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Gone with the Wind

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Key Facts

full title · Gone With the Wind

director

· Victor Fleming

· George Cukor (uncredited)

· Sam Wood (uncredited)

· William Cameron Menzies (credited as Production Designer)

leading actors/actresses · Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland

supporting actors/actresses · Hattie McDaniel, Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O’Neil, Ona Munson, Butterfly McQueen, Alicia Rhett, Evelyn Keyes, Carroll Nye

type of work · Feature film

genre · Drama; war; romance

language · English

time and place produced · 1936–1939; California

awards

· 1939 Academy Awards:Winner, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Vivien Leigh)Winner, Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Hattie McDaniel)Winner, Best Art Direction (Lyle R. Wheeler)Winner, Best Cinematography, Color (Ernest Haller, Ray Rennahan)Winner, Best Director (Victor Fleming)Winner, Best Film Editing (Hal C. Kern, James E. Newcom)Winner, Best Picture (David O. Selznick)Winner, Best Writing, Screenplay (Sidney Howard)—first posthumously awarded Academy AwardWinner, Technical Achievement Award (Don Musgrave)An honorary award for outstanding achievement in the use of color to enhance dramatic mood (William Cameron Menzies)

· 1939 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (Vivien Leigh)

· Photoplay Awards Medal of Honor (David O. Selznick)

date of release · December 15, 1939

producer · David O. Selznick

setting (time) · The Civil War and first part of the Reconstruction Era

setting (place) · Atlanta, Georgia and the surrounding countryside; one scene in New Orleans and one in London

protagonist · Southern belle Scarlett O’Hara

major conflict · Scarlett struggles to survive and prosper during the Civil War and Reconstruction Era.

rising action

· Part One: Scarlett sees the man she loves married to another woman and escapes to Atlanta, where she is forced to confront the horrors of the rising tide of the Civil War.

· Part Two: Left with nothing by Yankee looters, Scarlett fights to rebuild Tara and her fortunes while negotiating a troubled relationship with Rhett Butler.

climax

· Part One: Scarlett finally makes it back home to Tara only to find her mother dead, her father sliding into madness, and her beloved plantation a looted shell.

· Part Two: After Melanie collapses, Scarlett realizes she and Ashley were never meant to be together and rushes home to tell Rhett how much she loves him.

falling action

· Part One: After seeing the full extent of the destruction, Scarlett swears she will do whatever she has to in order to never go hungry again.

· Part Two: Rhett says that Scarlett’s love has come far too late and walks out, leaving Scarlett determined to think of a way to get him back.

themes · The permanence of the land; the real cost of war; self-reliance as the key to success; personal strength can lead to loss

motifs · Dreams; obsession; drastically changing circumstances

symbols · Tara; Rhett’s gun; Scarlett’s hats

foreshadowing

· In Gerald O’Hara’s first scene the audience learns that Gerald has long been chided for the recklessness of his jumps. Later, it is one of these jumps that finally ends his life.

· After Bonnie stubbornly insists on jumping her pony, Scarlett comments that she sounds exactly like Gerald. Moments later, Bonnie dies in exactly the same way Gerald did. When Scarlett tells Rhett how little she wants to be pregnant with his child, he cynically tells her to hope she has an accident. Moments later, Scarlett falls down the stairs with such force that she loses the baby.

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