When Favorites Aren't in Favor Any More

by Stacey Fearheiley

I saw Gone With the Wind for the first time when I was 12 years old, growing up in Tennessee.  I was dragged there by one of my best friends. She had read the book and it was being shown on the big screen for the first time in years.  So we went.  And I fell in love.

From that moment until the last 15-20 years, any time I was asked my favorite movie, Gone With the Wind was the answer. Unreservedly.

After I saw the movie and crushed HARD on Clark Gable, I read the book ten times, at least.  I bought everything I could that had to do with Gone With the Wind  Gable, the search for Scarlett, Atlanta....anything at all.  I fan-girled hard!  But why?

I don't think there was just one reason.  I think it was the perfect storm of puberty + beautiful alpha male + smart, sassy heroine who always gets what she goes for...eventually + gorgeous production values + soap opera story line = 1970's teenage white girl from the South dream!

In this week's podcast, Eric and I talk about 1939 and the plethora of really classic films that came out that year.  We talk about Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and The Women, specifically.  I mentioned why I hadn't made my daughters watch Gone With the Wind, even though I do still consider it a classic (hint: misogyny and racism).  What I don't really go into is how I got to that decision.  I will admit ... it was painful.

So what happened in the years since my adolescence to change my enthusiasm for this movie for which I had been obsessed?  I guess I'd call it evolution.  My life evolved.  My point of view evolved. My world of acquaintances and experiences evolved.  My thinking evolved.  And there I was, educated past the point where I could truly accept and enjoy as entertainment this bit of a monument to the Old South.

Do I still love bits and pieces of the movie and story?  I do.  But my white privilege lets me.  Now, I'm going to try to not get too political here.  It is not about politics or right and left for me.  It is about who I've become in the intervening decades.  Let me explain.

I grew up in the late 1960's and 70's.  In the afternoons I'd watch Gilligan's Island, Scooby Doo, Bewitched, and I Dream of Jeannie (I will always love you, Larry Hagman!).  This was in the days of 3 networks + PBS on TV.  In high school, cable channels became more abundant and accessible. More options and the 1950's and 60's TV "classics" were no longer shown.  I went to college. I went to work. I traveled. And suddenly it's the late 20th Century, and there is a classic television show network showing I Love Lucy and Leave it to Beaver along w/my childhood faves.

So, as a 30 something year old, I sit down to watch ... to feel that same way again that I did as a kid; To laugh at Jeannie making a mess of Tony's life; To giggle when Samantha had to get Uncle Arthur out of a jam.  So I watched.  I didn't giggle.  I didn't laugh.  I certainly didn't feel that fun, free way I had as a child when watching Sam stifle her magic for Darren or Jeannie call Colonel Nelson "Master".  It made my stomach hurt.

Now, I realize this is a long way to get to a point about Gone With the Wind.  But that stomach churning/turning feeling was even more pronounced when I sat down to watch Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara on the big screen, when it came touring in our area in the 1990's.  I no longer felt comfortable saying that it was my favorite movie ... certainly not around my African-American friends.

Because as beautiful as the dresses, cinematography, directing and acting are ... the story is painful. It's painful in its brushstrokes of misinformation.  I cringe at the accents the black actors have to put on. I wince every time the "n" word and "d" word ("darkie") are dropped.  And I get downright nauseous during the KKK scene where its very existence is rationalized as being only for the "safety" of the womenfolk.

But, Gone With the Wind is still a classic.  It is, technically, film making at its very best.  It lives in the time period in which it was created.  I can accept that.  I can respect that.  But as a woman in 2017, "loving" this movie is now beyond me.  I'm not sad, because I like where I am philosophically and how I think now.  But I do miss the innocent feeling.  You can't go home again.  Wow ... sometimes evolution sucks.

Not THAT Again! The Trouble with Sequels

by Stacey Fearheiley

This week's podcast was all about sequels--movie sequels-- the good, the bad and never should have been.  Eric and I talked about the ones we liked--and the ones we didn't (we're looking at you, Speed 2).  The conclusion we came to, to a great extent, was that the bottom line was the bottom line, and reason for green lights.  If the original made money, there was a really good shot at there being a follow up.  Sometimes artistry doesn't come into a lot of play (we see you, Transformers!).

I really enjoyed the "Sequel on the Spur" of the moment game Eric and I played.  We were to come up with a sequel plot line for movies that did NOT have sequels.  I gave Eric Jesus Christ Superstar, one of my all time favorite musicals.  The crucifixion not withstanding, Eric suggested that the hippies of the 70s would come back in the 80s to that same desert and create a mega church--full of hypocrisy and greed.

Eric gave me When Harry Met Sally and I took its sequel's plot down a dark path to "When Harry Divorced Sally".  I think the 21st century is hard on 20th century relationships.  But the idea of sequels being where they don't currently exist intrigued me.  What other unlikely movies could do with a sequel?  Here are a few of my choices.

First up:  Titanic....but it was a bit of a sequel in itself, as it showed the life the ingenue led through photographs and newspaper clippings.  So...pass.  Changed my mind.

Gone with the Wind is also a fave of mine and could have used one...but only with the original cast. The tries at sequels for this epic have failed miserably, not only because of storyline issues, but the chemistry between Gable, Leigh, de Haviland, Howard and MacDaniel could not be replicated with others.  So the story of the Scarlett, Rhett and Tara in the late 19th century is best left to our imaginations.

Pride and Prejudice is a fun choice. The original story has been told and re told so many times, it's hard to keep track. While I love the Lawrence Olivier version, the stylized acting (and Greer Garson being a 36 year old debutante) put it at number 2 version on my list because... COLIN FIRTH!!!

Not many take on this hefty classic to sequelize (if not a word, it should be).  It's a challenge and there is the gauntlet of fans one would have to get past.   Although I actually saw the PBS production of "Murder at Pemberly" and it was really entertaining.  By not going down the romantic story path, taking it down a different genre, the writers bypassed some of the pitfalls that trip one up when writing for well-known and beloved characters.  That said, with all the fan fiction out there re: what happened to Lizzie and Darcy, it is a wonder that more movie "sequels" for P&P haven't happened.

Forrest Gump is one that might be fun.  Enough history has passed for either Forrest or his son to have been involved in, and CGI'd into, iconic scenes.  I think there are some topics that the personality of Forrest could tackle in a way that was palatable to many viewers.  But you would need to have Tom Hanks at least involved.  Otherwise you don't have the connection...and NO ONE ELSE can play Forrest.

I will admit that these choices are specific and very much of a style.  I enjoy action movies, but most of the successful DO get a sequel.  I enjoy some costume dramas as well, but often they are tied up at the end, or some one really important dies and thus a sequel would be superfluous.  Fried Green Tomatoes was great..please don't make a sequel.  Color Purple, wonderful...no sequel please.

At the end I do believe that there is a place for sequels, especially those NOT created entirely for monetary purposes.  Sometimes I want to know more of what happened to my favorite characters after the epilogue.  But sometimes, I'm good.  Because sometimes continuing the story would ruin the feeling I had for the initial movie.  And I'd hate that.

So, here's to the sequels we love...and the ones we don't miss!