Gone With The Wind Movie Reflection

Gone With The Wind is a movie that still impacts American cinema almost 100 years after it was made. It has managed to win eight Academy Awards as a movie about war and love. The videoing and editing skills are what make it so ahead of its time but the characters and plot are what make this movie so impactful. The movie's main protagonist is Scarlett O'Hara who lives on a plantation in the south pre-Civil War. She falls in love with a man named Ashley Wilkes who is the son of her father's friend. When Ashley does not feel the same way Scarlett attempts to make him jealous by marrying a friend of his. Later in the movie war is declared and all of the men hurry to enlist so they can make their families and country proud. This is where the movie really gets interesting, because of a switch from a love story to the destruction of war. 

Gone With The Wind shows an amazing way of how people in the south were affected by the invasion of the Union soldiers. One of the most impactful scenes was when everyone in the town of Tara waits outside the post office to grab one of the newspapers. They are waiting for them because each newspaper has a list of all the Southern soldiers killed in battle. This scene really stood out to me because it helped me realize how many families were emotionally affected by the loss of their fathers, brothers, sons, and more. 

Slavery was also a very prominent factor in this movie, but it is not the usual way that I am used to seeing. In this movie you are on the other side of the argument in slavery, the South. Everything was run by the slaves on the plantation where Scarlett lived in. You see them dressing the people of the house and always making sure everything is clean and neat. It did surprise me however that the owners and the family members did not treat the slaves harshly at all. It also seemed like the older the slave and the closer you are to the owners you have a lot more say and "freedom". In the end, I really enjoyed this masterclass of a movie and it really made me look at slavery in the South and the Civil War a little differently.

Gone With The Wind Plot Summary