Gone With The Wind (all four hours)

GONE WITH THE WIND

So... I have finally arrived at the movie that inspired this entire blog... the four hour classic Gone With the Wind. 

Since the title of this blog is derived from a quote in the movie, I shall begin by discussing Clark Gable's grand finale line "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."

First of all, when I read the quote on the website I looked it up on (to confirm that the line was indeed from Gone With the Wind), it said that it was his "last line" or his "last words" (I don't remember the exact phrasing...) which gave me the impression that he died in the end. SPOILER ALERT However, he doesn't die! Practically everyone else in the movie dies, but Clark Gable does not die. It may seem a little comedic to put spoiler alerts around this, but I thought it was very surprising, and worth a spoiler alert. END SPOILER ALERT. Second of all, after the movie ended, my dad (who had watched the fantastic making of Gone with the Wind, which I may have to add to my constantly expanding list of things to watch), he said that apparently it was a very big deal to use the word "damn" in the film. Scandalous!! My, my, what would the people of the 1930s think of the foul mouths of the two main characters in Superbad? They would probably think there wasn't enough soap in the country to wash out their mouths.

But, this brings me to another point. Perhaps even more than being a historical epic, Gone with the Wind is a sign of the times of 1939, which is why I think it has risen to the caliber of "classic" and will continue to remain an important film in our history. Even though movies are considerably long now (Lord of the Rings comes to mind), I can't think of any that are four hours long. But, in the Great Depression (a time period I am bizarrely fascinated with), the longer people got to sit in a movie theater, and get swept off their feet with epic romance and stories of people overcoming financial obstacles, the better. 

But just because it's a historical film (in two ways), why is it still talked about, quoted and referenced today? Is it relevant? Well, I could go into a long rant about the economy and how times are more similar to the Great Depression than ever, but it wouldn't really be true. From what I've read/seen/heard (because I can't really call the following fact since I haven't done much official research), the economy isn't as bad as it was in the Great Depression and even if it was, people's reaction to the poor economy is different. This bit I did research: although studios lost money in the stock market crash just like everyone else, movies were the most profitable business during the Great Depression and they soon gained it back from all the people who bought tickets because they were looking for an escape. According to an article in the prestigious Entertainment Weekly that I just read, the box office is extremely low this summer. Maybe it's because Hollywood's making Sex and the City 2 instead of Gone With the Wind, but it doesn't seem like people are looking for an escape by going to the movies. If anything, people seem to be going to the movies less because they want to save money (who blames them when a ticket to see Shrek Forever After in 3D in New York is twenty bucks?). 

So, where am I going with this exactly? I'm not really sure. I think my point is, that I don't really see why it's still "relevant" today other than that it is a glimpse into the past, which seems to be what people really love. I can't say this as fact, of course, but from my perspective of the world, it seems that society glorifies the past in a somewhat jealous way. It's a strange mix of "look how far we've come" and "look at what we've lost". I can't really think of why it's relevant other than the reason that it is relevant because it's a good movie that people like. 

This has gone into a long ramble about things I didn't expect to write about that I'm not an expert on. What I am an expert on is my own opinion and my thoughts about Gone with the Wind were these:

I'm glad that I saw it. I actually really liked it... until hour four struck. That last hour to me felt repetitive and I started getting annoyed with the characters (especially Scarlet O'Hara) and thinking that they were stupid. Not that they as characters were stupid, but that they're decisions were stupid (I was still very engrossed in the highly developed characters throughout the movie). But, it did feel repetitive. I mean, there were four scenes where Scarlet approached Ashley and asked her to tell her that he loved her and he gave a mixed message response. I think the "comedy rule of three" should be applied to everything, including epic romantic dramas called Gone with the Wind. To quote Schoolhouse Rock, "three is the magic number". When things happen more than three times, it gets old.

In conclusion, I'm glad that I sat through all four hours though, because now I can solve crossword puzzles that appear in the "Coming Attractions" brochures they have at my video rental store. 

15 Across: Family name in Gone with the Wind.

Although I guess I could have known that from just being exposed to pop culture.

COMING SOON: Garbo Laughs! in Ninotchka.