Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Gone With the Jurl

One of the greatest films of all time, in my humble opinion, is Gone With the Wind. It has everything- a troubled anti-heroine, sex (though tame by today's standards), betrayal, unrequited love, war, comic relief side kicks, death, and the burning of Atlanta. It's an almost perfect movie! I have always loved Scarlett, but my mom is a Melanie lover. I'm a Melanie hater b/c her sugary sweetness makes me want to puke. Scarlett is the kind of woman I can get on board with- tough, self-confident, self-possessed, scorching wardrobe. I think she rocks the Old South.

The only problem I have with Scarlett is her taste in men. Not a good lookin guy in the bunch. First there's Ashley, the love of her life, who is borderline butt-ugly not to mention boring as hell. Like Melanie, he makes me sick. Then she marries husband #1 whose so plain I can't even remember him. Husband #2, the one she steals from her sister, is an old coot and also boring. She finally marries Rhett who at least isn't boring, but is still ugly- maybe the ugliest one of all. I do not get the whole Clark Gable thing. His cheek bones were surely implants and his stache looked like something a twelve year old boy grows to show off the manhood he hasn't quite come into.

Even though there's no eye candy in Gone With the Wind there is fabulous fashion. All of Scarlett's dresses are gorgeous. I love the garden party gown and have a special fondness for the deep red "I'm a whore" dress she wears to the birthday party (senior prom I tried to create a similar look, but came off looking like a Gypsy with an addiction to glitter-so sad).

I hated the whole "we're war ravaged and poor" section of the movie b/c Scarlett's clothes were so blah, but it did lead to the wonderful green velvet curtain dress so it wasn't all bad.

There is so much to love about GWTW it's ridiculous-Mammy and Prissy, genteel southern accents, ladies napping at parties, petticoats and corsets, unrequited love, and broken hearts.

Poor Scarlett, never really got what she wanted b/c she never really knew what she wanted till it was too late. But, don't you think Rhett came back? I've always imagined they worked it out....in the fictional world where they don't exist.

Just for giggles I searched GWTW on You Tube and you would not believe what all comes up. First of all some very misguided French folks have staged it as a musical (I hope they came up with this terrible idea and it's not the French version of a bad American idea). It looks truly terrible- see for yourself.



There are several clips from the movie and even the trailer. One of my favorites is this one:



Finally, some folks thought it would be fun to turn Rhett and Scarlett into the backdrop for popular songs like "Bitch." Check it out and judge for yourself.




You may be asking yourself why, why would anyone do this to Rhett and Scarlett? Well, mostly because they have too much time on their hands, but also because GWTW is such a theatrical event and people still love it, want to be a part of it. I know I do, just not in a gypsy kind of way. Fiddle-lee-dee.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Loved the "Bitch" video. Great editing. Whoever produced that did a great job. At any rate, loved, loved, loved GWTW, although my people did not fair too well during that time. I loved that Prissy set Scarlett up, (just a small way of sticking it to the man). Kinda like telling your boss that she does not have lice even though she may have seen a small louse floating around in her head. I digress. Great movie and I loved Vivien Leigh even though I was a little disappointed that she was British. After looking at the clips, her southern accent left a lot to be desired, but still she ruled in that role.

Anonymous said...

I'm going to guess that the simpering singing Frenchman is supposed to be Ashley. Rhett would never be so...pathetic.

Anonymous said...

I am having jurl withdraw. Hope all is well :)

Anonymous said...

hello, it is you i'm looking for. where's the blog jurl?

Anonymous said...

I guess Partner Jurls have very important things to do other than blog. =) Congrats Jurl. I heard the news.