Gone With the Wind

Post Reply New Topic

It's the mammy stereotyping and the depiction of 'the servants' being genuinely fulfilled and incapable of considering having their own interests.

You know what REALLY bothers me as a southerner? The fact that the rest of the country loves to hate us for having had slaves over a century and a half ago and yet we're all living in a country that exploits cheap labor in third world countries all over the world.

Gotta love sanctimonious hypocrites who throw stones in glass houses.

I dont get how mammy was a stereotype. She is clearly shown as having to deal with a spoilt bossy and sociopathic person and holding affection for her as (if u read the book) she basically was the real mom in every way except biologically while Scarlett idolized the real mom who kept aloof for no good reason. (That was touched on in the book but again with Scarletts POV)

She is actually the hero from any perspective.
Also the story being clearly told from the point of view of Scarlett who is OBVIOUSLY more of a villain than a hero-- everyone is shown as how they are in relation to her in her opinion and how she USES people. They show others' respect develop here and there including with Rhett and Melanie and Mammy. I mean that is what the whole thing about her in relation to others about. Selfishness and how selfish and narcissistic ppl ruin their own and others' lives. mThe rightfully outraged young women too are depicted as petty jealous biddies because that is how Scarlett chooses to view them rather than ever feeling guilt or having accountability or humility. Humiliry only when it serves her to show it--they show that too how she pretends in order to extract something. The only real humility is during the aftermath of the child's death but again only Mammy recognizes the roots while everyone is wrapped in their own default self centeredness

I see your points on Mammy, of all the characters she seemed to be the only one with genuine compassion and morals, even when compared to Melanie. And back in the antebellum days a lot of slave women were charged with looking after children just like nannies. Whose to say that some of them didn't develop a motherly bond? Maternal instincts are a powerful thing and it doesn't know boundaries.

At that point after the War she had nothing to live for but scarlett. She was in her 40s or 50s and brought up to be nothing but a caretaker and a default mother- is she suddenly gonna change everything inc emotions-- midway during a time when everything is in upheaval too- and get a Ph D?? Or start a business? Even that is no stereotype to me but depicts the reality and conundrum of probably a lot of ppl who had nowhere stable to go in that time of upheaval or too late in life and continued to work for the prev slavers. Thats because change is slow. And that was just the beginning.

Also Melanie was being directed BY Mammy during the tragedy- as latter knew Scarlett wd resort to racism if Mammy said anything.

That's very true. Gone With the Wind did actually have some realism to it in regards to this.

Also call me crazy, but the whole reason I found Scarlett endearing was because of the fact that she was such a villainous protagonist. I have a thing for the 'femme fatale' archetype.

In a way she and Rhett reminded me of Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett but they were like polar opposites. All were sociopaths but Rhett and Scarlett were wealthy slaveowners and Todd and Lovett were impoverished serial killers.

If you haven't watched Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street I highly recommend it.

Well it's not just this movie, but other movies people are complaining about nowadays for being politically incorrect, such as Blazing Saddles or Forest Gump, Dumbo, etc.

So when people say that Gone with the Wind is racist did they notice the racism by accident while watching, and were not looking for it? Or did they come armed, with papers and pencil, making several notes, and rewinding the movie trying to look for anything that could be interpreted as racist, if they looked hard enough?

Frankly I think there are certain people who will find racism in every movie, book, or TV show no matter what. Like for example take any period piece set in the south. If it shows slavery or segregation then it's too offensive. If it shows absolutely NO black characters it's offensive. And if it does show black characters in roles that would have been unrealistic for the period piece and yet in a positive light it STILL would be considered offensive!

So it's basically damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Nobody but Vivien Leigh could have conveyed such magnetic charm in that role.
She never acted badly in anything ever. Prefer her acting to her husband's which was hammy to say rgw least and made one profoundly aware of the effort that was being put in instead of it being seamless.

But he was of course perfect for stage roles even if done on film eg Shakespeare.
You need that. They both performed for British n in colonies..to distract from war.. Even when bombing was occuring outside..
I had read about it in Peter Cushing's first autobiography. Peter Cushing has been my nice brother's fave actor of all time since my brother was a small child. My nice brother always thinks people who look like that and have those vibes rock.. There is a cricketer and other actors male and female he has shown me which leads me to believe

Even though Peter Cushings BFF whatsisface (classy actor) played Jinnah My brother believes Cushing should have been asked to d it when he was alive. ..as Cushing even LOOKED just like him AnD acted like him when he was older in real life.
I think from male actors Clark Gable was a good choice because he really does convey the type of ppl you can reluctantly love and easily hate simultaneously.. So it makes everyone else's reactions seem totally justified. But Timothy Dalton, for more modern (Tho Ugh now old) actors has that exact same vibe... I have 2 cousins like that.. Exactly ..

I heard Vivien Leigh also had bipolar dsorder just like me.

Isn't the problem exactly all of this is being romanticized? That Mammy should be happy with the circumstance that she has found herself in despite being property, with the purpose of acting as a caretaker for white people? That perhaps she really should be running things, but still at the end of the day she was being treated as lesser than? What is the value of having a character to look up to, if within the context that character does so in a place of subservice? You don't see many stories where the roles of race are reversed, and if it is people would see it as incredibly political.

Being somebody else's property and not being considered a human is the lowest form of existence I can imagine.

But that was the reality of the period it was set in.

And pardon this twisted humor brought to us by the Wayans Bros

Well the movie Gone with the Wind has received controversy because it was removed from HBO and Netflix recently because of the content.

But if GWTW is a racist movie, why are people surprised at this? Every movie is going to have something in where you may not agree with the writers views, and no writer has a perfect viewpoint. IF GWTW is one of the first movies you are seeing, then I can see maybe being shocked, but if you have watched movies for a long time, aren't there movies out there that are so much more offended than GWTW? Why is GWTW taking the cake as the current most offensive movie that needs to be censored, of all movies?

If we are going to censor Gone With the Wind for being racist then why don't they censor those sexist James Bond movies too?