the Grandmother is characterized as a senile, racist woman of bad judgment. This can be seen when along the ride she sees an African-American young boy and states, “Oh look at the cute little pickaninny!...Little niggers in the country don’t have things like we do. “ (O’Connor 12). The climax of the story occurs as the family leaves Red Sammy’s Famous Barbecue and gets in a car accident with the Misfit himself. It is then safe to say that the assumption of the senile Grandmother is accurate due to the thought that runs through her mind, “A horrible thought came to her…the house that she had remembered so vividly was not in Georgia, but Tennessee,” (19). The Grandmother’s forgetfulness is in turn the direct cause of the accident and run-in with the Misfit.

As the family is driving along, the grandmother awakens from a nap and recalls “an old plantation that she had visited in this neighborhood once when she was a young lady” (189). This recollection happens while the family is driving through the town of Toomsboro, GA. The grandmother is extremely manipulative and selfish and coaxes the family into visiting the old plantation by lying to them with the possibility of finding hidden treasure. The name of the town is only a slight indication of the terrible tragedy that is yet to come. It is no

The movie “Gone with the Wind” is about a rich southern girl named Scarlett O’Hara and her life hardships set during the time-period of the Civil War. In the story, Scarlett is forced to watch helplessly as her family’s wealth and lives fade as the confederacy loses the Civil War. Even though, the movie is mainly centered on the dilemmas of Scarlett’s love life, there are many historical accuracies that immerse the viewer in the southern mindset as well as the timeframe. The portrayal of class structures and the confederate attitudes before the Civil War are both accurate and engaging details that the movie successfully implements. In the film, these examples are displayed mainly through the dialogue and setting.

The story begins with a prison guard arriving at Mrs Spencer’s door to give Paula the unfortunate news that her husband, Charlo has died. Then Paula explains the marital status between her and her husband, which is that they are separated. She talks of their wedding,

Gone with the Wind is one of my favorite love stories of all time. Margaret Mitchell wrote the beautiful story in 1928 and first published in 1936. The book is one of the best-selling novels to this date. Shortly after the book was published, it sold over one million copies within six months, as well as being awarded the Pulitzer Prize. The book immediately caught the eye of a young producer named David O. Selznick who immediately purchased the film rights for $50,000. The movie was just as big of a hit as the novel. Gone with the Wind won ten Academy Awards out of thirteen nominations. By today’s box office records, after adjusting for inflation, Gone with the Wind is still the most successful film in box office history. (IMdB) This

A horrible epiphany of the truth about the plantation strikes the grandmother which then leads her family and herself to a mishap. It is significant that the story reveals how nowadays, circumstances are getting worse because before, everything was fine and this produces a positive effect to the young characters such as the grandchildren. Having said that, this is also the reason why they get into a misadventure where they encounter their vicious murderers.

A disheveled man carries a scantily clad young woman in his arms while staring intensely into her eyes. She holds his gaze, but doesn’t appear to be as interested in him as he is in her. The background is ablaze, and the foreground is interposed with three separate images. The first is a group of men on horseback, racing down a street, the man on the lead horse is approached by a woman in a cascading white gown, her arms raised either begging him to stop, or bidding farewell. The second image is a path leading away from the woman up to an elaborate, well-maintained home. The final image is one of a couple in a carriage racing away from a burning city behind them. It is clear from the intimate pose of the couple featured at the top, and the

In the beginning of the movie we are introduced to Scarlett O’Hara, the oldest daughter of the owners of Tara. Tara is one of the finest plantations in Georgia. It has rolling fields of cotton, tobacco, cattle and horses. During this time frame the South was an agricultural based society and slaves played a major role in the lives of the wealthy southerners. Although it was a turbulent time in America as southern states are seeding from the Union over states’ rights and slavery the war has not yet reached Clayton County, Georgia. Life remains as it has always been for the Old South.

This foreshadowing is present in Gone With the Wind also with Ashley's speech at the barbeque at Twelve Oaks;

The story begins with a prison guard arriving at Mrs Spencer's door to give Paula the unfortunate news that her husband, Charlo has died. Then Paula explains the marital status between her and her husband, which is that they are separated. She talks of their wedding, their children and

The classic movie Gone with the Wind is a love story that takes place during the Civil War and was made in 1939. The character, Scarlet O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) is the heroine in the film whose family owns a plantation in Georgia. She loves the attention from all of the gentlemen but has fallen in love with Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard) who is marrying his cousin Melanie Wilkes (Olivia de Havilard). Everyone attends the annual barbecue at the Wilkes house and that is where Scarlet meets Rhett Butler (Clark Gable). There has been talk about a war for some time and that’s all the gentlemen talk about at the barbecue, Rhett believes that it’s a waste of time to start a war while the rest of the southern men think otherwise. After the Northerners started enlisting soldiers to fight against the South, everyone started enlisting. Scarlet married Mr. Hamilton who died in battle. While in mourning, Scarlett leaves for Atlanta and stays with Melanie. At a charity ball, now Captain Rhett Butler appears and shares news of moving the “Yankees” back north. As time drifts on, the Yankees are getting closer and closer to Atlanta. Men are losing their lives fighting this war. Scarlet and Melanie are helping the doctor by tending to the wounded which is over hundreds of people. Scarlet finds out her mother is sick from one of the plantation workers that are helping the war by digging ditches. Melanie has a baby but gets ill while giving birth. The Northerners are making