Remembrance of "Gone with the Wind" by Cara Haley

          Gone with the Wind is a classical historical novel written by Margaret Mitchell. Published in 1936, this novel earned a National Book Award by American Bestsellers Association less than a year later. No sooner than two years following in 1939, Gone with the Wind was marvelously filmed into a two part movie. This film was awarded with ten Academy Awards, which included praise for its golden staring cast, featuring leading actress Vivien Leigh, who elegantly portrayed Scarlet O'Hara, and awarding Best Director, the honorable Victor Fleming. This film was masterly pieced and neatly illustrated most of the emotions that were in the book. Unlike the majority of movies made, this film kept many of the details that were in the book and didn't slaughter its grand potential. In my own opinion, I think that is what made it contain such excellence.
         Reading the book was much of an enjoyment. Its almost a thousand pages filled with an admirable story that begun during the time of the American Civil War. It opened up in Tara, Georgia, where southern star belle, Scarlet O'Hara, lived with wealth on a splendorous plantation, gaining anything she pleased. Always with everything at leisure, Scarlet O'Hara comes to a grave displeasure when Ashley Wilkes (who is played by Leslie Howard), her one true love, marries Melanie Hamilton (who is played by Olivia de Havilland). Out of jealousy and seeking favor in Ashley's eyes, Scarlet marries another and flounders in riches. But all is short lived, for the men went off to war, including Scarlet's newly wedded husband, Charles Hamilton (played by Rand Brooks) who happens to be Melanie's brother. Left behind in the company of Melanie Hamilton Wilkes, Scarlet is apathetic, wearing black to mourn for her hardly loved dead husband. Scarlet though finds herself in a situation with devious Rhett Butler (played by Clark Gable), who happened to overhear her love declaration to Ashley Wilkes earlier and is now taunting for her love. Without a realization of the feelings felt towards her, Scarlet only seeks for herself.
         Scarlet's life continues with a diverting plot, one which shows a full insight on the selfishness left crowded inside her heart, one that in fact, blinds any awareness towards life's integrity. With only the determination to gain wealth once more, Scarlet pretentiously deceives and uses anyone  with a heavy purse in her sight, including Rhett Butler and Frank Kennedy, who was her elder sister's beau. Heartlessly detached, Scarlet marries Frank Kennedy after a failure plea with Rhett Butler. Only with the lust for money, Scarlet pursues a business in milling, hoping to gain endless wealth. Going on like she once did before, Scarlet is obstinate and will not heed to others. Thereafter, she endures another dreadful incident which ends with her second husband, who went out seeking justice, killed.  Thoughtlessly driven, Scarlet immediately accepts Rhett Butler's offer of marriage and off they go living an effulgent lifestyle. In that marriage, Scarlet only loves money and her feelings for Ashley Wilkes are still the same, leaving Rhett dancing around those emotions. Their lives precedes with more difficulties and arguments, leaving Scarlet behind in actual misery.
        Later on, heartbreak returns after their beloved daughter falls in an accident on her horse and dies at an early age. Only by the comfort of Melanie Wilkes, the couple's souls resist crumbling, especially Rhett's. But short lived, Melanie's life ends when she is unable to carry another child. Scarlet then finally realizes with those last moments with Melanie that she doesn't truly despise her and will instead, miss her dearly. With one of her last breathes, Mrs Wilkes encourages Scarlet to fight for her marriage with Rhett for he does love her deeply. Pondering those words, Scarlet realizes that Rhett does care for her. Leaving that scene, Scarlet has a discussion with Ashley Wilkes, finally seeing that he loves Melanie, not her. It was never really her that he loved. Never with an affirmation did Mr. Wilkes tell Scarlet that he loved her more than a sister. Realizing that she only created those fake affections form Ashley to feel loved, Scarlet rushes off to her home where she confronts Rhett about his love for her. But soon understands that love can fade and that Rhett's, whose endured years of neglect, was buried with their daughter. No more heartaches needed, Rhett departs, not regarding Scarlet's last pleas. It was finally time for that broken individual to say no to anymore breaking of the soul. Ending with the hopes of tomorrow, Scarlet  is alone with only her forlorn self, seeing wholly now that she cares for something other than riches.
         This left the audience with wonder and knowledge about how things in life do fade into the fog. Both the movie and the book successfully captured the enthralling story. However, a few minor details didn't go unnoticed without them drifting apart from one another. The idea of Scarlet donating her wedding band at the charity bazaar first for the war like it was in the book changed in the movie, making Melanie give up her ring generously and Scarlet following for audible praise.  Another thing was that Scarlet bore only one child, which was with Mr. Rhett Butler, unlike in the book, she had two children with her previous husbands. I thought that those two children's existences really indicated Rhett's adoration and toleration for children. Also the fact that Rhett Butler had a son living in New Orleans was unknown to most people and was only mentioned once in the book. The book did have more detail about Rhett's previous life in Charleston that couldn't fit in the movie. Although the slight difference in detail between the movie and the book, I admire both works. The film itself was golden. Vivien Leigh, who played Scarlet O'Hara, matched the haughty attitude with her facial expressions, especially her famous eyebrow raise, flawlessly capturing the contemptuous look of her character. Both of these works of fiction are magnificent and are highly advice to both watch and read in order to grasp fully the rare art piece created in this era.

