Top 10 reasons to hate Gone with the Wind

#10 – Bonnie Blue


Literally everything about Bonnie Blue is designed to make me hate her. She’s (nick)named for the confederate flag. She’s a spoilt, irritating toddler, and then you grow to like her, and THEN SHE DIES. Horribly, heartbreakingly, and it is the worst. Rhett Butler refusing to bury his dead baby? THE WORST. Too sad to even watch. Plus, she’s obnoxious, and then she dies, and you can’t call dead children obnoxious. Spoiling all our fun, as usual. Damn you, Bonnie Blue.

 

#9 – The Rapes


Who doesn’t love a bit of marital rape? I don’t, that’s who. Nor does Scarlett O’Hara. Unfortunately, the film portrays this as being in the same league as the cheating-flirting-affairing they’ve been up to before. It’s also sort of jarring to realise what a dick the romantic hero really is. I mean, it’s Rhett! He’s wild and crazy! He isn’t received! Society hates him….and maybe that is for a reason. Damn you, Rhett.

 

#8 – The “I Hope You Have A Miscarriage” Scene


In case you were leaning towards forgiving Rhett for that whole rape thing, I’m directing your attention to that bit where he hopes his wife has a miscarriage, and then she falls down the stairs. Come on. Is that an accident? Is it? IS IT? (Maybe it’s an accident. But it’s still not nice.)

 

#7 – The Ku Klux Klan


If you believe Gone with the Wind, the Ku Klux Klan is basically the Neighbourhood Watch for massive racists. My experience, however (small Midlands village), is that the Neighbourhood Watch are already massive racists, so imagine the Neighbourhood Watch, only even more racist, mental, and armed with guns. Also, everyone you love is in it, and you have to watch them be super racist, all the time, and then your husband gets shot by the enemies of the Klan and you can’t even complain because he was literally even more racist than you are.

 

#6 – The Tiny, Tiny Waists


Man alive, I am jealous of that tiny waist, and I hate films that make me jealous. I don’t even want a sixteen-inch waist. None of my clothes would fit. BUT STILL.

 

#5 – The Slave Auction


It’s in fairly questionable taste to hold a “slave auction” of rich white women in order to raise money to keep black people literally enslaved, even leaving aside for a minute the whole “buying women” element. Did nobody at the time think it was slightly weird? Did nobody reading the novel think it was slightly weird? WHY IS THIS AN OKAY THING, PEOPLE WHO MAKE MOVIES? (Hint: it is not. Even if it makes a place for that sexy sexism of Rhett’s. It’s still almost certainly not okay.)

 

#4 – Prissy


I can’t really handle Prissy in any capacity, and nor should you if you’ve got any sense. Butterfly McQueen, who played her, said it was incredibly demeaning. It looks incredibly demeaning. It is incredibly demeaning. She’s a kid, stolen from her mother, to be Scarlett’s handmaiden in the middle of a warzone, and then Scarlett knocks her upside the head for not knowing how to be a midwife. Cut the kid some slack, Scarlett, you massive racist. Everything about Prissy in this movie makes me part sad, part furious.

 

#3 – Melly And Scarlett: The Neverending Story


Does anything make you want to die more than four hours of Melanie being sickening, and Scarlett being a mad bitch? Apparently, lots of teenagers bloody love their awful, awful, uneven friendship, which is why if you search for Gone with the Wind clips on Youtube, a lot of them are Melly/Scarlett love videos, set to Taylor Swift songs, featuring lots of lingering shots of Melly’s deathbed. (Don’t whinge at me about spoilers. Everybody dies.)

 

#2 – The Melodrama


Sometimes, even I just wish people would stop screeching. Just for a while. I get that there’s a war on. I get that. But- look- you know- you’re not actually the injured parties here. You’re actually the rebels. You’re actually the ones who started this by breaking the law. Please stop screeching.

 

#1 – Feeling Nice About Evil People


The worst thing about Gone with the Wind? The worst thing about Gone with the Wind is how it makes you feel sympathetic for something- let’s not be coy about this- that was a horrific, violent injustice. Lots of people died. Everybody in the film believes firmly in an incredibly racist, nasty cause. It’s like someone making a cheery, glorious epic about the Höss family’s life at Auschwitz. It’s like that epic being touted as the Great German Film. Which is quite a jarring thing to think, but also, probably, true.

 

Disagree with this blog? Think Gone with the Wind is all just good fun? You might find you’re happier reading the Daily Mail than Best For Film, darling.

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