David Selznick's classic film adaptation of Margaret Mitchell's epic novel "Gone With the Wind" is Hollywood's most enduring and popular film. Set in the "Old South" during the Civil War, the film follows the life of Scarlett O'Hara, an iconic Southern woman. This Annotated bibliography seeks to address the historical accuracy of Selznick's project, from his depiction of Southern culture, the Civil War, slavery, and the "Southern Belle."

Cronin, Jan. “The Book Belongs to All of Us: Gone With the Wind as a Postcultural Product.” Literature/Film Quarterly, 35.1 (2007).

Jan Cronin’s article discusses author Margaret Mitchell’s reaction to the film version of her epic novel Gone With the Wind. According to Cronin, Mitchell was upset with the film’s appeal to “old southern mythology,” which diverted from the historical realism Mitchell strived to attain in her novel. In the preface of the film, written by Ben Hecht, Mitchell’s commitment to literary historical accuracy is undermined by a lofty and flowery introduction that appeals to mythic imagery:

“There was a land of Cavaliers and
Cotton Fields called the Old South ...
Here in this pretty world
Gallantry took its last bow ...
Here was the last ever to be seen
of Knights and their Ladies Fair,
of Master and of Slave ...
Look for it only in books, for it
is no more than a dream remembered,
a Civilization gone with the wind ...”

The influence of Hollywood on the screenplay produced a more fairy-tale like script, rather than the “seamless cultural narrative” represented by Mitchell’s novel. Cronin does contend, however, that Mitchell herself is guilty of indirectly appealing to the myth of the “Old South” in her novel, as a major theme throughout the novel is the end of the “Golden Age” of Georgia.

    Understanding Mitchell’s response to Selznick’s film adaptation of her epic novel provides a unique insight into the historical accuracy the Hollywood project. As Cronin elucidates, Mitchell’s considerable effort to accurately illustrate the social fabric of Georgia during the Civil War is not entirely translated to the film. Instead, the “South” as understood by Mitchell stands in opposition to Hollywood’s portrayal of the region, thereby producing a film aimed at captivating audiences' hearts and imaginations rather than their minds.

 

Donaldson, Susan V. “Telling Forgotten Stories of Slavery in the Postmodern South.” The Southern Literary Journal. 40.2 (Spring 2008) < http://proxy.library.upenn.edu:2298/journals/southern_literary_journal/v040/40.2.donaldson.html>

Susan Donaldson’s article explores the response of the black population to Gone With the Wind’s depiction of slavery and African Americans. Due to the depictions of Black characters like Prissy, a “stupid” and “sqeaky” slave, the reaction from the Black community was strongly negative. Even writers like Malcolm X describe the discomfort and disgust they endured watching the humiliation of actress Butterfly McQueen in her role as Prissy. African American historian and feminist Alice Walker described viewing the film as a “nightmare… in which the suffering of millions of black people over hundreds of years of enslavement is trivialized to the point of laughter. It is a film in which one spoiled white woman’s summer of picking cotton is deemed more important than the work, under the lash, of twenty generations of my ancestors.”

Donaldson’s article is of particular importance to the analysis of the historical truth underlying the film Gone With the Wind because it provides the responses of black Americans to the film, a typically silenced minority. Acknowledging that the film employs racist stereotypes in their depiction of slaves is critically to understanding the true Black culture in the South. Further, in light of Alice Walker’s response to the film, it is important that the viewer understands the hypocrisy and manipulation of the film. Scarlett is cast as a heroine and matriarch for much of the film, however she is only granted this title because she attempts the work that her slaves have been doing for her people for generations.

Essentially, Donaldson describes Gone With the Wind as a misleading illustration of the 19^th Century South, as well as a misguided acclamation of white Southern women.

Richardson, Riché. “Southern Horrors, Global Terrors.” Black Renaissance, 7.3 (Fall 2007). 30 Nov. 2008.

