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TechnoratiNo Wonder 'Gone With the Wind' Has Failed
Lordly lordy lord Miss Scarlett, this musical be one biiiiiig turkey! The Gone With The Wind musical in London -- a thrilling experiment in singalong slavery and whoopin' white supremacy -- is closing after six weeks. I sensed something was wrong when I settled into my seat and realised I was opposite a large sign saying "Negroes For Sale", with a group of black audience members sitting uncomfortably below. We watched -- open-mouthed and gaping -- for three-and-a-half hours as the Confederacy tap-danced and jazz-handed its way to defeat.
Yet there is something sweetly appropriate about the shuttering of this musical at the very moment when the world watches the closing acts of America's eight-year Scarlett O'Hara Presidency. Gone With the Wind is the demon twin of that other iconic Hollywood movie, Casablanca. Both are love stories about a couple that meet and dance and part during a war, but at their core they represent the two great clashing poles of the American personality: idealism, and narcissism.
Casablanca is the America the world loves. We all know its love story -- the greatest ever told, for my money. In a Paris that is waiting for the Nazi hordes to invade, Rick and Ilsa lock eyes. They have both been resisting the foaming black tide -- Rick by running guns for the republicans in Spain, and Ilsa by travelling underground with her husband until he was carted off to a concentration camp.
They waltz awhile, but as the Nazis march on the city, Ilsa hears that her husband is alive after all, and flees. Rick ends up drunk and disillusioned in Casablanca, running a bar. Then one day, of all the gin-joints in all the towns in all the world, Ilsa and her husband walk into Rick's Bar -- where she needs his help.
But the great thing about Casablanca is not, ultimately, this romance. No: it is the fact that the characters decide that there is something more important than their own emotions.
"Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble," Rick says, "but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world."
They choose to part, making a sacrifice for the greater moral cause. There have been glorious moments when America did exactly the same: the abolition of slavery, the Second World War, the Marshall Plan. The world gaped and muttered: "Here's lookin' at you, kid."
Gone With The Wind is the opposite. Here is another war, and another love story. But this time, the heroes' cause is the Confederate side in the American Civil War -- and the movie takes this vast and epic battle and shrinks it to a squalid little story that is about nothing but itself. Scarlett O'Hara is a spoiled white girl living on a Georgia plantation, obsessed with herself and a few fickle romances.
As the Civil War breaks out, she meets Rhett Butler, a smug mercenary fighting to save slavery because it's the side that pays him best. She decides she wants him. Scarlett becomes hardened -- she watches Atlanta burn, and her Poppa go crazy -- and inches closer and closer to having Rhett.
At every turn, the lovers show no awareness -- none -- of the larger, repellent cause they are working for. At one point Scarlett curses: "War, war, war -- that's all I hear about!"
Well, fiddle-de-dee. Rhett is only in it for the money, while Scarlett doesn't seem to wonder even for a moment if her pet blacks would prefer to be free with a Yankee victory. ("Mammy -- fetch me some water! Fast!") If Casablanca's greatest moments are about sacrifice, Gone With the Wind's are simply narcissistic whines -- "I'll never be hungry again!"
George Bush has governed in the Deep Southern spirit of Scarlett, telling Americans incessantly it's all about them. For him, every cause can be solved with more self-indulgence: his first and only injunction to Americans after 11 September was to go shopping. He even watched inert and unhelping as a major American city became gone with the wind. The solidarity of Rick and Ilsa has been replaced by the mercenary smarm of Rhett Butler, fighting for a share of the spoils.
But in the current Presidential campaign, there are faint and gentle stirrings of "As Time Goes By", and the other America we miss so much. To figure out which side you're on in this election, you can ask yourself -- would you would rather be singing La Marseillaise with the émigrés in Rick's Bar, or gossiping with the clucking white girls on Tara? Would you would rather smuggle visas for Rick, or run guns for Rhett? But I beg you: whatever you decide, do not set your answer to music.
j.hari@independent.co.uk
©independent.co.uk
13 Comments so far
Show AllFrankly, I don't give a damn.
Gone With the Wind is a classic I have read several times. One major important item is Mr. O'Hara and his opinion, that Land is the only thing worth fighting for. Seems true to me looking at current events as well as past history.
The South decided to secede over States rights, and slavery wasn't the topic. It's a real shame the North didn't Let the South go independent. Slavery at that time was becoming extremely unpopular, nor tolerated by many other lands. That issue could have been settled by cutting off trade or other methods of persuasion. The civil war was so wasteful of lives and property. Not only that, Manifest destiny and US empire would not perhaps have taken place.
