The Epic Gone with the Wind

In my humble opinion, there are three types of historical movies: Time Capsule, Nostalgic, and Epic. Time Capsule movies are made at the exact time in history when something is happening that the movie is about. For example, Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta is a movie about the Brooklyn disco scene of the 1970’s and it was made in 1978 at the height of the disco scene throughout New York City. Another example is Reality Bites starring Ethan Hawke and Winona Ryder because it is about a group of friends in the early 1990’s portraying things that were happening in the early 1990’s like MTV, HIV and buying Domino’s pizza with a check. Watching these movies later on appear to be very dated, often showing up in the props that are used such as a cell phone or a clothing fad. The second type of history movie I call Nostalgic because the movie is made approximately twenty years following the events that the movie is about. For example, Grease, also starring Travolta, was made in the 1970’s but is about a high school in the 1950’s. Another example of a Nostalgic movie is Dirty Dancing, starring another great dancer Patrick Swayze, because it takes place in 1963 but was made in 1987. Nostalgic films often take on the appearance of shredding a good light on the events taking place, often the case with a war movie. They aim to tap into the “feel good” emotions of the viewer who chances are lived through similar situations. These movies are often filled with great musical soundtracks of past hits from that era. Finally, I call the third type of history movie Epics. They are usually made fifty or more years following the events taking place and tend to be long – somewhere in the range of 3 hours at least. Titanic and Schindler’s List are both excellent examples of Epic movies. There is one Epic movie, however, that in my opinion continues to stand the test of time and is the best history movie ever made. Gone with the Wind, developed from Margaret Mitchell’s novel of the same name, came out in 1939. This movie about the deep South around the time of the Civil War was made about 70 years following the actual events of the Civil War. This, along with the 4-hour length, puts it automatically in the Epic category. There are other reasons why this movie continues to be rated in the top ten of the best movies ever made. The fact that Gone with the Wind won ten of the thirteen Academy Awards it was nominated for was a triumph at that time. Amongst those winners was Hattie McDaniel, who played Scarlett’s Mammy. McDaniel was the first ever African American to win an Academy Award and in spite of controversy at the time, you cannot deny that this win advanced Black American actors at a time when their dressing rooms would have still been segregated. Butterfly McQueen, who portrayed a naïve house slave, also gave a wonderful performance. Gone with the Wind also is a triumph of cinematography. It used Technicolor at a time when color film was first being used (side note- 1939 was the same year the Wizard of Oz came out with its ingenious use of color when Dorothy touches down in Munchkin Land). In order to save money, the director of Gone with the Wind, Victor Fleming, uses black and white film and the use of shadows. There are several examples of his use of shadow such as the Atlanta scene when Melanie gives birth and Scarlett is holding up a lamp. Also for dramatic reasons shadow is used in the final scene of the first half when Scarlett is promising into the sunset at Tara that “with God as my witness I shall never go hungry again.” Two other modern techniques were used when filming Gone with the Wind. The first was matte painting directly onto the film strips. For example, as the carriages arrive at Twelve Oaks Plantation for the barbecue, the carriages sort of melt into the driveway as they drive up the main house. The horses and carriages were filmed but the house and the foreground of the trees and gate were painted into the scenes. It really creates a ghostly effect but the scene is so short that most people would not notice it. A second interesting technique is Gone with the Wind’s handling of extras. There were only 1500 wounded Confederate soldiers laying at the Atlanta train depot instead of the original 2500 extras that were ordered. An actor was placed in between two dummies and string was attached to legs or hands so that when the actor moved, the dummies next to them moved. It created the look of a massive number of wounded soldiers for Scarlett to walk through as the camera panned out on the scene. One of the very first Epic movies ever created, I never tire of watching it over and over again, thinking to myself the amazing cinema technology the director used for that time. I will end this blog entry with one last incredible fact- the first scene of Gone with the Wind filmed was the Burning of Atlanta scene, actually filmed prior to Vivian Leigh even securing her part as Scarlett. What was burning was not Atlanta but the sets from another movie whose filming on MGM’s back lot had recently wrapped up- King Kong. The King Kong sets were destroyed in order to make room for the Gone with the Wind sets.

This DVD still photograph shows the ghostly appearance of the carriages arriving at the Twelve Oaks Plantation for the barbecue. They seem to disappear half way up the driveway, melting into the mansion house. This effect occurs because both the background and the foreground has been painted onto the film strip itself and only the horses and carriages were live action filmed.

How has the Internet Transformed our Lives?