Southern Horrors, Global Terrors by Riche Richardson analyzes the manner in which producers D.W. Griffith and David Selznick approached translating the racially-charged novels “The Clansman” and “Gone With the Wind” into film. Both novels, set during the American Civil War and rooted in Southern ideology, utilize virulent racist language to illustrate the pervasive bigotry typical of the South during the War period. Griffith’s 1915 film Birth of a Nation, based on the novel “The Clansman,” retains and advances the novel’s racist elements. In contrast, Selznick’s 1939 film adaptation of Gone With the Wind offers an ostensibly less racially-charged account of the War and Reconstruction than both the film’s literary counterpart and Birth of a Nation. Richardson describes the film version of Gone With the Wind as more “sanitized,” ignoring numerous instances in the novel where popular characters like Rhett Butler and Melanie Wilkes dehumanize and devalue African Americans. Further, Richardson contends that Selznick’s omission of many of Margaret Mitchell’s racist elements is reflective of Hollywood’s contemporary rejection of overt racism as distasteful and morally reprehensible.

In assessing the consistency of Gone With the Wind with the history of the Civil War and Reconstruction, Richardson’s article provides a valuable insight into the nature of racism in the 19th Century South. Both novels advance the Southern ideology of the period that aimed to perpetuate black inferiority to the white supremacist class. As the article illustrates, Griffith chose to accommodate such bigotry in his film, while Selznick chose to “tone down” Mitchell’s racist elements. Selznick’s choice to abandon much of the bigotry that pervades the literary narrative may make the film more appealing to contemporary Hollywood and American culture, but makes the film less reflective of the Southern ideology of the period.

Conde, Mary. “Some African-American Fictional Responses to Gone With the Wind.” The Yearbook of English Studies. 26. (1996) JSTOR. University of Pennsylvania Library. Philadelphia. 1 Dec. 2008. < http://www.jstor.org/stable/3508659>

    In her essay, author Mary Conde addresses the African American community’s reaction to Gone With the Wind, and the novel’s writer Margaret Mitchell’s reaction to their criticism. The most common criticism of the novel is that it appealed to a mythic and romanticized ideal of the “Old South” that ignores the atrocities of the Civil War and the practice of slavery. However, Mitchell vehemently denies these accusations, claiming that she herself denies the existence of any rosy Southern ideal. Further, it is important to note that her novel’s protagonist, Scarlett O’Hara, does not support the Confederate cause and, as illustrated by her emotional breakdown in the hospital while treating veterans, is deeply moved by the atrocities war. Despite Scarlett’s dismissal of the Confederate cause as a justification for war, many African Americans continue to dismiss Gone With the Wind as a gross misrepresentation of the era of slavery in the South.
    The reaction of the African American community to the Hollywood adaptation of Gone With the Wind provides numerous examples of the historical inconsistencies and myths present in the film. Many of these reactions have taken the form of fictional writing intended to undermine the glorification of the “Old South.” Novels like Dessa Rose and Jubilee depict the black woman’s struggle during the Civil War. In both novels, the protagonists are hideously scarred, and the plot is ridden with violence and exploitation. Such novels stand in direct contrast to Mitchell’s novel, and paint a more realistic, albeit grim, picture of the American South in the Civil War.

 

Toplin, Robert Brent. “Hollywood’s History: The Historians’ Response.” Reviews in American History, 24.2 (1996)

            Robert Brent Toplin’s review of Hollywood’s adaptation of literature to film throughout history analyzes the historical accuracy of David Selznick’s celebrated blockbuster hit Gone With the Wind. In his analysis, Toplin acknowledges the common tendency of Hollywood producers and writers to remove minor stories or characters to simplify the story into a streamlined melodrama. Further, moviemakers will often overstate truths in addition to simplifying them to elicit a response from the audience. Such “creative uses of evidence” are apparent in Hollywood’s Gone With the Wind.

            Toplin cites historian Catherine Clinton’s discussion of Gone With the Wind in which the scholar addresses the film’s classic flaws. Clinton argues that Selznick’s constant appeal to “Old South” romanticism detracts from the broader historical and cultural message of the film. However, the most troubling issue for Clinton concerns the depiction of slaves as “happy-go-lucky darkies who are ever loving and loyal to their… benevolent masters.” Clinton finds Selznick’s illustration of slavery and the slaves themselves as offensive and distastefully romanticized. Clinton concedes, however, that the film provides an adequate and realistic view of an “up-country” Georgia. Gerald O’Hara’s humble foreign origins, coupled with Scarlett O’Hara’s rise from “southern belle” to matriarch during the Reconstruction, serves as a reliable reflection of the social fabric of Northern Georgia in the post-war South. Futher, Rhett’s initial resistance and skepticism toward the war movement in the beginning of the film was a sentiment shared by many Confederates in the antebellum period.