: Gone with the Wind :
This is a really tricky movie to admit to liking. The racial stereotypes and mythical lies of the “Old South” on display make me want to say: This movie is just not cool. Look elsewhere.
But in all honesty I can’t. I’m utterly swept up in the romance on display. I love Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler and the rest of this wonderful cast and compelling storyline.
I’m not proud of it. Perhaps if my politics were more properly situated I would be naturally disinclined to enjoy this escapist fiction. But I do like it. It’s one of my few guilty pleasures and I hope you can forgive me for it.
It’s a movie I’ve watched many times and one I am likely to repeat, despite the fact that the older I get the more the racism bothers me and the more the out and out lies about plantation life and Reconstruction turns me off and makes me wonder what’s wrong with me that I can find so much to enjoy in the romance.
: The Wizard of Oz :
Filmsite.org falls on the Wizard side of 1939.
Before watching this as an adult, the story of The Wizard of Oz ranked right up there with The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and the entire Lord of the Rings quartet as tales of deep social significance wherein I just didn’t understand what all the fuss was about.
So, I knew I needed help. I called my friend Betsie and asked her if she wanted to watch this film with me.
She immediately said yes and over book club that afternoon kept busting out into Wizard of Oz songs. Also, my colleague on the other side of of my cube wall heard me calling Betsie and came over to inform me that Wizard was the most-watched film of all-time, that he was currently reading the book to his kindergarten daughter at bedtime, and, basically, how could I possibly not like this movie?
That’s where I sat before watching this movie as an adult. I’m sure I saw it as a child but I don’t recall much about it.
Wikipedia: The Wizard of Oz is often ranked on best-movie lists in critics’ and public polls. It is the source of many quotes referenced in modern popular culture.
The film was named the most-viewed motion picture on television syndication by the Library of Congress, which also included the film in its National Film Registry in its inaugural year. It is also one of the few films on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.[7]
Post-adult viewing: What a wonderful movie! Judy Garland was terrific, my favorite co-star was the super-campy lion, and I was pleased to recognize Billie Burke as Glinda. You may remember her as Ziegfeld’s second wife who ushered the academy award winning biopic of his life through production.
My understanding of this movie now centers around the film’s super-positive attitude about self-determination, Dorothy’s unfailing and very human heart, brains and courage (she also has excellent interpersonal skills), and the unique nature of a purely American fairy tale.
It’s very difficult to say which film I preferred for 1939 so I’m going to employ my personal standard of what I would watch again. I probably won’t watch The Wizard of Oz again on my own whereas I’m almost certain to re-watch Gone with the Wind.
Interestingly, these films shared a director.
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