Scavenger Hunt

I recognized, on my own, after watching Gone with the Wind last weekend that this movie features characters similar to or based on those found in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. For instance, Mammy is a very dark complexioned affectionate motherly type woman who takes care of Scarlett. Then there is Big Sam. He was the one who rescued Scarlett from being kidnapped or worse when she drives her carriage through shantytown alone. This movie also references the slaves as darkies and portrays them to be lazy and carefree with the character Miss Prissy.
The film Gone with the Wind was made in 1939 and was adapted from the novel by Margaret Mitchell. The book and film portray a very romanticized version of the antebellum south. When the film debuted in Georgia it was celebrated with a three day festival. Some black people were recruited to dress as slaves and sing in a choir to help promote the film. Among this choir was a child named Martin Luther King Jr. who later became a great civil rights leader.
Like the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin Gone with the Wind has also come under fire for the ways it stereotypes blacks, with its characters I previously noted as being similar to the ones in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This movie also deals with the topic of forced sex when Rhett forces himself on Scarlett and a pregnancy is the result. I found Gone with the Wind and Uncle Tom’s Cabin to have many similarities even though; Uncle Tom’s Cabin’s purpose is to villainize slavery and Gone with the Wind does more to romanticize it.

You can learn more about Gone with the Wind here