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| 329:question:329--week_6_questions_comments-2020 [2020/10/01 13:11] – 76.78.225.132 | 329:question:329--week_6_questions_comments-2020 [2020/10/01 13:20] (current) – [II.Problems with historical accuracy? Errors in fact?] janis_shurtleff |
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| This movie has several major historical inaccuracies. One problem that bothered me the most was the portrayal of enslaved African Americans and the concept of slavery itself. Slavery was glorified in the film and made out to be a better system than it was. Furthermore, the power dynamics between the slavers and the enslaved made it seem like enslaved people had more freedom and rights than they actually did. The way Mammy talked to Scarlett and most of the family would not have been okay at all during that time period. Plus African Americans hated being slaves, no one would have willingly stayed with their master after the Civil War so it's off-putting that Mammy and Pork would stay even after getting their freedom. -Purnaja Podduturi | This movie has several major historical inaccuracies. One problem that bothered me the most was the portrayal of enslaved African Americans and the concept of slavery itself. Slavery was glorified in the film and made out to be a better system than it was. Furthermore, the power dynamics between the slavers and the enslaved made it seem like enslaved people had more freedom and rights than they actually did. The way Mammy talked to Scarlett and most of the family would not have been okay at all during that time period. Plus African Americans hated being slaves, no one would have willingly stayed with their master after the Civil War so it's off-putting that Mammy and Pork would stay even after getting their freedom. -Purnaja Podduturi |
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| | The two female slave GWTW decided to depict were Mammy and Prissy. Mammy is portrayed as a beloved member of Scarlet’s family, who is happy to work and comfort Scarlet. Prissy is portrayed as naïve and scattered to the point of being a burden to Scarlett. Neither of these characters were representative of the horrors of being a female slave. As the Harriet Jacobs reading painfully described, female slaves were often raped and forced to have the children of their masters. After this they would be sold to not upset the mistresses and have to live in shame and humiliation. Mrs. James Steward and Mrs. Nancy Howard both fled to Canada to escape the atrocities of their masters, which included abuse and torture as punishment for things they did not do. The portrayal of slave women in this film is harmful because it lends to the concept of the “happy servant”. A figment of the white imagination this type of character is the embodiment of how the south accepted slavery, as it was not a bad thing but something that the slaves were “happy” to be a part of. – Janis Shurtleff |
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| There were definitely a lot of problems with historical accuracy, and one of the most apparent problems was the portrayal of slavery. **It was portrayed as if slavery was not a horrific, torturous system; but one that helped African Americans and allowed them to live better than they had before.** I also think that some of Scarlett's behavior would not have been accepted, yet for the sake of the movie, she was allowed to be perceived as an independent, powerful woman. Especially after the intermission, when she went into business with a man that was not her husband and continued to make her own decisions without her husband. -- Mariah Morton | There were definitely a lot of problems with historical accuracy, and one of the most apparent problems was the portrayal of slavery. **It was portrayed as if slavery was not a horrific, torturous system; but one that helped African Americans and allowed them to live better than they had before.** I also think that some of Scarlett's behavior would not have been accepted, yet for the sake of the movie, she was allowed to be perceived as an independent, powerful woman. Especially after the intermission, when she went into business with a man that was not her husband and continued to make her own decisions without her husband. -- Mariah Morton |
