Historical accuracies and inaccuracies in representation

Birth of a Nation/Gone with the Wind

D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation and David O. Selznick's Gone With the Wind are both examples of historically fictitious films. The films are touted as being two of the most technically advanced films of the periods in which they were made. The two films are similar in that both are epic films that tell the story of the Civil War (1861-65) and the Reconstruction period that followed; however, what we see in both of these films is America's paradigmatic image of the Civil War era (McPherson 31) as opposed to real historical accuracy.

Gone With the Wind, specifically, glamorizes the Old South and romanticizes the Confederacy and thus should be viewed as more of a piece of entertainment than a historical work. Moreover, Gone With the Wind depicts slavery as an ideal social structure whose passing is to be lamented (Loewen 137). The Birth of a Nation simply gets the key point wrong when it comes to why the Civil War began. The Civil War was not a war to abolish slavery and achieve equality between races; it was not a humanitarian war, but rather an economic and political war. It was a war about the growing division between the capitalist North and the feudal South (Totaro 1). Lincoln went to war for political reason -- he wanted to keep the union together and he wanted capitalism to expand. Griffith never brings these issues up -- not the political nor the economical reasons for the war. Both of these films -- The Birth of a Nation and Gone With the Wind -- must not be looked at as accurate historical works (though there are may be a few historical accuracies to note -- perhaps in costumes and set design), but rather, they must be viewed as products of their time. Both of the films may be considered great -- or pioneering films -- but they cannot (and must not) be considered historical films as they are inaccurate. In order for either one of these films to be great historical films, they must be accurate.

The Birth of a Nation -- unlike Gone With the Wind -- cannot be viewed as a piece of entertainment because of how blatantly racist it is. While Gone With the Wind romanticizes the South and the black characters in the film are, for the most part, one-dimensional, The Birth of a Nation is simply offensive in the fact that it depicts the Civil War as being about race, sex, and religion, which it was not. Yes, slavery was one of the issues during the Civil War, but Griffith's film portrays the Reconstruction period as rife with lascivious and barbaric blacks. It must be noted that it is not likely that these types of images just appeared to Griffith when he was getting ready to make his film. Rather, post-Civil War press -- for political reasons, provoked these images. Later, conservative white historians probably reinforced the ideas. Gone With the Wind, on the other hand, may not be blatantly racist -- however, the depictions of blacks in the film -- for example, Mamie -- are not only one-dimensional but they depict these slaves as happy being slaves; happy to wait on Scarlett, happy always to do what they must do for their masters.

Gone With the Wind offers a somewhat conservative view of Georgia and the South. The South is depicted as something almost royal; slavery is never thought twice about -- it's simply the way things are. Many may contend that Gone With the Wind rivals Griffith's The Birth of a Nation in its depiction of the Reconstruction -- a period when southern whites were victimized by the now freed slaves, who were at one time themselves exploited by carpetbaggers (The New Georgia Encyclopedia 2010). Gone With the Wind must also be seen as more of a melodrama than a piece of historical fiction. The movie doesn't intend to be a historical film, but rather, it aims to tell the story of Scarlett O'Hara and what she will do for Tara -- land. Her father tells her that land is the most important thing one can have in life and because of this Scarlett will find until the end. Another inaccuracy pertaining to Gone With the Wind is the fact that it doesn't even accurately depict what happens in the novel (for example, Scarlett doesn't just have children with Rhett in the novel, she has one child per each husband). One has to remember that much of what they are seeing in the film Gone With the Wind is done with issues such as pace, dramatic effect, and plot as the primary concerns.