Gone With the Hobo-Murdering Wind
Recently matrushkaka and I watched "Gone With The Wind". I have no idea how I missed it the first time, and the Wikipedia plot synopsis gives it pretty short shrift, but about two-thirds of the way through the movie Scarlett's husband Frank Kennedy, her longtime crush Ashley Wilkes, and a gang of their buddies totally murder an encampment of hobos.
Here's what happens: after the war Scarlett marries Frank Kennedy and takes over his business. After a meeting her friends tell her not to ride home alone, but she does, and on her way home she's attacked by one hobo outside a hobo encampment. She escapes with the help of a friendly hobo (one of her former slaves, actually). She rides home and tells her husband, who gets a group of guys together to ride out and murder the entire encampment of hobos.
Bad news, right? Not according to the narrative. Some guys from the Union army show up and say "Hey, we're looking for some guys who just murdered an entire encampment of hobos. You wouldn't happen to be those guys, right?" Rhett Butler says "Definitely not, we've been out all night screwing whores." The Yankees are so embarrassed that they leave. The guys almost get away scot free except turns out that Frank Kennedy was mortally wounded during the evening's festivities. The movie presents his death not as insufficient payback for an unspeakable premeditated crime, but as if the "Southern Dudes: 200, Hobos: 1" scorecard somehow represents a tragedy for the rich, white, bathing, not-sleeping-in-the-woods people.
Does it bother me that the heroes from a major classic movie can murder a whole encampment of hobos without anyone, either in the film or in the audience, seeming to think this is a particularly big deal? Not as much as it bothers me that I wouldn't have remembered that the first time around. I have to ask myself: are there any other heartwarming movie classics from my childhood which feature forgotten atrocities? Maybe there's a scene halfway through "Mary Poppins" where Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke pause to murder a whole encampment of hobos and I've just forgotten it.
Here's what happens: after the war Scarlett marries Frank Kennedy and takes over his business. After a meeting her friends tell her not to ride home alone, but she does, and on her way home she's attacked by one hobo outside a hobo encampment. She escapes with the help of a friendly hobo (one of her former slaves, actually). She rides home and tells her husband, who gets a group of guys together to ride out and murder the entire encampment of hobos.
Bad news, right? Not according to the narrative. Some guys from the Union army show up and say "Hey, we're looking for some guys who just murdered an entire encampment of hobos. You wouldn't happen to be those guys, right?" Rhett Butler says "Definitely not, we've been out all night screwing whores." The Yankees are so embarrassed that they leave. The guys almost get away scot free except turns out that Frank Kennedy was mortally wounded during the evening's festivities. The movie presents his death not as insufficient payback for an unspeakable premeditated crime, but as if the "Southern Dudes: 200, Hobos: 1" scorecard somehow represents a tragedy for the rich, white, bathing, not-sleeping-in-the-woods people.
Does it bother me that the heroes from a major classic movie can murder a whole encampment of hobos without anyone, either in the film or in the audience, seeming to think this is a particularly big deal? Not as much as it bothers me that I wouldn't have remembered that the first time around. I have to ask myself: are there any other heartwarming movie classics from my childhood which feature forgotten atrocities? Maybe there's a scene halfway through "Mary Poppins" where Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke pause to murder a whole encampment of hobos and I've just forgotten it.