Posted in media madness
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okay, i have a head cold coming on today, but since i probably started a full out war with Jay about "GWTW", i should blog something about it
Firstly, you really MUST read the book, as the movie, although the very bestsest movie ever to grace the silver screen, it is NOT an accurate representation of the moral tale in the book (no, really, stay with me here! you may be surprised!) And i fully admit that my quarertly reading of it from the time i first picked it up at age 14 till about age 30-ish, i missed this classic tale of good (Melanie) vs evil (Scarlett) and how our WANTS are not always our NEEDS (and yes, i do believe that i possibly have read this book more than anyone else on the face of this planet)
okay, first we have Scarlett O'Hara, beautiful, wealthy, and selfish...what a perfect heroine! She rejects out of hand her own beloved father's advice on marriage to Ashley ("he's not the same mind set...you'd never be happy with him") because she has a fairy-tale idea of what marriage AND Ashley are like. Many, many parents instill this same "fairy tale" like quality to marriage, even Christian parents. Marriage is terrific, great, wonderful, the best! Do we ever tell them that it's alot of hard work? I love the scene in the original version of "Yours, Mine and Ours", when Lucy is in labor and Henry Fonda is talking to the oldest girl about what marriage really is...that scene should be in every parents mind when they have "the talk" with their kids!
now enter Melanie Wilkes (hear the angels singing?) who is good, loyal, proper and knows that what she needs is to be content with what she is given. You notice as you read through the book, she is a very proper Southern lady. She continually frustrates Scarlett, even as Scarlett herself wishes that she had some of the exact same quality traits that Melanie has...and isns't that the same way with us? Who irritates us most of all? The person who either: a) mirrors our own sins or b) mirrors what we want and think we can't achieve
anyhow, to pare down a 1079 page novel to one blog post, when Melanie is dying to give life (yes, we see that Melanie is willing to sacrifice her life for the life of her unborn child...isn't that amazing????) is when Scarlett realizes that she never really loved Ashley, she truely loves Rhett, and runs to tell him so...to which he replies that immortal line that caused so much flack way back in 1939, "Frankly my dear...." (I wonder what his reply would be today in 2006?
Scarlett is a typical example of a life lived in rebellion to God's word, authority in our lives (starting with Dad) and general good will to mankind. She never sees the train wreck she causes because they are always behind her, never intentional. She is all about Scarlett, as if no one else in the world exisits but her, or to please her. She is a perfect example of a life before they come to Christ. We love to hate her (oaky, i never really hated Scarlett, i started to feel sorry for her) We weep for Melanie, wonder why she stays friends with Scarlett, admire her heart of gold and nerves of steel. She is a Christlike example of true loyalty of friendship, of an honorable marriage (even though Ashley is weak minded, he still is the head of HER home!) and mother.
so now you all know that i can read way too much into any book, but really it's there...you just have to read BETWEEN the lines and ignore what Hollywood does to a great story. I think Margaret Mitchell would be surprised
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