I spent this afternoon watching it with La Principessa, who at age 11 was finally deemed mature enough to (a) sit still long enough, and (b) get it. (It was my fourth or fifth viewing.)
So she sat still (only two bathroom breaks, which I needed, too) and she definitely got it, but she was furious about the ending. She flounced up off the couch and went upstairs in a state of high dudgeon, feeling that the storyteller hadn’t played fair with us. She, of course, with her pre-teen Olsen Twin/Sabrina the Teenage Witch sensibilities, felt that Rhett and Scarlett should have gotten back together again. In vain to try to tell her that to adult sensibilities, the ending is perfect.
But then I got to wondering. Maybe other people have a problem with the ending. What say the Teeming Millions?
(And I realized something that I’d never thought about before. Remember all the hoopla about the “damn”? Well, I realized that Rhett is actually saying that it really is over, because a gentleman didn’t say “damn” to a lady he truly respected. But he says “damn” to Scarlett, which is signaling that he doesn’t respect her anymore, and it’s been respect that’s been carrying him through most of this whole thing, respect for her strength, even though he doesn’t really love her anymore.)
The ending works great as written. GWTW is a tragedy. In tragedies, the hero is undone by his (her) own faults. Scarlett’s greed, self-centeredness, and obsession with Ashley undo her by driving away the true love of her life. To have R & S get together at the end would be a farce.
I bet you couldn’t make a major-studio movie today with an ending like GWTW’s; there’d be studio executives doing test screenings and saying that 80% of the test audience cried, and couldn’t we just have a little reconciliation scene at the end??? Wimps.
I hate to pick nits on something I agree with so much, but for my money the rape scene did a much clearer job of indicating that Rhett had run out of respect for Scarlett.
Re the question at hand, the ending is exactly what the story has been building up to. And for the record, the point of the ending is not that Rhett leaves her, it’s that she decides to go on with her life anyway. Whether that makes her a strong character (the conventional wisdom answer) or a soulless flake (my personal opinion) is up for debate.
I think the ending is perfect the way it is. But I also think the ending is intentionally ambiguous, which is one of the reasons that “Scarlett” sequel is so dumb. After the ending, I sit around and think … did they get back together? Did they not get back together? Scarlett says “tomorrow is another day,” and this has always been true for Scarlett before. But we don’t know what Scarlett will want tomorrow (except Tara, of course, the one subject about which she is not fickle).
On the “damn,” that’s an interesting point you brought up, DDG. I’ve never thought of it that way before, but it makes sense. Another possible interpretation is that he says “damn” because throughout the book, he has treated her like a man, in other words, as an equal. Their parting is a parting of equals, which to me, makes it more deliciously tragic.
Of course, when I first read GWTW at the age of 12 or so, I was furious, shocked, and scandalized that they didn’t get back together. It seems to be an acquired taste.
I really didn’t view that as a rape scene. I interpretted that as Rhett being upset over Scarlett’s obsession with Ashley when he was the one who truly loved her and desperately wanted to be with her. Yes, he was very forceful with Scarlett when he carried her off but look at her face the next morning. She started to realize what she’d been missing with Rhett. If Rhett had not come in and apologized for what had happened the night before, I think they would have ended up happily ever after.
There’s a lot of movies with sucky endings where the couples don’t get together and usually it really pisses me off. This is the one movie that they don’t get together in the end and it doesn’t bother me. I was happy with the ending because deep down I know they got back together. I never saw the sequel or the Scarlett movie (or whatever it was called) because I knew it wouldn’t be as good as GWTW. I’ve read the book probably 20 times and I’ve seen the movie more times than that but I prefer the movie over the book. GWTW is my favorite movie… I can’t wait until my daughter is old enough to enjoy it with me!
And perhaps the sense of unfinished business is what helps make GWTW so resonant. We are seduced into thinking about the possible future lives of these people beyond the covers of the book, and even out into the daylight after the matinee.
