Well my English exam wasn't so painful. I found that some of the questions were very similar to what I had studied so I had a good time in the exam. The only bad part was when I was interrogated by my English Teacher, he said that because I was so confident that my essay was good, I would be "Set up to fail" How Encouraging.

Here's the essay I wrote on Gone with the Wind:

While most will argue with me, I have to say that I was not impressed with the overall final results of this "epic". The hype surrounding it, the overuse of Rhett's infamous line in pop culture, and the fact that most people rave about this being one of the most romantic films ever produced set my standards extremely high. I wanted to be blown away by the scenes, I wanted characters that would invite me into their worlds and never make me leave, I wanted tragedy on a grand scale, but that wasn't what I witnessed with this film. Somehow at the end I was left with a sense of being robbed, and not at all the romantic film I thought I would be enjoying.

I realize that the point of this film was to show us a different side of the war. That all Southerners were not fueled by hatred and surrounded by a violent slavery system. Instead, there was quite a bit of beauty to the old South. A sense of pride, a sense of gentlemanly nature, and a sense of honor, which was difficult to witness being trampled on as the North continued its destructive war path. In that sense, I think it gave us a glimpse of what we lost with the Civil War. But what I didn't like were the stereotypes, the shallow characters, and the faded ending that just didn't seem to match the overall tone of the film.

While most will say that the stereotypes in this film accurately depict the voice of the South, I just didn't feel comfortable watching it. I realize that this was made back in 1939, but I still didn't feel comfortable with slavery, sexism, and ignorance surrounding these characters. Does that make this film dated? Perhaps if I witnessed our characters going through some form of change I would have softened a bit, but I did not see that at all. With the continual struggles that minorities have in cinema today, is it wise to continue to think of this film as a masterpiece of cinema? Is it worth of all the accolades that it received? I personally don't think so. Every single black character in the movie is offensively portrayed as lazy, silly, and superstitious caricatures who are devoted to and love their white masters and are lost without them. The fact that "Gone With the Wind" hasn't faced as much widespread condemnation as "Birth of a Nation" with its pro-KKK scenes is rather surprising. But, I do have to give props to Hattie McDaniel. She richly deserved her Academy Award (and is likewise wonderful in SOTS, which also gives us a glimpse of her musical talent), but the glorification of the culture of slavery that permeates every frame of the film is disgusting and is not redeemed by the overblown production values.

There are those that speak so highly of Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh's chemistry, but for me, it was non-existent. I did not see why there are those that fall over this film and praise the story. I thought that Leigh was horrid as the early Southerner turned feminist. Gable was so inconsistent with his character that I didn't know whether to love him or hate him. There didn't seem to be any chemistry or connection between Leigh and Gable. They were together because the director (which this film eventually went through three of them) knew that audiences would want to see them either together or going to get together by the end. The rest of it was just trivial. With the fuzzy direction of Leigh's character, you never quite felt that Scarlett had an ounce of passion in her heart. She wanted what she couldn't have, like a spoiled child, and that was reflected again with the inconsistent ending. Gable's character of Rhett was underdeveloped. We knew nothing about this man except that he randomly continued to jump in and out of Scarlett's life. Where did his wealth come from? What was his past? Who knows ... and none of it was fully explained. This can be said the same with Ashley. Who was this guy? Why did Scarlett choose him over the other possible suitors? Was it simply because she couldn't have him, or because of some darker reason? Did anyone else notice that she was Irish, not quite the Southern belle that we had originally hoped for? Overall, these characters hurt and built upon the ultimate downfall of this film. They were forgettable from the first time that we met them until the very end of the film. Underdeveloped, unintelligent, and downright dull. All elements that gave us too long of a film centered on nothing.

Overall, I just didn't see what all the hype was surrounding this film. I say enjoy the movie but stop being blinded by expectations or conformity and actually judge the film for what it is. The End


*Feel free to agree or disagree. I enjoy hearing other peoples opinion on films. :-]