Review: Gone With the Wind

Review: Gone With the Wind

By Roger Ebert

“Gone With the Wind” presents(ˈprez(ə)nt) a sentimental(ˌsen(t)əˈmen(t)l) view of the Civil(ˌsivil) War, in which the “Old South” takes the place of Camelot(ˈkaməˌlät) and the war was fought not so much to defeat the Confederacy(kənˈfed(ə)rəsē) and free the slaves(slāv) as to give Miss Scarlett O’Hara her comeuppance(ˌkəmˈəpəns). But we’ve known that for years; the tainted(tānt) nostalgia(näˈstaljə) comes with the territory(ˈterəˌtôrē). Yet as “GWTW” approaches its 60th anniversary(ˌanəˈvərs(ə)rē), it is still a towering landmark of film, quite(kwīt) simply because it tells a good story, and tells it wonderfully well.

For the story it wanted to tell, it was the right film at the right time. Scarlett O’Hara is not a creature of the 1860s but of the 1930s: a free-spirited(ˈspiridəd), willful modern woman. The way was prepared for her by the flappers(ˈflapər) of Fitzgerald’s(fitsˈjerəld) jazz(jaz) age, by the bold(bōld) movie actresses(ˈaktrəs) of the period, and by the economic reality(rēˈalədē) of the Depression, which for the first time put lots of women to work outside their homes.

Scarlett’s lusts(ləst) and headstrong passions(ˈpaSHən) have little to do with myths of delicate(ˈdelikət) Southern flowers, and everything to do with the sex symbols of the movies that shaped her creator, Margaret(ˈmärɡərət) Mitchell(ˌmiCH(ə)l): actresses such as Clara Bow, Jean(jēn) Harlow(ˈhärlō), Louise Brooks and Mae West. She was a woman who wanted to control her own sexual adventures, and that is the key element in her appeal(əˈpēl). She also sought to control her economic destiny(ˈdestinē) in the years after the South collapsed(kəˈlapst), first by planting cotton and later by running a successful lumber(ˈləmbər) business. She was the symbol the nation needed as it headed into World War II; the spiritual sister of Rosie the Riveter(ˈrividər).

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https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-gone-with-the-wind-1939