Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on Black Identity and Representation of Blacks in the Film “Gone With the Wind”. Have the paper e-mailed to you 24/7/365.
Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 4 page paper which examines how blacks are portrayed in the 1939 motion picture epic. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: TG15_TGblackgw.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
Civil War novel, Gone With the Wind, was a welcome respite. Its sweeping saga of the Old South allowed weary Americans to lose themselves for awhile in a plantation
world of elite gentlemen and proper ladies that didnt exist anymore. But there was a segment of society that was not eagerly anticipating seeing the South rise again on
celluloid. These were the blacks for which memories of the Civil War were hardly cherished. They had worked vigorously to distance themselves from their slave past and carve
a new identity in the twentieth century, but this seemed an impossible task with filmmakers resurrecting their old identity in the name of box-office profits. The blacks of 1939
had not forgotten the many racial indignities contained in D.W. Griffiths silent film, The Birth of a Nation, which sparked public demonstrations and protests in many major cities across America
(Pyron 119). Hoping to avoid such controversy, producer David O. Selznick opted instead to represent the black slaves in his interpretation of Gone With the Wind not as evil
or vicious, but chose instead to emphasize "the faithfulness, ignorance, and servility of what one character in the film called the simple-minded darkies" (Leab 99). Focusing on the Atlanta plantation
of Gerald and Ellen OHara, Gone With the Wind represented life for southern blacks prior to the Civil War as "idyllic," with them receiving kind treatment by their generous and
magnanimous owners (Leab 99). But these blacks were also shown to know their place, which was either outside in the fields or inside in the servants quarters (Leab 99).
The OHaras chief female house slave, Mammy, is just as her stereotypical name implies, a motherly figure who treats Scarlett OHara and her two younger sisters as if they
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