Oh Ashley, Ashley!
Disclaimer: I have never seen or read the end of Gone With the Wind and I don't know what happens (except the final line, of course). So please don't spoil me, and don't judge too harshly if my claims are ridiculous in light of the full narrative.
I'm taking a course next semester on "The American Historical Romance" and I'm trying to get a few of the larger tomes read over the summer. (This task, though considerably less important, is pleasanter than most of the work I have to do - so guess what I've spent the most time on?) One is Gone With the Wind.
My roommate and I rented the movie about a year ago, got as far as the famous "As God is my witness..." speech and, exhausted and realizing there was still an hour or more left, put the rest off for a later day. But then the DVD had to go back to the library, and... you know how it goes. But I came away with two strong impressions from the first 2/3rds of the film:
1) Scarlett O'Hara is terrible person
2) Ashley Wilkes as a love object is quite inexplicable
What I'm finding myself surprised by is that, almost 200 pages into the book, I'm kind of liking Scarlett. I mean, she IS a terrible person. Or at least, far from good-hearted. But still, somehow, enjoyable. And I don't hate Ashley at all. He's largely absent from the story, but he's kind of sympathetic.
This interests me because I think it reflects how much casting can, apparently, influence my judgments of people's actions - totally apart from the objective morality or humanity of those choices. The film is remarkably faithful to the story, as far as I've gotten. But Vivien Leigh was 26, not 16 as Scarlett is at the beginning of the story, and I suspect this contributed to me finding her self-absorption more abrasive. And Leslie Howard* was 46 - two decades, rather than two years older than Scarlett! And almost three decades older than the character. So the idealistic 18-year-old boy who's torn between the sweet, tepid girl he has a lot in common with and the vivacious, fiery girl he loves but who wouldn't be right for him, becomes on film a dry, middle-aged creep toying with two women.
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Tempestuous young love?
Of course it's not like their youth makes Scarlett's disregard for the fact that Ashley is married to Melanie okay. She's still appallingly selfish. But by making them both so young, and by situating us in Scarlett's head and convincing us that her one true, consistent emotion is her love for Ashley - and by contrasting the way 19th C. Southern girls are taught to hold back all real thoughts or feelings to the way Scarlett straight-out tells him how she feels... well, it just makes everybody concerned a bit more sympathetic.
Which is not to say that they don't do (and won't continue to do) awful things to each other. It just looks a little different.
Interestingly, Clark Gable at 38 is the one who comes closest to the character in the book (I think Rhett is described as "in his thirties"), and is a very good physical match as well. I suspect this must be a good part of why I have exactly the same opinion about Rhett in both texts. (Mixed feelings, like Scarlett has.)
Is this a phenomenon you've noticed before? That changing the age or appearance of a character in an adaptation changes how you judge them? I can't recall quite as strong a case of it, offhand.
*Clever of them to find an actor who wouldn't blanch at a girly name.
I'm taking a course next semester on "The American Historical Romance" and I'm trying to get a few of the larger tomes read over the summer. (This task, though considerably less important, is pleasanter than most of the work I have to do - so guess what I've spent the most time on?) One is Gone With the Wind.
My roommate and I rented the movie about a year ago, got as far as the famous "As God is my witness..." speech and, exhausted and realizing there was still an hour or more left, put the rest off for a later day. But then the DVD had to go back to the library, and... you know how it goes. But I came away with two strong impressions from the first 2/3rds of the film:
1) Scarlett O'Hara is terrible person
2) Ashley Wilkes as a love object is quite inexplicable
What I'm finding myself surprised by is that, almost 200 pages into the book, I'm kind of liking Scarlett. I mean, she IS a terrible person. Or at least, far from good-hearted. But still, somehow, enjoyable. And I don't hate Ashley at all. He's largely absent from the story, but he's kind of sympathetic.
This interests me because I think it reflects how much casting can, apparently, influence my judgments of people's actions - totally apart from the objective morality or humanity of those choices. The film is remarkably faithful to the story, as far as I've gotten. But Vivien Leigh was 26, not 16 as Scarlett is at the beginning of the story, and I suspect this contributed to me finding her self-absorption more abrasive. And Leslie Howard* was 46 - two decades, rather than two years older than Scarlett! And almost three decades older than the character. So the idealistic 18-year-old boy who's torn between the sweet, tepid girl he has a lot in common with and the vivacious, fiery girl he loves but who wouldn't be right for him, becomes on film a dry, middle-aged creep toying with two women.
Tempestuous young love?
Of course it's not like their youth makes Scarlett's disregard for the fact that Ashley is married to Melanie okay. She's still appallingly selfish. But by making them both so young, and by situating us in Scarlett's head and convincing us that her one true, consistent emotion is her love for Ashley - and by contrasting the way 19th C. Southern girls are taught to hold back all real thoughts or feelings to the way Scarlett straight-out tells him how she feels... well, it just makes everybody concerned a bit more sympathetic.
Which is not to say that they don't do (and won't continue to do) awful things to each other. It just looks a little different.
Interestingly, Clark Gable at 38 is the one who comes closest to the character in the book (I think Rhett is described as "in his thirties"), and is a very good physical match as well. I suspect this must be a good part of why I have exactly the same opinion about Rhett in both texts. (Mixed feelings, like Scarlett has.)
Is this a phenomenon you've noticed before? That changing the age or appearance of a character in an adaptation changes how you judge them? I can't recall quite as strong a case of it, offhand.
*Clever of them to find an actor who wouldn't blanch at a girly name.