Gone With the Wind

Scarlett enjoying her company.

I never have had the chance to watch Gone With the Wind until our movie day last week. This film checked all the boxes for me, it kept me engaged through its action-packed first Act and all the different types of characters they displayed. One that keened my interest was the troublemaker from Charleston, Rhett Butler. I liked the kind of mysterious vibe he gave off and how clever he was when he spoke. His character gives the viewer a opportunity to wonder what his backstory could have been. 

Rhett Butler

To add on to this interested character, despite being a troublemaker wherever he goes, he seems to have somehow accumulated enough wealth to keep showing up at all the grand events shown throughout the film. He is most known for the interest he shows towards Scarlett O'Hara, the next character I am going to talk about. 

Rhett was also considered to be a big gambler which is where people have rumored his wealth comes from which I think is a pretty reasonable guess. Within his direct family, he was the black sheep. What caused that is his expulsion from his college, West point, for disorderly conduct. 

Next character I would like to talk about is the film's protagonist, Scarlett O'Hara. The movie makes it known early on that Scarlett is desired by most of the men in her area for her beauty and status. But she only has eyes for one man, Ashely Wilkes. This cause a major love triangle early on in the film between Scarlett, Ashley, and his cousin in which he was going to marry via southern tradition, Melanie Hamilton. 

Scarlett O'Hara

That drama fortunately ended whenever Ashley finally made it clear to Scarlett that he was without a doubt int he world, marrying Melanie. Although Scarlett now despised Melanie because of that. Then Ashley went off to fight in the Civil War, leaving Melanie to give birth to their child without him but with assistance from her ex-enemy Scarlett. Scarlett, to me. always seemed to never be with the same man for long but then again never got to watch the second half of the film. The night where Ashley told her he would marry Melanie is when Scarlett met Rhett. At first she hated him but I know through research they end up getting together later in the film.

She was born into a wealthy plantation family and took pride in that fact. She adored her southern way of life and i would say one of her goals was to preserve it for the duration of her life. That dream took a wrecking ball to it though after the Union soldiers came through and ransacked and burnt her old plantation home. That sparked her determination to revive her home later on.

 

Overall, Gone With the Wind is an amazing classic movie that was very impressive for the time period in which it was filmed. It is well renown for having spectacular scenes, for example, the burning building scene or the hundreds of actual people lined up near railroad tracks acting as wounded Civil War Confederate soldiers.