This week, a we start the examine video in DS106, we examined some movie reading tips from Roger Ebert’s blog “How to read a movie“. our challenge was to apply these concepts to a favorite movie or other compelling film. I chose to examine one of my all-time favorites, a classic in cinematography, Gone with the Wind.

I’ve read many books that later became movies. This is one of the very few where I did not intentional read the book first. Reading a movie is very different from reading a book. Instead of translating the words to images in your imagination, the scene is given to you and you are reading the placement of characters, positioning of people and things, camera angles, lighting, music, etc. to interpret underlying or hidden messages, intentions or influences.

In clip below, Rhett declares to Scarlett in his domineering style: “No, I don’t think I will kiss you. Although you need kissing badly. That’s what’s wrong with you. You should be kissed, and often, and by someone who knows how.”

Though some of the dialogue is antagonistic, both characters start by continually moving to the right, evoking a positive perspective on the scene. Rhett is positioned on the right appearing dominant over Scarlett on the left. Scarlett’s severely upturned face is tilted upward and to the right, into Rhett, expressing imbalance in the exchange. I think in this case, Scarlett is presenting herself submissively to Rhett, despite her sassy attitude and declaration to the contrary. At the end of this segment, she walks away from Rhett, into the camera’s foreground in a left sweeping movement. This accentuates a helpless, resigned feeling for her, but I think it fails to make her dominant. I found it interesting to note that despite Rhett’s rejection, she is still glancing to the right, back at him, indicating a continued positive regard for him.

The next scene I examined is the famous “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn” ending to the movie. Here, Rhett walks away from Scarlett and seemingly out of her life. Scarlett is now positioned on the right with Rhett on the left suggesting she is the more positive one in this situation. During and immediately following his departure, she is facing and looking to the left, negatively into her past. After she collapses on the stairs and hears or remembers previous dialogue about her home, Tara, she begins to face right. Speaking the infamous line “after all tomorrow is another day”, she is looking dreamily to the  right with the camera angled slightly from below her eye line, enhancing her in this scene and expressing a positive attitude toward her future. This is also reinforced in the closing shot, where she is silhouetted against the sunset overlooking Tara, again facing right toward Tara. Tara position on the right in this scene suggests it is her positive influence and hope.

Gone with the Wind fits nicely into the drama genre. Within any given genre, there are tropes, or storytelling conventions. This classic film from 1939 is an example of a Bittersweet Ending trope, more specifically the Senseless Sacrifice trope. There are many more tropes at play in this film, throughout different scenes and characters. Discover more about what trope are at play in your favorite movie at TVTropes.org.