You Anne Me by Caleb Warren

I love Mumford and Sons, right? I mean, everybody loves Mumford and Sons. They weren’t really on my radar, however, until “The Cave” and “White Blank Page” from their album Sigh No More starting taking off on Top 40 radio. I realize some people listened to them before this, and it severely annoys me when those people not only wear it as a badge of honor (which, on its own I would be fine with), but have to make sure everyone else knows that they knew about Mumford before all the hullabaloo. As if liking them first means that they somehow appreciate them on a deeper level around which the rest of us non-tastemakers can never hope to wrap our pretty little heads.

So excuse me while I do pretty much the same thing for a little while. One of my (and, mostly likely, your) favorite actresses is Anne Hathaway, and now she has an Academy Award that she absolutely deserves. But I liked her first, dogarnit, and I appreciate her more than you do.

Remember when she first showed up for most of us, in The Princess Diaries? That’s when I knew she would be a star. She was funny, dynamic, emotional, and pulled off a bunch of different sides to a (on paper) fairly simple character. She made what was basically the ultimate wish fulfillment fantasy a joy to watch, and it’s fitting that her big break came opposite Julie Andrews. If there’s any actress who can match Andrews’ class, poise, and grace, and still command some capable comedic timing and knack for physical humor, it’s my girl Anne.

Soon after Princess, she did two movies that seemed to solidify an image that no star wants to get stuck with: the good girl. The sweetheart. The virgin. Those movies were, of course, Ella Enchanted and the sequel no one asked for, Princess Diaries 2: A Royal Engagement. Ella was fun, but nothing we hadn’t seen in the Shrek franchise, and Princess 2 was mostly an ill-advised snooze-fest (although hey, it introduced the world to Chris Pine, and the world is forever in its debt because of this). And yet in both films, Hathaway was a commanding star, and took no prisoners with her acting choices. She was fearless. Just look at the weird scene in Ella where Cary Elwes literally forces her to do the hokey pokey. (Which, c’mon, Cary, the hokey pokey isn’t fun if you have to force someone to participate.)

Annie’s next big venture was the critically acclaimed and religiously protested epic romance Brokeback Mountain, wherein she played one half of a marriage that her on-screen husband Jake Gyllenhaal, for story reasons, wasn’t really feeling. Now, I love Hathaway, but her appearances here smacked of trying a little too hard to break the image. Listen, we get that you want to shake Princess Mia off your back, but really? This was a little much. Maybe start with a dysfunctional family drama, Anne.

And lo and behold, she then did a dysfunctional family drama. Rachel Getting Married earned Anne her first Academy Award nomination, which she lost to Kate Winslet for The Reader (which I didn’t see, but Winslet’s Oscar before that was for Titanic, in which she was dreadful, so her track record isn't great on deserving these things). But Rachel did a better job than Brokeback of getting Anne away from the “Disney princess come to life” image.

Eagle-eyed readers will notice I’m skipping steps in Hathaway’s career. I have my reasons for this. One, it would take up too much space, and two, the less said about Love, and Other Drugs, the better. (Man, bad things seem to happen when she’s paired with Gyllenhaal. Let’s not let that happen again.)

When rumors started flying around that the character of Selina Kyle (known to the layman as “Catwoman”) would be included in The Dark Knight Rises, the conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Saga, I’ll admit that even I didn’t think of Anne immediately. (I regret this now.) My predictions were more along the lines of Carrie-Anne Moss or Rosario Dawson. But once it was announced that my girl had won the part of Selina, I was in. I got visibly excited, and close friends can attest to the fact that I broke off a fake engagement because my fake intended was not pleased about the casting announcement. (Better I find out before the fake wedding than after; fake divorces are tedious.)

And pretty much everybody in their right mind agrees that Hathaway killed as Catwoman. (Pun!) When she appeared as a nervous, quiet catering girl, I got nervous and quiet. But then Batman comes in and accuses her of breaking into his safe. She immediately sheds the serving girl act like it’s a dress in the wrong size and gives a sultry and sarcastic, “Oops” that made my heart skip a beat. (Although I saw the movie at midnight, and was pretty hopped up on Redbull, so that could’ve been it too.)

And yet, after all that. After proving herself to be a capable actress over and over again, some people had the gall to be offended when Annie was cast as Fantine in Tom Hooper’s film adaptation of Les Miserables. The movie, of course, had its problems, but with one song, filmed almost entirely in a single, unbroken close-up shot of her withered, defeated face, Hathaway brought the world to tears. People were forced to either eat their earlier words about the casting, or, as is more comfortable for Americans, forget what they said about it all together and pretend they always held the correct viewpoint.

Anne has her Oscar now, and she deserves it. We all love her, and I’m so happy that she’s finally getting the recognition I always knew she deserved. But that doesn’t mean I’m not just a little bit territorial. She can be America’s Sweetheart, fine, but just remember that I was here first, America. I loved her first, and I’ll always appreciate her on a deeper level, around which you’ll never be able to wrap your pretty little heads.