Gone With the Wind physical copies are now sold out everywhere... (Thanks to HBO Max) (1 Viewer)

[Cranston37+]

Slaves aren't the main character of the book and film, it's all about Scarlet and her drama.

They certainly managed to carve out some of that 3 hour 40 min runtime to show how bad the white soldiers had it during that time though, didn't they?

 

[Johnny Angell]

You’ve got a movie about the .1% living the good life. Scarlett is a spoiled little bitch. I think that sums up the story, except the movie ignores that the basis for the characters living the good life is slavery. It’s been a while since I watched it, but does the movie even mention the real reason for the war? Not states rights but to maintain slavery and the southern way of life that slavery supports.

 

[darkrock17]

No kidding! They don't have to be the main character for them to include the cruelties of slavery. That's the issue some people have with the movie. I'm not saying they're right, but that's how they feel about it and have felt about it since 1939.

Besides Mammy and Butterfly McQueen's memorable scene, any other black person was essentially an extra in the background.

They certainly managed to carve out some of that 3 hour 40 min runtime to show how bad the soldiers had it during that time though, didn't they?

Are you talking about this famous scene?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Besides Mammy and Butterfly McQueen's memorable scene, any other black person was essentially an extra in the background.

Oscar Polk!

Edit: I forgot Big Sam played by Everett Brown.

 

[darkrock17]

Oscar Polk!

Edit: I forgot Big Sam played by Everett Brown.

Big Sam, who was he?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Big Sam, who was he?

Black slave foreman on Tara.

 

[darkrock17]

Black slave foreman on Tara.

Doesn't ring any bells

 

[Robert Crawford]

Doesn't ring any bells

Not a surprise.

 

[bujaki]

Black slave foreman on Tara.

He saves Scarlett when she ventures out by herself and is attacked, prompting the infamous KKK incursion into Shantytown.

 

[ahollis]

Black slave foreman on Tara.

He played a major plot point in telling Scarlet that her mother was sick when Big Sam and Scarlet meet on the streets of Atlanta. This pushed her into going back to Tara and added to her hatred of Melanie because she had to stay and watch over her.

 

[MatthewA]

He saves Scarlett when she ventures out by herself and is attacked, prompting the infamous KKK incursion into Shantytown.

Only the book explicitly calls it the KKK. The movie makes it ambiguous and still makes fools of Rhett, Ashley, and Dr. Meade as they stagger home drunk, supposedly having been at Belle Watling's place. Some of the stuff from the book that wasn't even in the movie shows some of the characters being even more defensive about slavery, while other stuff was dropped for time.

 

[darkrock17]

Only the book explicitly calls it the KKK. The movie makes it ambiguous and still makes fools of Rhett, Ashley, and Dr. Meade as they stagger home drunk, supposedly having been at Belle Watling's place. Some of the stuff from the book that wasn't even in the movie shows some of the characters being even more defensive about slavery, while other stuff was dropped for time.

Weren't they pretending to acting drunk, because they were hiding Rhett's injury instead?

 

[TJPC]

If you want to see a movie glorifying the south during slavery, (and why would you?), there are many other choices. Tonight on TCM, there was the 1930 film “Dixiana”, which would only be more offensive, to those who can’t put themselves in the time period a movie was made, if the characters were in black face!

 

[MartinP.]

^^^

The evils of those "circus people!"

Weren't they pretending to acting drunk, because they were hiding Rhett's injury instead?

Yes, they were pretending, trying to cover up Ashley's injury.

That’s the problem, it doesn’t display the horrors of slavery.

I wonder what the movie would be like if they did that in the way you intend?

 

[darkrock17]

Yes, they were pretending, trying to cover up Ashley's injury.

Oh it was Ashley, I thought it was Rhett, I haven't seen GWTW recently and I'm always fuzzy on parts of the second half.

 

[Robert Crawford]

^^^
I wonder what the movie would be like if they did that in the way you intend?

It only would have taken a scene or two to show the horrors of slavery. Doing so wouldn't have changed the overall focus of the movie that much. Let's be honest, the reason there wasn't such a scene was a pure economic one made by Selznick as he didn't want to offend the "Jim Crow" South. Thus, negatively affect the box office.

 

[JPCinema]

GWTW is back on HBO MAX with 2 insightful discussions and a short bio on Hattie McDaniel.

 

[Cranston37+]

 

[AlexNH]

I watched the panel discussion but I didn't like it. I thought the new intro was very good though.

 

[Garysb]

One reflection of the horrors of slavery that made it into the picture was when Scarlet was yelling at Prissy to get Dr Meade when Melanie was in labor and telling Prissy if she didn't hurry, she would "Sell her South". The separation of families is one of the horrors of slavery. The book has the character of Dilcey, a midwife, who was Pork's wife and Prissy's mother. She and Prissy were purchased from John Wilkes so Pork wouldn't be lonely. The movie eliminated Dilcey and basically all the black family relationships. There is no mention of any black families, which dulls the meaning of "Sell her South" if they don't have families. The fact that her mother was a midwife helps explain why Scarlet would think Prissy would know something about "birthing babies".