Hollywood's Take on the Civil War

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Recommended: Lost cause view of civil war

The film, Gone with the Wind became a cultural phenomenon after its release in 1939. The Civil War based film follows the storyline of Scarlett O’Hara. The lead heroine is dealt with the hardships of love as well as the destruction of her town. Set in the South, the movie stresses the community’s devotion to the confederacy. After its box office success, many historians believed that the film had a strong influence on America’s perception of the Civil War. That influence being a backing attitude towards the Lost Cause. The term Lost Cause refers to the white southerners admirable view towards the defeated confederacy. In Gone with the Wind, this idea was expressed in several scenes. For example, one of the leading characters, Rhett Butler, joined the confederate army after he witnessed the fall of Atlanta. Aware of the army’s inevitable defeat, he still enlisted to prove his support towards his native soil. However, the classic used the south’s dedication in fighting for their homeland as a backdrop to the plot. The prime angle of the film alluded to the romanticism of O’Hara’s character. With little mention of the war, the plot mainly dealt with her hardships in love. Most of the scenes were comprised with theatrical background music and extravagant acting. Rather than categorizing Gone with The Wind as a civil war film, it is evident that the motion picture belongs in the drama/ romance genre. Predominantly, Gone with the Wind focuses on the life of a southern female woman. The American Civil War is merely discussed when the war affects her personal life.
Released in 1915, Birth of a Nation became America’s first full length film. The three hour silent movie reflected on two families, one from the south and one in the north, ...

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...ed April 26, 2014).

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Gallagher, Gary W. 2008. Causes won, lost, and forgotten: how Hollywood & popular art shape what we know about the Civil War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

George Mason University. "The Birth of A Nation and Black Protest." . http://chnm.gmu.edu/episodes/the-birth-of-a-nation-and-black-protest/ (accessed April 24, 2014).

Glory. Directed by Edward Zwick. E.U.: TriStar Pictures, 1989.

Griffith, D. W., Frank E. Woods, Henry B. Walthall, Mae Marsh, and Miriam Cooper. 1915. The Birth of a nation. [United States of America]: Griffith Feature Films.

Leigh, Vivien, Hattie McDaniel, Clark Gable, and Eddie Anderson. 1939. Gone With The Wind. [United States]: Warner Home Video.

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