Gone with the Wind

[osprey_archer]

At last I have seen Gone with the Wind! Otherwise known as “the drama about how lying spoils relationships and ruins lives,” because really, Scarlett, Rhett, Melanie and Ashley would have all been so much better off if they all attended a group counseling session and were actually honest about their feelings. Assuming they didn’t end up killing each other, of course. (But I think Melanie would save them from that.)

If only Ashley Wilkes had been honest with Scarlett from the beginning! She might still have married Forgettable Dude out of spite, but at least then she wouldn’t have spent years pining after a man who didn’t love her and never would. But no, he strings her along with “I love your bravery and spirit” when what he really means is “But I’m in love with Melanie and always will be.” Instead of ripping off the bandaid all at once, he takes it off inch by tortuous inch, all the while letting Scarlett nudge him into compromising situations.

Admittedly, I wouldn’t want to face down an enraged Scarlett either, but she was already furious about Ashley’s marriage to Melanie, so why not go the extra mile and kill her false hopes entirely?

Speaking of Melanie: Scarlett clearly doesn’t deserve Melanie Wilkes. I think the most painful scene is the one where Scarlett has been accused of an adulterous liaison with Ashley, but Melanie welcomes Scarlett into her house anyway, insists everyone should be nice to Scarlett, and tells Scarlett, in all sincerity, “Gossip can be so vicious, I know you and Ashley would never do anything wrong.”

Meanwhile the viewers writhe in their seats, because Scarlett has of course spent most of the movie trying to convince Ashley to do something wrong. Scarlett O’Hara, worst friend ever.

Meanwhile, Scarlett is playing relationship chicken with the insouciant rascal Rhett Butler: whoever cracks first and communicates genuine emotional attachment loses. Stunningly, this results in a woefully dysfunctional relationship. They somehow end up married to each other without ever admitting to anything but antipathy and raging lust, even though Rhett Butler, at least, has by that time realized that he does love Scarlett.

The movie ends when he decides that his love for Scarlett will remain forever unrequited, and therefore they should get divorced...right after Scarlett has finally realized that Ashley does not and never has loved her, that she loved him out of habit more than anything else, and that really she’s in love with Rhett!

All this makes the movie sound very frustrating, and in a way it is: there’s a definite element of “OH SCARLETT NO” in watching it, because she keeps making bad decisions. But at the same time it’s very absorbing. None of the bad decisions or misunderstandings seem like idiot plotting. They arise naturally from the characterization, and it’s fascinating to watch the consequences of that unfold.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Meanwhile, Scarlett is playing relationship chicken with the insouciant rascal Rhett Butler: whoever cracks first and communicates genuine emotional attachment loses.

I think this might just be the best summary of their relationship that I've ever read: brilliant :D

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Agh, they are so dysfunctional! I have the strong impression that both of them became popular with the opposite sex because they're so good at lying, and they just don't know how to turn it off when they suddenly meet a member of the opposite sex who they actually like.

Then again, Scarlett was honest with Ashley Wilkes, and look where that got her.

[littlerhymes]

Otherwise known as “the drama about how lying spoils relationships and ruins lives,”

ACCURATE.

My favourite part is when Scarlett vows never to be hungry again. I don't know if I'd want to be friends with Scarlett, but in that moment - what a bamf.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I know, right? Vivian Leigh totally sells that line.

I don't know that I would want to be friends with Scarlett either: plus, she would get me out of a burning city in advance of an oncoming army; minus, if I had anything she wanted she would go after it with the single-mindedness of a rat terrier. But in the aftermath of a war, I would definitely want her on my side.

[bogwitch64.livejournal.com]

I've read the book twice and seen the movie about a bajillion times. Through the years, I've come to see it from all the necessary angles to love and hate each one of the characters in turn. I think that, in the end, is the brilliance of the whole thing. The women are aptly paired, and so are the men--being both opposites in some ways, and exactly the same in others.

In the end, though Melanie and Ashley seem the nobler characters, they aren't--especially Ashley. Melanie refused to believe anything bad about anyone; Ashely refused to give up on the ego-boost Scarlet's ongoing infatuation gave him. They are both selfish in their selflessness. Rhett and Scarlet might be not quite so noble, but they don't pretend to be anything else, either.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

This may of course be a book/movie difference, but it seemed to me that the flaw Melanie and Ashley shared was not refusal, but inability. Like Jane in Pride & Prejudice, Melanie simply couldn't see bad in other people. It's like she was colorblind, except to evil instead of color. And Ashley was simply too weak to say no in the face of Scarlett's tremendous passion and strength.

I think that's what I find so baffling about Scarlett's continuing infatuation with him: given how much she prizes strength, why doesn't she notice that he lacks it? But I guess infatuation is like that.

[bogwitch64.livejournal.com]

Hmm...I think Melanie doesnt WANT to see evil, so she doesn't. We might be saying the same thing, really.

And Scarlet--seriously! Ashley is so WEAK! I just never got her infatuation.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I can only assume Ashley was a total babe, and the casting directors for the movie just didn't get the memo.