Episode #230

Gone With The Wind

(1939)

Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn. By pretty much every significant measure, this film is the most popular movie ever made. That’s an interesting distinction, given that it’s an epic romanticizing the fall of the Antebellum South. Vivian Leigh is the iconic Scarlett O’Hara, and Clarke Gable plays the forever-spurned Rhett Butler in an unhappy love story. And the Civil War threatens to destroy everything. But . . . how much do we really need to romanticize the Slavery South? What place does this film hold in history, and what place does it hold today? We discuss!