Scarlett O'Hara's Prerogative

I've discovered that the homemade Youtube music video is alive and well in 1800s Georgia.

I didn't expect much from GWTW music videos, but I actually really enjoyed them! Not to mention, I thought they were very interesting interpretations of the story and the characters (mainly Scarlett).

This video is set to the song "Apologize" by OneRepublic. At first, I found it ridiculous and nearly laughed my head off in the computer lab. I mean, come on--do you really think OneRepublic could beat the amazing original score? It seemed to trivialize the story to put it to a modern song.

Gone With the Wind Art

Pencil drawing of Gable and Leigh

Today I tried looking on deviantART to see what different takes people had on Gone With the Wind. I was surprised at some of the various ways people applied the story.

A lot of the art were drawings of scenes from the film, which wasn't too surprising. Some people added different effects to these scenes, like this picture mosaic. 

Others took these scenes a step further by replacing Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh with their own characters.

Gone With the Wind: On Paper and On Screen

Nearly all Americans have seen Gone With the Wind. The film is an American classic, like Singin' in the Rain or The Sound of Music. Interestingly, the book by Margaret Mitchell is not nearly as often talked about. The book lies in the shadow of the iconic movie.

So, in my research on Gone With the Wind, I really had no choice but to re-watch the film. The last time I watched it was right after I had first read the book, and I could hardly watch it all the way through. It seemed so petty and childish compared to the novel, no more than a weak attempt to imitate the deep emotion of the original story. I couldn't understand why the movie is so famous. 

But this time I felt differently. My last post was a pretty good segue into this topic because the question of Book vs. Movie is extremely important in the conversation about Gone With the Wind. This time, I could really enjoy and appreciate the film version. I tried to look at it with the same views I expressed in the last post, remembering that the film and the paper versions ought to be very different. 

So which is better: the book or the movie? 

Books vs. Movies

With the recent release of the film adaptation of The Hunger Games, the age-old (well, cinema-old) question is returning: Which is better, the book or the movie?

Two of my classmates have given really good answers to this question (click here and here). I also really enjoy this guy's take on it:

Now, let's get one thing straight: I am definitely a "book person." I don't believe I've ever read a book, seen a film adaptation, and liked the film adaptation better. But I think that we all--including myself--need to look at the situation of books and movies with a different paradigm.