Guess the Hollywood studios aren’t the only ones who create franchises by commissioning sequels no one asked for. Margaret Mitchell herself refused to write a sequel to Gone With the Wind, but I guess the executors of her estate know better. And after Alexandra Ripley’s much-snickered-at but still hugely popular official sequel Scarlett became a bestseller 16 years ago, another installment seemed inevitable. Still, I don’t care how distinguished a literary pedigree Rhett Butler’s People author Donald McCaig has, I was not feeling like the one thing that would have filled the void and made the GWTW experience complete for me was another volume that retold the story from Rhett’s POV, complete with backstory about his traumatic childhood. (Maybe when they make the inevitable TV miniseries of Rhett, they can digitally resurrect Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, pictured.) Although, now that I think about it, I did feel that GWTW was sorely missing the slave perspective. Hey, maybe next time, the Mitchell estate can commission a retelling from… oh, wait, never mind.
Do we really need another 'Gone With the Wind' sequel?
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Comments (1-11) of 11 Add your comment
A sequel to GWTW? *yawn* Frankly, I’d rather see a movie adaptation of The Wind Done Gone. (great book!) It would never happen. Southerners would shoot at the screen like back in the days of “Boys in the Hood”.
There’s nothing romantic about GWTW to me. I die a little inside when I see what Hattie McDaniel and Butterfly McQueen were reduced to. But thank goodness for both or them or we’d have no Halle Berry, Angela Bassett or Alfre Woodard.
Even with all it’s overt racism, I love Gone with the Wind…fantastic movie and even better book. The love story is just out of this world amazing, with it’s flawed lovers and unhappy ending. Like Pride & Prejudice, I see the want to write sequels b/c its endings leave so much to the imagination. At the same time, if Mitchell wanted to leave the story open ended, maybe she herself never decided how Scarlett & Rhett would end up and it’s presumptous to do so for her. What I’d like to see is a remake of the movie. I know its blasphemous b/c Leigh & Gable are irreplacable, but it would great to have the movie explore some of the sexual tones of the book that movies in the 30s couldn’t. That, and get a new Ashley, b/c no one would chose that Ashley over Gable’s Rhett.
Gone With the Wind is interesting to watch today because of the history. THe history of Hollywood movies. Back then, the way the screen portrayed blacks is telling how people in the 30’s still percieved the black community.
Even watching the old Shirley Temple movies is very telling.
I shall always remember…”where shall I go, what shall I do…”
NO SEQUELS! EVER!
I wouldn’t mind another “sequel” to GWTW, although, like Alexandra Ripley’s “Scarlett,” I would read it just for fun. I mean, did anyone take “Scarlett” as a plausible sequel to Margaret Mitchell’s original??? Certainly not, but it was interesting to see which direction another author could take the story — Just like with all the “Pride & Prejudice” sequel/prequel/companion books out there. A story about Rhett could be a good read.
And Ruby– if a new version of GWTW (movie) was made today, I think Matthew McConaughey would make a good Ashley. I, too, never understood why someone like Scarlett would choose Lesley Howard’s Ashley over Gable’s Rhett…
I wouldn’t mind another “sequel” to GWTW, although, like Alexandra Ripley’s “Scarlett,” I would read it just for fun. I mean, did anyone take “Scarlett” as a plausible sequel to Margaret Mitchell’s original??? Certainly not, but it was interesting to see which direction another author could take the story — Just like with all the “Pride & Prejudice” sequel/prequel/companion books out there. A story about Rhett could be a good read.
And Ruby– if a new version of GWTW (movie) was made today, I think Matthew McConaughey would make a good Ashley. I, too, never understood why someone like Scarlett would want Lesley Howard’s Ashley over Gable’s Rhett…
Wasn’t Timothy Dalton in the tv movie adaptation of the sequel? I love me some Timothy Dalton (IMHO, he’s still the best Bond besides Connery), but thought he was miscast as a Southerner. Maybe it’s time to stop apologizing to the South for the Civil War?
I THINK. This is not another sequel but another point of view — that not much covered story on Rhett Butler. Mr. Craig is safe here because he lives on bits and pieces of the information and not doesn’t have to relive Mitchell’s language. I’d like to see the point of view of a man this time. As for GWTW — I’d go not for a sequel but for a remake but this time really faithful to the book. A lot was left out in the original.
I am 50 years old and grew up loving Gone with the Wind. My mother instilled the love for the book and movie. At a very young age she took me to Detroit to see it at a beautiful theater with thick designed carpeting and crystal chandeliers.
As for do we need another Gone with the Wind–Absolutely! That’s only if they do it right with the beautiful cinemaship as its original–not a made for TV Scarlett adaptation–but something with style and glamour. I know these type of movies can be made today–look at Titanic! I definitely think that George Clooney would make the perfect Rhett but like the original, you may have to do some digging to obtain the perfect Scarlett. What about Mammy, Prissie, and Ashley Wilkes. This takes some serious thinking. I am reading Rhett Butler’s People right now and think it’s wonderful, unlike Scarlett which was a huge disappointment to all us fans…..
Carol Robertson White
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I grew up with GWTW ive always loved and I read the book for the first time in the 6th grade. I loved Scarlett, because I realized that at some point you have to accept that no one could ever perfectly recreat the beauty of the charecter’s in Mitchel’s book. I think so long as fans crave for more they will eventually grow to write boks that satisfy their own desires to, not only know Rhett and his story (something I was always really curious about) but to finish GWTW. Because it wasn’t finished, the story wasn’t over yet.