I love the comparison, especially the way that one story is about deciding to help something bigger them one person. And Obama wouldn't be Rick, I think he would be Ilsa's husband. Can't you see him standing up and singing the Marseilles (sp?) in front of enemy soldiers?
BLACK SHEEP: Haven't you ever seen an embarrassingly bad film version of a beloved novel? The above critique was based on a play that opened in London that probably had fleshed out the plot more stereotypically than either the film or original novel intended. With that being said, I think Hari used poetic license quite positively to suggest analogies between those that give a damn about causes greater than themselves and those that don't. And the metaphor is sweepingly appropriate for America and our times.
For those who enjoy Casablanca, and Bogart and Ingrid Bergman read some Alan Furst novels. He captures that romantic French Noir feeling that permeates the film.
Realistic? Who cares? It sure beats violent video games for entertainment! They also [the novels] are more entertaining, and at least as insightful as most of Common Dreams.
As for Scarlett and Rhett, 'Frankly, my dears [sic] I don't give a damn!
BubbaSouth said: Casablanca is HOKEY DRIVEL?? You must have a Ph.D. in cynicism.
Jesusofjonesboro said: "[J.Hari]Your pathetic attempt to discredit this site is shameful." What in the world do you mean?
Mr. Hari: Nice analysis!
Rockerbabe1 June 4th, 2008 3:53 pm
I'm with you.
Dear Johann Hari
I enjoyed your column but I got a little bogged down because I think your analysis of Scarlett's motivation regarding Rhett and the book as a whole is not quite accurate. Therefore I offer this critique of 3 of your paragraphs in a spirit of literary inquiry:
"a smug mercenary fighting to save slavery because it's the side that pays him best. She decides she wants him. Scarlett becomes hardened — she watches Atlanta burn, and her Poppa go crazy — and inches closer and closer to having Rhett.
At every turn, the lovers show no awareness — none — of the larger, repellent cause they are working for. At one point Scarlett curses: "War, war, war — that's all I hear about!"
Well, fiddle-de-dee. Rhett is only in it for the money, while Scarlett doesn't seem to wonder even for a moment if her pet blacks would prefer to be free with a Yankee victory. ("Mammy — fetch me some water! Fast!") If Casablanca's greatest moments are about sacrifice, Gone With the Wind's are simply narcissistic whines — "I'll never be hungry again!"
On your first paragraph, Scarlett certainly does not "decide she wants" Rhett in this part of the novel, and it is nothing to do with her becoming "hardened" -- she is already hard, she was born hard. During the civil war, Scarlett tolerates Rhett for purely mercenary and, as you correctly point out, narcissistic reasons. But a more significant character trait of her is that she lacks the self-awareness to realize this until it is too late.
On your second paragraph, your use of "the lovers" is entirely inappropriate until the time of Rhett and Scarlett's marriage, after the war; nor is it entirely appropriate even then, given its specific meaning in your late twenteith/early twentyfirst century vernacula (sp ? ). In addition, to complain that characters in a novel about the plantation class during the American civil war do not share your (laudable) awareness of the horrors of war, slavery and other "repellent" phenomena is simply silly and illogical. What would be the power and value of the novel -- and all art forms -- if it was forced to depict only characters that conform by the notions of "political correctness" of each (readers') era?
On your third paragraph, again, you blunder into anachronism in expecting Scarlett to wonder for minute about the esoteric concept of the subjective experience of slavery. The essence of Scarlett, a quintessentially all-American girl, is that she lacks self awareness.
Which does remind us of somebody else -- that all-American guy -- whatis name -- George something?
Sorry, I've rambled on . . . I enjoyed your column though, thank you!
Sam,
Your pathetic attempt to discredit this site is shameful.
jj
Any other choices? Because I'd rather be at a small resort on the Gulf of Thailand, far away from hokey drivel such as "Casablanca" or "GWTW".
The comparison was way off kilter. Casablanca was about the love of 3 people amoung the ruins. Gone with the Wind was about a love quandrangle; 2 in love with the wrong people and 2 with unrequited love among the ruins. Except for failed love among the ruins, I fail to see the analogy; at least one worth writing about for public viewing. Both films, however are best sellers and great stories of the past and worth viewing at least once every 2 or 3 years.
I'd rather kick some ass with Neo.
Where can I get instant gratification martial arts training outside the survivalist nuts or the CIA?
What an absolute crock of crap. But if asked? I'd rather be anywhere else but here.