Gone With The Wind: A Feminist Perspective A feminist reading requires a focus on female characters and an interpretation that takes into account their oppression throughout history.

Gone With The Wind: A Feminist Perspective Feminist criticism places literature in a social context. Its analyses often have sociopolitical purposes: explaining, for example, how images of women in literature reflect the patriarchal social forces that have impeded women’s efforts to achieve full equality with men.

Gone With The Wind: A Feminist Perspective Three forms of feminism: Radical feminists see the problem as patriarchy: a whole system of male power over women. Male rulers, male military, industrial, political, and religious establishments are all part of the patriarchy, reinforced by the power of men over women. Women are one class; men are another.

Gone With The Wind: A Feminist Perspective Socialist feminists see the problem as a combination of male domination and class exploitation. Their fight is against both. Real liberation is impossible as long as wealth and power is monopolized by a tiny minority. Liberal feminists think the problem is simply one of prejudice: The system needs to be corrected, not overturned, through more equal rights legislation and more positive role models to give girls confidence.

Gone With The Wind: A Feminist Perspective In the context of “Gone With The Wind,” consider: In the Reconstruction era (post Civil War), the only proper occupation for most women is wife and mother. Only dire financial circumstances force women to work outside the home, and almost none own their own businesses. In the 1930s (when the novel was written), it is more acceptable for women to work, but it is still not the norm: Only 22 percent of women worked outside the home, and few women owned businesses independent of their husbands.

Gone With The Wind: A Feminist Perspective So it’s a murky picture. The white women certain emerge as strong and intelligent, especially Scarlett and Melanie. But many claim Scarlett is merely a selfish damsel in distress who relies on feminine charms to get her way. The black women: Prissy’s character speaks for itself. Mammy is noble but trapped in the slave stereotype.

Gone With The Wind: Race portrayals The most controversial aspect of the film is its portrayal of race relations. Though freed from the novel’s positive portrayal of the KKK, the film’s depiction of slavery is overly simplistic. It shows slaves as well-treated, blindly cheerful “darkies” loyal to their benevolent masters.

Gone With The Wind: Race portrayals and reality Slave laws varied from state to state, but the following were enforced to some degree throughout the South. No one was allowed to teach slaves how to read or write, nor could slaves be given reading material. Any child who had one slave parent and one free parent was free only if the mother was the free parent. Slaves could not conduct business without a permit, or own any personal property. Slaves were not allowed to possess weapons of any kind. Court testimony by slaves was disallowed except in cases involving other slaves. Slaves were never allowed to strike white men or to insult them in any way.

Gone With The Wind: Race portrayals and reality Slaves were not allowed to enter any legal, binding contract, including marriage. Slaves were not allowed to swear or smoke in public. Slaves had to step aside when whites passed them on a public street. It was illegal for more than five slaves to gather together away from their own homes unless a white person was present. Slaves could not own their own animals, nor could they grow their own cotton. They could have their own gardens if their masters allowed.

Gone With The Wind: Race portrayals Yet, in Gone With The Wind Big Sam leaves Tara only when ordered and with extreme reluctance; he later risks his life to save Scarlett’s. Pork appears in scene after scene with a wide-eyed, glazed expression on his face. Yet, he is unrealistically rewarded with Gerald O’Hara’s watch after Gerald dies.

Gone With The Wind: Race portrayals Prissy is a “stupid, squeamish, liar” who becomes hysterical over the smallest things. She is a caricature of a woman, a living holdover from the slaveholder’s old claim that African Americans needed to be slaves because they couldn’t function on their own. Malcolm X noted in his biography that he was deeply shamed as a child when he saw Butterfly McQueen’s portrayal of Prissy; McQueen herself hated the role. The NAACP tried to arrange a boycott of the film by black audiences and, to a lesser extent, black actors.

Gone With The Wind: Race portrayals Only Mammy (first female African American Oscar winner Hattie McDaniel) escapes the film with her dignity intact. Rhett says Mammy is one person whose respect he would like to have. She is the voice of morality, authority, reason, and practicality. This is ironic because she occupies the lowest rung on the social ladder.

Gone With The Wind: Changes from novel to film In the movie Scarlett's only child is Bonnie, but in the book she has a son, Wade, with Charles Hamilton and a daughter, Ella, with Frank Kennedy.

Gone With The Wind: Changes from novel to film Film downplays Scarlett prostituting herself to Rhett in the jail cell. It’s symmetrical that Belle Watling appears in the film right after this scene. It could be argued that Scarlett’s and Belle’s roles blur: Scarlett becomes a high-class prostitute, while Belle becomes a low-class aristocrat.

Gone With The Wind: Other changes from novel to film Love scenes with Ashley tempered. Rhett’s contempt for Ashley toned down. Scarlett and Charles’s wedding night cut. Belle’s character softened from prostitute to “loose” brothel owner. Melanie’s suffering and pain during child delivery reduced. Rhett’s rape of Scarlett is much more subtle.