Domestic Violence in the film 'Gone with the Wind'
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PAPER 1
Introduction
The topic of choice in this paper is domestic violence. The films that have been chosen to illustrate this topic are “Gone with the Wind” for creation of relationships and “Smash Palace” for the breaking of relationships. The film “Gone with the Wind” was selected because of two reasons. First, this film poignantly depicts life in the Southern States where values and convictions are strong and clearly illustrates the chosen topic. The main character in this film, Scarlett O’Hara, is a white Southern woman and these women are usually depicted as strong-willed and independent. She is the perfect character to illustrate the role, if any, of women in domestic violence and their reactions and feelings about domestic violence. This film was also selected because it has a strong cast and it is well produced.
The “Smash Palace” is the film chosen to typify the role of domestic violence in the breaking of relationships. Released over 30 years ago, Smash Palace tells the story of a man who runs a car-wrecking yard and who will do anything to reclaim his daughter after breaking up with his wife. Smash Palace was chosen to illustrate the theme of domestic violence in the breaking of relationships. The film was chosen because it brings out strongly the theme of domestic violence in a failing relationship. Besides, the film is
Topic Outline
Domestic violence is a vice where one person uses force to cause injury, discomfort, or harm to another person who is often an unwilling victim. The person causing the violence and the one receiving it are usually related in some way. In many instances, domestic violence hurts both the person perpetuating it and the person who is being subjected to the violence. Domestic violence occurs in different forms and these include physical abuse where one partner subjects another to a beating, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. In this paper, we explore domestic violence between partners and discuss its effect on a relationship with reference to the two movies mentioned above.
Examples from the film that illustrate how the topic is operationalized
There are numerous examples in “Gone with the Wind” and “Smash Palace” which illustrate domestic violence and which bring out different perspectives about domestic violence. The first aspect of domestic violence, as mentioned before, is that it is manifested in different forms. In “Gone with the Wind”, domestic violence manifests itself in the form of physical beatings and sexual abuse. There are incidents where Rhett beats up Scarlett. There is a scene in the movie where Scarlett is subjected to marital rape (Fleming et al., 1939). However, it could be that marital rape and wife-beating were not particularly viewed as vices but were socially accepted as normal considering that the film depicts life in 19th century Sothern America. In “Smash Palace”, Al subjects his wife Jacqui to emotional abuse by alienating himself from her and immersing his whole being in the car wreck yard. He beats up Jacqui and violently makes love to her against her will after he finds Jacqui with Ray who is Al’s friend. After Jacqui, moves out there are several scenes in the movie where Al physically beats up Jacqui and destroys her house (Donaldson, 1981).
The second aspect of domestic violence is that females are usually the victims while males are usually the perpetrators of domestic violence. In both the making and breaking of relationships, this female subjugation at the hands of violent males seems to be the norm rather than the exception. For example, Rhett continuously subjects his wife Scarlett O’Hara to physical and sexual abuse in “Gone with the Wind” while in “Smash Palace” Jacqui has to endure emotional and physical abuse at the hands of her husband Al (Donaldson, 1981; Fleming et al., 1939). This seems to reinforce the observation that males have a monopoly on the tools of violence in relationships.
The third aspect of domestic violence is why women who are the victims of domestic violence choose to endure the abuse and remain in abusive marriages. Even though Scarlett is a very strong woman who can fight for herself as evidenced by an incident where she shoots an intruder, she does not put up a fight when abused by her husband. Her love for Ashley is much stronger than what she feels for Rhett but she chooses to stay on and endure. Similarly, Jacqui endures years of misery occasioned by emotional abuse from her husband Al who does not only alienate himself from her but also is not there for her (Donaldson, 1981; Fleming et al., 1939).
Women may stay in abusive relationships because of several reasons. These reasons include a great love for the husband, economic insecurities in the event of separation, fear of society realizing that theirs is a failed marriage, and hope that their partners will change. Many more women may stay in an abusive relationship “because of the kids”. In “Gone with the Wind”, Scarlett is one such woman who endures abuse after abuse from her husband Rhett, this despite the fact that she is a strong-willed and independent Southern American woman.
