Gone With the Wind is the top grossing film in United States history, with over one billion dollars in revenue. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Margaret Mitchell, the movie premiered in 1939 and still remains one of the most well-known films of all time. There are three main reasons why “Gone With the Wind” has been so popular for so many years.
First, “Gone With the Wind” is the ultimate survival story. The premise of the movie is that when times are very tough, it is those people with gumption and will who survive.
The film begins during the onset of the American Civil War. After a childhood of being wealthy and pampered, the main character, Scarlett O’Hara, soon finds herself the head of her family after her parents pass away. The O’Hara family plantation, Tara, is almost destroyed by Northern soldiers, and Scarlett and her family are almost starved to death. However, through Scarlett’s sheer will and determination, she rebuilds the plantation, making it better than it ever was originally. Scarlett’s true character is able to shine through for the very first time as she finds tremendous strength inside herself.
As well, “Gone With the Wind” is a timeless love story. The main characters, Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler are each other’s perfect match, and it is fascinating for the viewer to watch them struggle to not admit this to themselves or to each other. For most of the movie, Scarlett and Rhett are each other’s friends and confidants, yet it takes many years for them to decide to be married. Even with the marriage, the two continue to resist their true feelings for each other, and the movie ends with Rhett leaving Scarlett. However, knowing how determined a character Scarlett truly is, the viewer cannot help but believe that the love story eventually has a happy ending.
Finally, while “Gone With the Wind” is fiction, the story’s backdrop of the American Civil War is historically accurate.
Margaret Mitchell spent almost a decade writing the book and painstakingly researched the war and its effect on the country’s citizens. Growing up in the state of Georgia, Mitchell had also heard firsthand accounts of the war throughout her life. Many Americans find the Civil War so fascinating to learn about because they are reminded of how different the country would have been if this event had not happened. With the abolishment of slavery, the United States was truly able to begin anew and become the type of country it was always intended to be. As President Abraham Lincoln stated in his “Gettysburg Address,” The United States had been founded on the principle that people were created equal, yet the country had not gone in this direction.
Gone With the Wind is currently ranked number four in the American Film Institute’s Top 100 Best American Films of All Time. After its premiere, the movie even had three additional theatrical releases. In 1976, the film’s first television broadcast drew in over 33 million viewers, the largest audience to ever tune into any program up to that time. The movie “Gone With the Wind” will surely remain acclaimed for many years to come.
