[Marxism] Gone With the Wind

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Out of morbid curiosity, I began watching this racist classic on the Turner
Classic Movies channel. I haven't seen it in maybe 40 years. Now everybody
knows about the pro-slavery aspect of the film. What also deserves some
comment is the infantilization of women that I really find shocking after
the feminist changes that have taken place in American society. Scarlett
O'Hara is basically treated like an 11 year old, even though the character
must be in her late teens or early 20s when the film begins. At one point,
she is ordered to take a nap in the afternoon with a bunch of other belles.
In a big room, all these women lie on mattresses side by side as a young
male slave fans them. This is obviously an image that you associate with
kindergarten children, not adults. There is something really obscene and
vile and sick about this movie. If I get the chance, I might dig into its
history this week. How in the hell does Hollywood make a movie like this in
1939 when the New Deal is in its ascendancy?


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