The white characters were all given what were known as sophisticated names. A few examples are Rhett, Scarlett, Melanie, Ellen, Stuart, Beau, etc. Most importantly they were given last names. I do however find it interesting that Mitchell chose the name Scarlett. Scarlett is defined as a bright-red color inclining toward orange. However, a scarlet woman is defined as a whore, prostitute, and sexually promiscuous. I do not think that the latter definition is the reason Mitchell chose the name but I find it very interesting that Scarlett’s character is always with a different man.
I feel that this film both reflects and challenges the culture and stereotypes of today. On one hand the stereotypes exhibited in this film are still employed today. If a white person is attacked in today’s culture, the suspect is searched for immediately, however when a black person is attacked, you hardly hear about it and the person is hardly pursued (Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman). People still see big black men as threats and expect their housekeepers to be minorities. For example, Big Sam, the black brute is seen as a threat to white women. Strength, being sexual, and scary were some of the black brute characteristics. To this day if a white woman were to walk by a big black man on the street she would become visibly scared. Some still view big black women as caretakers, and in many movies the driver of their buses, taxis, and trains are blacks and not whites ( Driving Miss Daisy, Madea’s Family Reunion). The mammy for example is characterized as being sassy, masculine, quick to fight, and heavyset. That is why today we still have portrayals of the angry black woman, even though in reality woman of all races are angry at some point. Blacks are still viewed as incapable of surviving without the white population and in dire need of their guidance. This is why in many movies today there is a black character that couldn’t succeed without a white character (Safe House featuring Denzel Washington)
On the other hand it challenges culture, specifically in the black community. The characters used in Gone with the Wind in no way reflect blacks today. In many black movies blacks defy stereotypes (Good Deeds, Seven Pounds). Blacks no longer act in the manners in the film. We don’t feel that we need white people to survive and we don’t do everything we possibly can to make them happy. We are not as afraid of them as we were portrayed to be in earlier films. This film contributes to the stereotypes about blacks. When a person watches this movie, whether it be back when the movie came out or today in 2012, they are probably going to leave with some type of stereotype. (Black men are threats, black women are angry, black people are meant to serve, and crimes against blacks don’t matter)
There is no strong sense of identity among these characters, except maybe to Mammy. She is the only one who shows some sort of personality in the film. She has her own opinions about things and isn’t afraid to voice them. However, Mammy isn’t given a real name which can be seen as one way of stripping her identity from her. Pork, Prissy, Big Sam, and Uncle Peter don’t seem to know who they are. They only seem to identify with being servants. They never express their hopes of leaving the plantation, never express any hopes or dreams, and are perfectly content with their situation. Mammy even says at one point that she isn’t going anywhere. This is simply because she has no strong identity, because if she did she would have left. Big Sam could be seen as having some sense of identity, but only because he is able to leave after being emancipated. Nothing else about his character shows that he knows who he is as a person.
There is no independent responsibility to the black characters either. They all feel a responsibility only to the O’Hara’s. Even Big Sam who no longer works for them felt some sort of responsibility to save Scarlett even if it meant risking his own life. The O’Hara’s lives and well being are placed before their own. They are completely faithful and do everything they can to remain in good standing with them. They never think of themselves first and show no responsibility to themselves. For example, Mammy makes Scarlett a dress. Even though she has the skills to sew and make beautiful garments she doesn’t feel that responsibility to herself to leave the plantation and maybe get a job as a seamstress. She never even thinks of making a dress for herself, because to her it is her job to make the girls look pretty and not herself.
This film promotes the notion of white privilege. The whites are shown as privileged throughout the entire movie. They are the ones who get taken care of because they are white. They get the better clothes, they are talked to in a different way, and they portrayed differently. For example, in the scene where Prissy goes to get Rhett after Melanie has her baby Rhett mocks Prissy before agreeing to go along. If she had the privilege of being white Rhett most likely would have talked to her in a different way and immediately agreed to help. The scene that really shows white privilege however is the one when Scarlett is attacked. When she returns home, the men are furious and they rush out to find her attackers. If Prissy was the one who had been attacked, no one would have cared. They wouldn’t have lifted a finger to help her.
The fact that Hattie McDaniel won an Oscar for her role as Mammy was both a negative and positive development for African Americans. It was negative because it showed blacks that during that time the only way you could really be recognized positively by whites was if you played a stereotypical role. However, it was positive because she became the first black person to win that award. She showed that even though she was put in a negative role she would portray it so well that you would have to recognize her for it. She showed the she had a double conscience. She knew how whites viewed her and sort of used it to her advantage. She knew that black women weren’t realistically like whites viewed the mammy; but she also knew that for her to succeed she would have to be aware of the fact that whites did view them that way. I believe the positive side outweighs the negative, because of McDaniel blacks were able to get their foot in the door. It provided future actors with hope and encouraged them to keep enduring the degrading roles because they knew that eventually whites would have to recognize them.
This film could be compared to Birth of a Nation. Birth of a Nation tried to show what would happen if blacks were given freedom and power. It showed slaves being angry about slavery and wanting to be free. However, Gone with the Wind showed blacks being content with slavery. As mentioned in “Gone with the Wind and Hollywood’s Racial Politics” blacks where depicted as being uninterested in freedom and were treated more as pets than people. They loved and needed the whites. This could possibly be seen as an answer to Birth of a Nation. Mitchell wanted to show that if blacks acted as they did in her movie, then everything would run smoothly, unlike things in Birth of a Nation when blacks became unruly when they got their first taste of freedom.
The white damsel in distress in present in this film. Scarlett represents this damsel in the movie. She fits the description of a petite, white middle class woman. She is the damsel when she is attacked and Big Sam comes to her rescue and also when Prissy goes to Rhett asking for his help.
Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind is a very important movie. It shows blacks in a light that went along with stereotypes at the time. She did a very good job of going along with the beliefs of the time but a bad job when implying that blacks were content being servants. Although this movie could be seen as a bad portrayal blacks it is still a good film to analyze and critique.