How has the Internet Transformed our Lives? When Al Gore invented the internet back in the early 1990’s (haha), Americans never imagined how different our lives would become a mere 20 years later. We never thought we would feel lost if we left the house without our phones. We could not imagine that we would be able to settle an argument with the click of a button by looking up something on what is called Wikipedia. The number of ways the internet has transformed our lives are endless; however, today’s blog will focus on three main ways: business, education and gaming. According to Jeff Bullas’s article about 10 Ways Social Media is Transforming our World, we now have “the power to reach anyone.” (Bullas 2012) That is certainly the principle about using the internet for business, called e-commerce. An August 8, 2018 article by Puneet Bhalla entitled “How has the Internet Changed our Lives,” states that “more and more people are using it as a great platform to promote their goods and services. (Bhalla 2018)” There has been an increase of web marketing and international selling. Facebook can be used to make contact with possible customers on the local level especially, but also domestically and internationally. Online auctions on web sites like ebay have been a staple on the internet from the start. Likewise, online shopping sites like Amazon are taking over the world, making large dents in physical shopping experiences like the suburban shopping mall. Physical brick and mortar stores are becoming more like showcases where shoppers can look at and touch the sale items but then they go to the internet to find a better price or have it shipped directly to their home or the home of a loved one. You used to need a notebook, textbook, pens and paper in order to learn. In addition, the teacher needed a blackboard, chalk, audio visual equipment, a copier, and a ton of other supplies in order to teach. Today, it does not matter if you are at the University of Chicago or in a hut made of mud somewhere in Africa, if you have a computer and an internet connection, you can be educated about anything, at any time, anywhere. According to a February 20, 2015 article by Andrew Keen entitled “How the internet is destroying us: Its pioneers hoped the web would transform society. Now a devastating new book says it has - in a way that diminishes humanity,” Google processed 40,000 search queries a second, equal to 1.2 trillion searches a year (Keen 2015). Google allows us to search any subject at a moment’s notice. It is no longer necessary to make a trip to the library or search manually through an encyclopedia. Many colleges offer on line classes; allowing the person seeking the knowledge to attend the college of their choosing without ever having to leave the comfort of their own living room. Someone from California or even a different continent can attend a prestigious institution like Harvard Law school but do not ever have to set foot in Boston. Also the internet allows people to share their knowledge through sites like Wikipedia. Bullas states “we learn from each other” and he calls it “crowd sourced wisdom.” (Bullas 2012) Although most of the Keen’s article has a negative view about the internet, it does say “if used critically, [it] can be a source of great enlightenment in terms of the global sharing of ideas and information. (Keen 2015)” The internet can also be used for fun stuff. The gaming entertainment business is huge. What started out as video gaming consoles and later CD-ROM’s or other software that you could download, the internet reinvented the gaming experience. First of all, games are always at our finger tips. If waiting in line at the bank or grocery store, you can pull up a game of candy crush. But more than that, the games are now interactive with other players around the globe. You can challenge someone in Korea to a game of Battleship or someone in Italy to a game of checkers. According to Bhalla, “Most of the online games offer a great gaming experience for you. The graphics are wonderful and you can have a real life feeling.” (Bhalla 2018) The games can be simple puzzles, simulation/social games or even used as teaching tools. Sporting events can be watched live on any smart device. If your baseball team’s game is blacked out on the TV in your city, no problem. The Oakland fan who lives in Yankee country can still watch the game on their tablet. There are even ways to earn money playing games on line. If you are good at blackjack, why bother going to the local casino and you can play high stakes, real cards virtually in a gaming internet environment? There is no doubt that the internet has changed our lives. Some would argue that it is more for the worse than the better but others would say that the internet has greater improved our lives allowing for any small business to make money globally, for people in remote areas to receive an excellent education and for providing endless hours of fun and entertainment. Either way, the internet is here to stay and continues to evolve and improve our lives. Works Cited Bhalla, Puneet. 2018. How has the Internet Changed our Lives. August 8. Accessed May 29, 2019. https://360.shiprocket.in/blog/how-internet-changed-our-lives/. Bullas, Jeff. 2012. 10 Ways Social Media is Transforming our World. February 6. Accessed May 29, 2019. http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/02/06/10-ways-social-media-is-transforming-our-world/. Keen, Andrew. 2015. How the internet is destroying us: Its pioneers hoped the web would transform society. Now a devastating new book says it has - in a way that diminishes humanity. February 20. Accessed May 29, 2019. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2962509/How-internet-destroying-pioneers-hoped-web-transform-society-devastating-new-book-says-way-diminishes-humanity.html.

Extra Credit #4

I am taking digital culture class because it is a requirement, considering I am earning a associates degree in business administration with a certificate in entrepreneurship. However, I am looking forward to learning how to make a youtube video and a podcast. I just completed my internship with the non-profit organization called Eyes Wide Open, where I did most of their marketing and social media updates. I was hoping to be able to take digital culture prior to doing my internship but unfortunately it did not happen that way. I plan to continue to volunteer for the organization so I hope to be able to implement some of what I learn in this class, immediately to my daily life.