Even after being subjected to marital rape, physical beatings, and verbal abuse, she does not seek for divorce from her husband. This could not have been due to her great love for her husband, to save her marriage, or the hope that he would change someday as her heart was with Ashley. She has a successful business and is as tough as they come but she does not resist the violence subjected to her by her husband (Fleming et al., 1939). Without seeking explanations on this contradiction of sorts, it can be surmised that during the creation of relationships, endurance of physical abuse by one’s partner is the glue that holds the relationship together. With regard to breaking of relationships, inability to endure such violence is the cause of break ups. In “Smash Palace”, the marriage between Al and Jacqui is intact for as long as she endures emotional abuse by her husband. However, this changes once she decides that she cannot take it anymore. She becomes attracted to Al’s best friend Ray and gets out of the relationship (Donaldson, 1981).
The fourth aspect of domestic violence is why the perpetrators of such violence do it. What are the reasons that make partners abuse each other? The answer to this question is not clear-cut and may vary widely across the board. One of the reasons that may lead to domestic violence is the feeling of insecurity. For instance in “Gone with the Wind”, Rhett knows that Scarlett has a great love for Ashley and that her attraction towards him is not great. He fears that Scarlett may ditch her if an opportunity to be with Ashley arose (Fleming et al., 1939). His violence against Scarlett is a manifestation of these insecurities. It may be that Rhett is trying to “make” Scarlett forget about Ashley and dedicate her whole love to him.
A feeling of being wronged against may also provoke domestic violence. For instance, in “Smash Palace”, Al beats up Jacqui after he finds her with Ray. It is the loneliness that Al has subjected Jacqui to that drove her to Ray’s arms. However, Al does not see it that way and feels strongly that Jacqui has wronged him. This anger makes him ventilate his frustrations by beating up Jacqui and forcefully having sex with her against her will. He also harasses Jacqui several times after she has moved out because he feels that his wife has wronged him. His feelings of being wronged are especially reinforced by his inability to stay with or spend more time with Georgie his daughter who was taken away by Jacqui (Donaldson, 1981).
Having a greater love than that of one’s partner can also lead to domestic violence. Much of the emotional abuse that Jacqui has to endure is due to Al’s greater love for his car wreck yard. The car wreck yard is Al’s whole life and he spends all his energy, time, and devotion there and has seemingly no time or energy left to share with Jacqui (Donaldson, 1981).
Other factors that may lead to domestic violence are a hurt ego, sadism, and gender roles. Society is cultured to believe that man is the head of the house. Many men therefore grow believing that they have the final word on many issues. This is what defines gender roles, which expect women to be subservient to their men. This was particularly true in nineteenth century Southern America where much of the events in “Gone with the Wind” take place. Anything that denigrates men or give women a higher prominence than their males would thus bruise male egos. Scarlett’s unrequited love for Ashley, which far supersedes her love for Rhett, is one such factor that would bruise Rhett’s ego (Fleming et al., 1939). Similarly, Jacqui’s great love for Ray over her husband definitely bruised Al’s ego. Sadism refers to cruelty by either men or women towards their partners and which cannot be attributed to any wrongdoing or misdemeanor on the part of the woman. It is hard to point out sadistic tendencies by both Al and Rhett since they had grounds on which they based their unbecoming actions. From their perspective, they were wronged husbands who were provoked by actions of their wives. Their opinion is that women are to be blamed for the violence that is meted against them.
Conclusion
This paper looked at domestic violence with examples from two films namely “Gone with the Wind” and “Smash Place”. It was observed that domestic violence could be in the form of physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. Males against women usually perpetrate domestic violence. During the making of a relationship, women may endure domestic violence but during the breaking of relationships, women will not endure domestic violence. From the viewpoint of males perpetrating the vice, women are to blame for many cases of domestic violence. Even though they are at the receiving end of gender-based violence, women endure the injustices because of several reasons such as the desire to maintain their marriages, love for the husband, expectations of the society, “because of the kids”, and economic insecurities in case of separation. Men subject their female partners to violence because of several reasons such as insecurities, bruised ego, gender roles and society expectations, and a feeling of being wronged. The two films aptly capture the topic of domestic violence.