I watched the original version the other evening. I last watched it on a big screen in 1966 or so when it made a second run of movie houses after being renewed, but not edited.
All I can say, is that none of the Southerners were portrayed sympathetically. They are really caricatures of what Hollywood libs think of hicks from the South, even if they were the “elites” of the South. Other than a few stereotypical scenes of slaves and servants being less than bright (and understandably offensive), the slaves and their plight were not romanticized. It was pretty clear, that being a slave basically sucked.
That’s my view, for what it’s worth.
Margaret Mitchell was born and raised close to Atlanta, GA. Her grandparents all lived through the Civil War and were upper class. He Father was a lawyer. Her grandmother was Margaret’s “expert” in all things connected to the war and the aftermath of the war. As a child of the lingering “reconstruction” in the South I can tell you that the movie is as close to the truth of the conditions as anyone will ever see. Of course the focus was the wealthy slave owners. The majority of whites were poor farmers or field hands along with the blacks. I do know this because I picked cotton with freed slaves. I saw “Gone With The Wind” when I was about 12 years old.