Legend of a 'noble South' rises again

Sun Movie Critic ^ | February 16, 2003 | Chris Kaltenbach

[stainlessbanner]

Director says 'Gods' has Southern slant, but 'full humanity'

The North may have won the Civil War, but in Hollywood, the South reigns triumphant.

That was certainly true in 1915, when D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation portrayed the conflict as a war of Northern aggression where order was restored only by the arrival of the Ku Klux Klan. It was true in 1939, when Gone With the Wind looked back on the antebellum South as an unrivalled period of grace and beauty never to be seen again. It was true when Clint Eastwood played The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), a Confederate war veteran who has run afoul of Northern "justice."

[Polybius]

I often wonder if the common soldier on either side knew what they were fighting for.

They sure did.

The majority of the common Union soldiers were fighting to "Save the Union".

The majority of Southern soldiers were fighting to defend their States from invasion.

After the Seven Days Battles, General George MacClellan, Commander of the Army of the Potomac who was dealy loved by his troops dispite of his military incompetence, gave Lincoln unsolicited political advice and urged him not to make the abolishment of slavery a war aim.

During the war, Julia Grant, the wife of General U.S. Grant, would often visit him at his Union Headquarters and bring their young son, Jesse, along. Along with Jesse Grant came his caretaker "Black Julia" who was Mrs. Grant's slave.

It is now Politically Correct to view the Civil War as a simple a matter of Slavery versus Abolition. However, except for certain units such as the 54th Massachussets, such simplifications are historical revisionism.

The Northern forces, after all, called themselves "Union" forces.....not "Abolition" forces.

[Grand Old Partisan]

The death toll was actually over 500, and could have been as high as 1,000. Union army troops entering NYC to restore order announced that anyone on the streets would be shot. See www.republicanbasics.com.

[ggekko]

"I often wonder if the common soldier on either side knew what they were fighting for..."

There was a very strong conviction among the Confederates that they fighting a war against Northern imperialism. Documentary accounts bear out the intensity of this feeling.

The Northern soldiers were closer to a conscript army with less intensity of feeling about the meaning of the War. Among the Northern officers, however, there were very strong convictions about the rightness of preserving the Union.

The mere fact that Southern combatants in G&G are not protrayed as wild-eyed pro-slavery fanatics should not cause this movie to be contraversial. That is not why the South fought, in large measure.

The issue of what really motivated the Civil War is becoming a hot one in historical circles. The fact that other issues besides Slavery are receiving due attention (the Tarriff issue) is long overdue. The South's motivations in the conflict are far more nuanced than has been presented in movies to date. G&G looks as if it is giving the two sides a more balanced treatment.

[Grand Old Partisan]

Actually, only 6% of Union soldiers were conscipts, compared to 100% for the Confederates. Over 30% of rebels were drafted into the Confederate army -- for limited terms of enlistment -- but once in, their terms were extended by the CSA government to the duration of the war. So, all Confederates became draftees. In contrast, when their 3-year enlistments expired in the summer of 1864, Union soldiers were free to go, but three-quarters of them re-enlisted -- voluntarily -- for the duration, while only one-quarter went home. See www.republicanbasics.com.

[mgstarr]

Your knowledge of history is pathetic.

I guess you've spent too much time on Lake Wobegon.

[dpa5923]

self-ping

[Grand Old Partisan]

As Ulysses Grant put it: "The rebels fought valiantly, but in the worst cause for which men ever fought."

[Pahuanui]

It was true in 1939, when Gone With the Wind looked back on the antebellum South as an unrivalled period of grace and beauty never to be seen again.

I'm glad it's never been seen again; what utter saccharine tripe.

[ggekko]

"Actually, only 6% of Union soldiers were conscipts, compared to 100% for the Confederates...."

If those numbers are correct that certainly puts things in a different light.

I still contend, however, that there has been a historical distortion of our understanding of Lincoln and his motives fostered by many Lincoln biographers. Many of these biographers have overemphasized and even distorted Licoln's concern with the slavery so as to render him in the most sympathetic possible light.

Lincoln was, I believe, most concerned with preserving the Union; slavery was a secondary issue. While I believe Lincoln was right in his war aim, it should not be attributed primarily to ending slavery.

[Grand Old Partisan]

I agree with you, though Lincoln's opposition to slavery hardened throughout the war.

[Grand Old Partisan]

You're right. The business about GWTW is on page 6 of the book.

[wardaddy]

I dunno about that. Rhett's handling of that brat Scarlett is not without some redemption...lol

"I'm just not going to think about it right now...tommorrow is another day".....man even today's Belles down here have some level of that passive-aggressiveness in them...trust me. Old habits die hard.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Why does the North call it a "Civil War" when the South had no interest in ruling them?

It is officially called "The War of the Rebellion".

[GraniteStateConservative]

Yep, that sums it up. If Democrats had a brain in their head (thank God they don't) they would use that in talking about the confederate flag issue. Instead, they try to demonize everything about the South in the Civil War.

[Ohioan]

You state about "Gone With The Wind:"

I'm glad it's never been seen again; what utter saccharine tripe.

Did you even see the movie? Saccharine! It is full of scenes capturing the horror of the War, followed by the horror of reconstruction in a ruined South. What are you talking about? Is it hatred--yours--for the cultivated, refined South that was smashed in the war--the South of Jefferson, Madison, the Lees, and their deep southern counterparts--that you are venting?

On the other hand, "Gone With The Wind" was one of Hollywood's last balanced efforts, in which a fair vision of the old South was presented. What followed World War II, was a vicious assault on Southern culture. If this new movie really does present a fair view, it will have been very long over-due.

The use of the movies against the South, and to promote antagonism between the races and sections, over the past half-century, has been so vicious, that I used it as the major example in the essay, just posted, on The Persuasive Use Of Images. Perhaps your attitude was forged by those hateful images, referred to. Perhaps not. But there is nothing "saccharine" about "Gone With The Wind."

William Flax

[laotzu]

"It is officially called "The War of the Rebellion"

Who is this 'official'?

Must be 'officially' kept a secret. It has never been expressed, either verbally or literally, as such around me.

As oppossed to 'Civil War', how often have you heard it referred to as 'The War of the Rebellion'?

[jlogajan]

Lincoln was, I believe, most concerned with preserving the Union; slavery was a secondary issue.

But what was the splitting issue in the "union?" It was none other than slavery.

Since the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision legalized slavery in all states and territories (meaning escaped slaves remained property across all state lines) there wasn't a direct way to eliminate slavery. Abolishionist advocates instead sought other means to limit and burden slaveholding. The slave holding states rebelled because of that. So yes, it was about slavery.

[jlogajan]

Man, I bet you had a cow while watching "Roots."

[wardaddy]

Once again you rise above the flotsam with clarity and lucidity and reasonableness.

I would like to personally apologize for any harm that might have been caused by General Morgan's ill fated raid through your beloved state.

[wardaddy]

Do you prostrate yourself at the altar of guilt over the ill treatment of the Amerindians by your kinfolks as well Mr Minnesota?


Actually, I like Minnesotans but in your case I'll make an exception.