Gone With The Wind

 

1) Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.

This week in class, we watched one of the most classic and inspirational films in the history of Cinema.  We took a look at one of the greatest films ever made, Gone With The Wind.  This movie starred Vivian Leigh and Clark Gable, both of whom had already made names for themselves.  This was the first movie that also featured African-Americans in supporting roles.  Being that this film was made in 1939, African-Americans in movies never tended to play leading roles or anything other than menial parts. Jim Crow laws were in effect, Segregation was still prevalent, and American ideals and traditions did not hold “Colored People” in the bests of light.  The fact that Hattie McDaniel received an Academy award for her supporting role in the movie attests to how outstanding this movie was.  A risk was surely taken in making this film, but in the end, the risk paid off. 

2) Find a related article and summarize the content. (on the film, director, studio, actor/actress, artistic content, etc.) You can use the library or the internet. Cite the article or copy the url to your journal entry. Summarize in your own words the related article but do not plagiarize any content.

http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/414427/Gone-With-the-Wind/articles.html

                Frank Miller and Roger Fristoe wrote an interesting article that speaks about Gone with the Wind and the expectations that were held of it.  In this article, Miller and Fristoe talk about how initially, while the film was in production there had been negative doubts associated with its making.  Early on, the project was referred to as “Selznick’s Folly”, which referred to David O. Selznick, the producer of the film.  This film that Selznick had produced would have a $4,000,000 budget and it was known that he had taken a huge gamble on doing so.  After Gone with the Wind’s premiere in Dec. 1939, all doubts and negativity were replaced with awe and praise.  Gone with the Wind would take home a total of 8 Oscars at the Academy Awards, in the year that is recognized by many to be the greatest year in film history.  Frank Miller and Roger Fristoe also give some insight on what events took place at the Academy Awards that year.

3) Apply the article to the film screened in class. How did the article support or change the way you thought about the film, director, content, etc.?

Going up against movies such as The Stagecoach, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Wizard of Oz, and more, Gone with the Wind trampled over its competition that year at the Academy Awards.  According to the Frank Miller and Roger Fristoe’s article, the film deserved all the praise it received.  I cannot help, but agree with the authors of this article.  I found some of their bits of information to be quite interesting and also added to the bit of lore surrounding Gone with the Wind.  It is also interesting to hear about how well the film did at the Academy Awards that year.  Reading about Hattie McDaniel’s reaction to hearing her name called for the Oscar is quite motivational.

4) Write a critical analysis of the film, including your personal opinion, formed as a result of the screening, class discussions, text material and the article. I am less interested in whether you liked or disliked a film, (although that can be part of this) than I am in your understanding of its place in film history or the contributions of the director.

What can I say about this film that has not already been said?  Do I talk about the plot and the story of the film, which happened to win an Oscar for the brilliance of its screenplay?  Do I speak about the awe-inspiring shots woven throughout the movie by director Victor Fleming, which happened to also win an Oscar for his astounding vision in directing?  Maybe I could try to speak on the phenomenal acting performances by both leading and supporting actors, which, of course, brought home even more Oscars for the movie.  Whichever route I would eventually decide on going with to begin trying to communicate the legendary impact Gone with the Wind has had over the film industry, it is inevitable that I will close by stating this movie is one of the biggest cinematic achievements the industry will probably ever know.  From the beginning of this movie until the end, the viewer is so captivated by what’s going on on-screen, that you begin to lose awareness of what is going on around you.  I was virtually pulled in to this rural Georgia farmland, Tara, and did not come back to reality, three and a half hours later.  From the use of the new advances in Technicolor to the jaw-dropping cinematography to Clark Gable’s, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”, this movie was full of memorable goodies to fill your bag with.  Even at times when I felt the movie was beginning to drag along, Fleming would give me something that would take away my attention of what I had been previously thinking. 

                Once again, this movie…..is good. Very Good. Excellent. Superb. Exceptional.  I could go on for days thinking of the words to associate this movie with and I would still not come close to describing this movie.  I can only point to the 15 Academy Award nominations associated with it and inform those that have not yet seen this movie, to see this movie.  A+

Grades:

Journal assignments are given individual points. Each journal assignment is worth 10 points.

9-10 points reflect excellent content, excellent article source, excellent thorough summary, excellent thoughtful analysis and creative, interesting content.

7-8 Points reflect good work in all areas above

5-6 Points reflect that you adequately met all the requirements

1-4 Missing or poorly presented content

0 No journal posted or posted beyond due date

Pages: You can create separate pages on your blog or simply do them as continuous posting.

Note: You do not have to resubmit your blog after you initially create one. If you post your journal content, I will see it. Just make sure it is posted on time.

Plagiarism Statement: Attach this to the end of every journal assignment.

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM
1) ( ) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class.

2) ( ) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.

3) ( ) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text.

4) ( ) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper.

5) ( ) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read.

6) ( ) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography.

7) ( ) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality.

8) ( ) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.