Scarlett and Rhett
Gone with the Wind: Mesmerizing & Complicated
These days, any conversation about Gone with the Wind inevitably devolves into a debate as to whether the film is racist, or if it glamorizes the horrors of slavery by portraying the white lead characters as glamorous, noble, and even heroic. The 1939 film is widely regarded as one of the greatest movies ever made, if problematic in its racial politics and bloated in its epic running time (a touch over three-and-a-half hours). Some details from the original book, written by Margaret Mitchell and published in 1936, were changed for the movie. The wisest change was to avoid depicting Rhett Butler and Ashley Wilkes as members of the Ku Klux Klan. The film holds up a lot better with that particular detail altered. Thank goodness.
In retrospect, the film still holds up, and its perceived racism, while certainly not defensible, is an integral part of the story. Scarlett, Rhett, Ashley, Melanie, and all the rest…well, they’re all awful. Scarlett is a manipulative sociopath, vapid and narcissistic. Ashley and Melanie are a pair of inbred freaks who use their family’s financial status, a direct result of their ownership of other human beings, to obfuscate their obsession with the “purity” of their bloodline. Even Rhett, though he has the appearance of a nobleman, is a West Point washout who only joins the Confederate army after it is clear that the war is lost, thus greatly diminishing his chances of ever fighting a legitimate battle. In short, he’s a coward. Time and time again, his lack of integrity is exacerbated by his juvenile affection towards Scarlett, who only marries him for his money. The ending of the film, and his iconic line, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,” is the only indication he’s not a spineless wimp anymore.
Of course, that’s not to say that Gone with the Wind is supposed to be a scathing deconstruction of the great myth of the South. The movie is simply Scarlett’s story, and the setting, of the South before, during, and after the Civil War, is such a vital part of her character that to set it anywhere else would not result in the same story. She is affected by the times as anyone would be, and the characters are well-defined in the script and brought to life in the finished film…well, the white characters, at least; Mammy, played by Hattie McDaniel, who won an Oscar for her role, isn’t even given a proper name in the entire story, if she even has one.
The archetypes represented readily lend themselves to a wide range of interpretations, and precious few of them can be seen as genuinely positive and aspirational. After all, the South loses the war and the aristocrats are stripped of their status, revealing that their so-called honor was just a financial and societal construct established on the backs of their slaves. The text is so well-written, and the historical context so well-known that the subtext, intentional or not, is definitely there.
Anyone who watches Gone with the Wind and wistfully wishes to to be magically transported to Antebellum South and enjoy the luxuries of the ruling class did not understand the message. On the other hand, someone who watches the film and wants it destroyed or locked away from the public due to its racial elements is ignoring the importance of the era’s racism in painting the tone of the story and its characters. It’s a story about racists, told from their point of view.
All that being said, it’s been nearly 70 years, and Gone with the Wind remains an enduring classic. There are many reasons for this, from its sprawling story, to its complex and nuanced characters, to its incredible visuals, which took advantage of color photography in a way unmatched even by today’s cutting-edge blockbusters. One of the best reasons to enjoy Gone with the Wind, however, is the palpable chemistry between Vivian Leigh and Clark Gable as Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler. Regardless of everything going on in the real world and the deluded, fleeting, antebellum fantasy of the film, Rhett and Scarlett are pure fire whenever they share the screen. Clark Gable in his prime possessed a fearless swagger and effortless charisma. He was authoritative, yet approachable, in a way unmatched even by hunks like Cary Grant (who was also a front-runner for the Rhett Butler role) and next-generation movie stars like Gregory Peck. As for Vivian Leigh, it takes a special actor to fully embody all the negative traits of a character like Scarlett and still turn her into a cultural icon for the ages. Together, Gable and Leigh are the complicated romantic pairing by which all others are judged. They’re sexy, dangerous, tragic, doomed, provocative, and endlessly watchable. They’re the reason Gone with the Wind is a Hollywood classic.
Some elements of the film have arguably been hurt by the passage of time; the chemistry between Scarlett and Rhett is not one of them. Just watch this video to witness their explosive first encounter.
