[Doctor Stochastic]

Good analysis. Hattie McDaniel (Academy Award for GWTW) was criticized at the time for playing a slave. (Now some of the Black-oriented magazines are recognizing her as a true hero.) Of course, she seems to be the only sane one in the whole movie. (Aunt Pittypat and Prissy seem soul sisters. Butterfly McQueen said she would have slapped Prissy too.) I think the only reason the Thomas Mitchell didn't win a Academy Award was that he had the one for Stagecoach that year too. (1939 was a Good Year for movies.)

[jocon307]

Thanks for the compliment. I didn't even want to get into the black characters in the story, but you are correct, Mammy is the "voice of reason" throughout. And Aunt Pittypat, lol, I always forget about her, between her & Prissy, who wouldn't go nuts?

These are all recognizable "types" who, as in all decent writing, are familiar to us since we've all known folks like them. Folks of all colors by the way. This is what is so stupid and awful about this imbecilic idea that only a person from a group can create or understand art about members of that group. I mean, if that's the case, why bother? What could art then teach us that we don't already know?

My mother once told me that reading novels is a way to find out what life is like without having to go through all the sh*t yourself. (Mom used different words, but that was the gist.) It certainly beats listening to some of these modern critics, but they are usefull for finding out what insanity is like without having to go nuts yourself.

One further praise for the movie, GWTW has the very best costumes of any movie based on a book I've ever seen. I don't know a single woman who's seen it who doesn't think the clothes in the film are EXACTLY like the dresses, hats, etc. in the story, even what the outfits are not described in detail. We gals love that!

Regards,

Jessica