Movie Analysis

The movie I chose to watch was Gone With the Wind. The original length of the movie is 3 hours and 58 minutes.

Click on the orange texts above the paragraphs to see the videos.

Scarlett O'Hara at the BBQ with her suitors | Gone with the Wind

This dirty single shot (0:35) captures Scarlett O'Hara's true feelings. She invited a countless number of men to join her table at the barbecue and even has them arguing over who gets her food. She plays and flaunts her charm at the start but ultimately expresses her sadness in the dirty single shot, this also shows how stubborn and persistent she can be when she wants something because even though she has all these men around her, she still isn’t satisfied. This lets the audience feel how spoiled and manipulative she can be as she’s using Charles' emotions and leading him on when she's trying to make Ashley jealous.

Gone With The Wind ( Scarlet's first wedding scene )

This close-up shot (2:22) of Melanie and Ashley kissing before war expresses their genuine love for each other which gives the audience the same longing and heartbreak Scarlett has. Ashley isn’t just rejecting her because she’s stubborn, but because he really loves Melanie, and it makes it even harder to see Scarlett still pursue him later in the movie.

Gone with the Wind - Casualty lists/ Scarlett and Melanie learn Ashley isn't listed

The exposition shot (0:00) in this scene creates a feeling of sorrow. As the loved ones of the soldiers gather, there’s a respective silence until the papers are given out which leads to desperation and mourning for the soldiers, the sons' brothers, and fathers who were killed in action.

Gone With The Wind (1939) Battle of Atlanta Injuries

(0:23) The aerial shot that happens overhead when Scarlett looks through the injured and dying soldiers conveys the emotion of overwhelming helplessness. She searches for the doctor and only finds a crowd of men writhing in agony, all who overwhelm the medical force and need help. As the scene grows larger and the faces are out of shot, more soldiers appear and it focuses on how vulnerable the situation is as Scarlett’s looking for the only man who can deliver Melanie's baby, while lost in a sea of suffering soldiers who need just as much care and attention.

Gone with the Wind Scarlett realizes she doesn't love Ashley

This tracking shot (2:21) where Scarlett is running through the mist, creates a mood of despair and anticipation. The audience gets to follow Scarlett and feels the distressing need to get to Rhett, for her to tell him that she loves him and to save their relationship accompanied by the anticipation of what happens when she confesses her revelation.

I put these scenes in the same category since they all share the camera effect zoom out.

 

Gone with the wind

(2:30) The first zoom out effect is with Scarlett and Mr. O’Hara, underneath a strong oak tree overlooking their home. This gives off the emotion that the land – Tara – they're at is her true home that she’ll never leave, a place where she and her family and friends could be safe at, and the legacy to inherit as it was everything her father, Gerald O’Hara, and mother, Ellen O’Hara, worked for to give her, something she and the audience doesn’t understand at the time.

 

"I will never be hungry again" scene - GONE WITH THE WIND

(1:42) In the second clip, Scarlett had been beaten down by life. She lost her family, her old way of life, and the hard-earned plantation that had been her legacy as it now was a shell of its former glory. She was so desperate to eat, she dug up the bare earth and wolfed down a carrot tainted with dirt and roots. She rises to her feet, with determination, anger, and sadness. She moves on from seeing Tara as nothing but a plantation to viewing it as her home, a place to get a good meal and enjoy her family and friends, the place her parents wanted to leave the family now reduced to ruins. The emotion she brings the audience is sorrow and awe as Scarlett promises to never let herself or her loved ones go hungry again, something that seems impossible as when the camera zooms out, all there is is her and a barren land, even the oak tree has no leaves.

Gone With The Wind 1939 Ending Scene

(2:01) The final zoom out gives off a feeling of nostalgia for the older days when Scarlett’s only care were parties and her crush on Ashley. Another emotion it evokes is the remembrance of how Tara was desecrated and required another round of grueling work before producing results. The last emotion is hope that things can work out for the best just like the soil brought food after the tiring work in the fields. In the end, she stands under the oak tree and after an entire lifetime of joy, anger, pain, and loss, she found her strength in going back to where it all began, her true home and land- Tara, the only thing Scarlett had that lasted.