Gone With The Wind

1. In class we talked briefly about African Americans in the film industry during this time, and how they, like all other African Americans in this time period, were treated terribly. Normally, if they were casted, they would only have a minor role. However, Hattie McDaniel had a major role in Gone With The Wind, something nearly unheard of for this time. African Americans, no matter how crucial their roles may have been, were not allowed to attend the opening night of their film, which happened to Hattie McDaniel as well. Regardless, Hattie still won the Academy Award for best supporting actress.

2. http://www.filmsite.org/gone.html The start of this article talks about Gone With The Wind’s incredible success, and gives credit to those who earned it by reminding the reader of how many awards it has won. Just a handful of these awards include Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress given to Hattie McDaniels, the first African American to win the award. In total, Gone With The Wind won thirteen awards, all of them rightfully so. The article also gives the reader a full synopsis and break down of the entire movie, piece by piece.

3. Even though many to all of the people that can recall watching this film can also recall it’s cinematic brilliance, being reminded of just how successful and popular it was may never get old. Some films are lucky to get mentioned for an Academy Award, let alone win one, and Gone With The Wind won thirteen. Most great directors would be lucky to be mentioned for an Academy Award once in their life, while Victor Fleming won two in his. In my opinion, being reminded of the impact this film had gives me goose bumps.

4. Much like other Clark Gable films I have seen before, it seems that whatever role he plays is perfect for him. The way he interacts with his co-stars; it makes it seem like they were childhood friends and have been as tight as can be ever since. The chemistry he brings to a cast is marvelous, and like any top-notch actor, he makes everyone around him better. Perhaps it was just the work of Gable that makes me think this, but while the movie was playing I couldn’t help but tell myself that this was the perfect cast. Everyone played their part the way it had to be played, and many were awarded for their work. Also, while I was sitting their watching the movie, eventually the length had gotten on my nerves, perhaps ruining my viewing experience just a little bit. However, in retrospect, the movie used up the entire 238 minutes the way it needed to. In my opinion, I would recommend Gone With The Wind to literally any person that has the attention span to sit through a four hour film.