Perhaps it’s kind of a coup of modern literature like Agatha Christie’s Murder of Roger Ackroyd, or the name Rosebud in Citizen Kane, bending a convention to ensnare and amaze us.
or perhaps talking pretentiously is a sign that it’s time to go to bed -it’s late in Melbourne and there’s work tomorrow
DDG she might be cheesed off now, but that could well change in the future.
Also my personal theory is that The Colour Purple is the bookend film, or companion movie, being of similar weight and emotional impact as to demolish some of the harmful myths that GWTW is founded on.
Ends perfectly. Actually, Rhett should have avoided her the first time he overheard her and Ashley in the library. Of course it would have been a much shorter book and movie, but it would have saved him a lot of grief.
Every time I watch GWTW (I have the no-commercials AMC version on tape, and I like to throw it in the VCR on housecleaning day), I just have to laugh at that twit. The ending served her right. I had a roomie in college who absolutely worshipped this movie – from her personality, it was quite obvious that she saw Scarlett as a role model.
Mr. S and I think that the MST3K guys should do a bunch of these classic movies that everybody’s seen – GWTW, Superman, Star Wars, and so on. Aren’t we all making our own smartass comments already?
Rhett’s not giving a damn showed that he saw Scarlett for what she was. All through her life, (or, all through the book and movie, at least) she used the stereotype of the weak Southern belle to get what she wanted from men, and men had rolled over and given her what she wanted. The only two people who saw Scarlett’s real strength and respected her for it, were also the only two people who said no to her, Rhett, and Ashley (with his “You’re a stronger person than me, Scarlett” speech) At the end of GWTW, she tried to use her “feminine helplessness” with Rhett,
“Wherever will I go? Whatever will I do?”
but he’s able to say to her “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”, and leaves.
The ONLY thing the ending makes me upset about is how sorry I feel for Rhett-he’s pouring out his heart-it’s so OBVIOUS he worships Scarlett, but he finally says, enough is enough, everything I ever wanted is destroyed-poor little Bonnie is dead, and I’m tired of dealing with you. So he leaves her.
After all, she treated her other husbands-stolen from Ashley’s sister and her own sister-like dirt, and in the book her other two children like dirt. (She had a son, Wade Hampton and a daughter Ella Lorena from Charles and Frank, respectively.)
I first read the book (and then watched the movie) when I was 12, and I hated the ending. I thought it was terrible because there was no real end, and no answers. I was left frustrated thinking “But what happens next!”. However, I always loved reading the book and watching the movie, and as I get older, I find I like the ending more and more. Gone With The Wind just couldn’t have a happy ending, and wouldn’t be right with a happy ending. At 12, I just wasn’t old enough to appreciate a good tragic ending.
I’ve read the sequel, Scarlett, and it sucked big time. It was like an oversized historical romance novel, but without the plot, characterization, or authenticity. The author is obviously a twit - she couldn’t work out what to do with Wade and Ella, so she sent them off to stay with their Aunty Suellen for about 6 years. There was a terrible love scene between Scarlett and Rhett after she forced her way back into his life, and none of it rang true. She killed off characters like crazy, including Rhett’s second wife, and sent Scarlett to Ireland. Apparently Scarlett, who before now always had to have the very best of everything, is content to live among her Irish peasant cousins. I haven’t seen the movie - I did start to watch it, but c’mon! Joanne Whaley Kilmer as Scarlett?? That whiny little tart?? No way! It was worse than the book, by far. I tuned out pretty quick. JWK made me want to retch.
Am I the only person who didn’t like Rhett? He gets totally obsessed with Scarlett, stalks her, gets her to marry him and have his child, then transfers his affection to the child and goes bonkers when she dies after he let her try to jump a too high fence. I don’t think Rhett really loved Scarlett; he just wanted to get her to admit she loved him.
Also, the book mentions that Rhett has a young “ward” in New Orleans, and the prostitute Belle Watling tells Melanie about her son in New Orleans. Obviously, the two of them had a son, who Rhett banished to hide the shame. Then he goes after Scarlett. Really heroic actions.
I like to think that 45 year old Rhett had a 25 year old son who Scarlett met up with soon after and found true love.
