caerula's Diaryland Diary

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the one where Blue watches Gone With the Wind

I swear, I have been trying to write this entry since Monday morning, and other things just keep getting in the way. Honest. And there are so many things to write about, and entertaining stories galore, really! But this one is just about my experience last Sunday evening, as it is already past midnight, and I have to go to bed.

Scene: Sunday night chez blue. Sunday was nice; the heat has let up some, and I weeded, wrote a little on the story, and cleaned the den. Cleaning the den mostly consists of stacking the books back into the appropriate piles from which the cats have knocked them down, but still. And when Blue got up, we even made dinner and went for a nice long walk.

Anyway. We came in around 8ish and crashed on the couch, and I started flipping channels (I am fortunate enough to be married to a man who doesn�t always have to have possession of the controller; occasionally he will let me do it), since we didn�t have the energy for anything else, and Blue had to work that night. Turned out TNT was showing "Gone With the Wind," which I have seen all the way through perhaps twice, and not in years, and which, natch, Blue has never seen. However, I have read the book several times, first when I was 13, and it spurred on a fascination with the American South that I�ve had ever since. As a first-generation Yankee, I think that�s fairly excusable.

In any case, I flicked to that channel right before the moment when Scarlett looks down the winding staircase and sees Rhett at the bottom, so like any woman, I stop with the channel-flipping. Because I don�t care who you are, what gender you are, or whether you even think Clark Gable is sexy (he is); if you are attracted to men, that look in Rhett�s eyes at that moment practically sizzles. So anyway, I stop. And Blue says, "What�s this?"

(Warning: dialogue ahead. Proceed at your own risk.)

Me, incredulous: Um, Gone With the Wind? Big famous movie?
Blue: Oh.
Me: You�ve never seen this?
[Blue just gives me a look, and once again I remember that he has no sisters and was only interested in sports and comics for a long long time.]
[Beat. Blue gets a shot of all the women undressing in the bedrooms for their naptime, so the men can discuss Big Important Stuff downstairs]
Blue: You can leave it here if you want.
[We watch. The movie progresses. Scarlett declares her love for Ashley, meets Rhett, war is declared, etc. So far Blue finds all of this highly amusing. I will spare you the snarky commentary re the Confederacy�s preparation for war. The men prepare to ride off and sign up. Scarlett agrees to marry bland Charles Hamilton.]
Blue: He�s not coming back, is he?
Me: No. And he doesn�t get an honorable death in battle, either. He gets pneumonia.
[Scarlett watches Melanie and Ashley kiss.]
Blue: Does he come back?
Me: Who, Ashley?
Blue: I don�t know, the guy Scarlett�s in love with.
Me: Um, yeah. It would be a reaaaaally short movie if he didn�t.
Blue, with a tone: Ok, I was just asking.
[Charles dies. Scarlett is in mourning. She is very upset. She goes to Atlanta. There is a ball. Rhett is a big privateer hero.]
Blue: Why can�t she dance? And what�s with head-to-toe black?
Me: Well, she�s in mourning.
Blue: And?
Me: Oh, there was a really strict code for women in mourning. You had to wear black for a given length of time, depending on how the dead person was related to you. And then you could only wear grays and lavenders and stuff � there were appropriate mourning colors. And you couldn�t do fun things, or it would be a big scandal.
Blue: Oh.
Me: [Digresses into a tirade about how there really should be more in school and on the History Channel, etc. about women�s history and social history, and that this is all part of the things that formed our culture and hardly anyone knows about them.]
Blue: Ok, I was just asking! Look, she�s dancing now.
Me: Rhett bid for her. See Aunt Pittypat fainting? It�s very scandalous. But they were bidding to dance with the women to raise money for the war effort, so that gave Scarlett an excuse. She doesn�t care about the war effort.
Blue: Her name is Pittypat?
Me: Yes, but that�s hardly the point. You have Southern relatives, you know from weird names!
Blue: I was just asking.
Blue goes to get ready for work, so he is now in and out of the room. The movie continues. Blue comes back into the room as Rhett is bringing Scarlett the green hat from Paris. Explanation required that they are not yet together, despite appearances. Blue finds Rhett�s attitude entertaining. Shift to scrolling words�Gettysburg, blah blah]
Blue: The war just started!
Me: She�s been in Atlanta for a while.
Blue: What are they waiting for
Me: Casualty lists. Gettysburg? Confederacy didn�t do so well, remember.
Blue: I know that, don�t be patronizing. Do they show any battles in this movie?
Me: No, the whole point is that this is Scarlett�s perspective.
Blue: Ok.
[He wanders back out of the room to go shave, or something. Misses the entire burning of Atlanta and the wagon flight out. Rhett kisses Scarlett, she slaps him, etc. Twelve Oaks is burned down. It�s very sad. Blue returns.]
Blue: Where are they?
Me: Twelve Oaks.
Blue: The mall? Hah. [note: Big mall in our area called TwelveOaks. Hahhah.]
Me: Shut up. This is where they were at the barbeque earlier, and it's all very tragic because it was Ashley's family's house. Do you want to watch this or not?
Blue: I don't care, I�m going to work. I'm not watching it.
Me: Then stop asking questions!
Blue: I thought you�d seen this before?
Me: I have, but now you are purposely trying to annoy me!
[They continue on to Tara. Mom is dead, Dad is nuts, sisters are whiny, Mammy is the only stability.]
Blue: Where did the baby come from?
Me: Melanie, Ashley's wife. The guy Scarlett's in love with?.
Blue: So she�s dead?
Me: No. Again, movie would be shorter.[But props for Blue's awareness of mortality rate for women in childbirth in 19th century.]
Blue: Alright, alright.
[Blue packs his dinner. Scarlett realizes how crazy dad is. Pivotal scene upcoming.]
Me: Ok, you should watch this.
Blue: Why?
Me: Because it�s like the pivotal scene in the movie. And it's really cool. It's Scarlett's big dramatic scene.
[Scarlett will never go hungry again.]
Blue: Oh, this is what that�s from! I never knew.
Me: You�re kidding!
Blue: I told you I�ve never seen this!
[Fade to black.]
Blue: Is that the end?
Me: Uh, no. This like the middle of the movie.
Blue: You're kidding.
[Intermission. Entr�acte.]
Blue: Why are they showing all this?
Me: Because they show it uninterrupted just like it was shown in the theater.
Blue: Call me when the movie comes back on.
[The movie comes back on. Blue comes back in the room.]
Blue: Now what?
Me: Well, the dad�s pretty much nuts, and all the slaves have run off, and they�re trying to make do and survive and stuff, you know.
[Scarlett makes her sisters pick cotton. Suellen tirades about how mean Scarlett is. Scarlett explains how the land is more important than anything, and the cotton is what is going to save Tara. Suellen whines that she doesn�t care about Tara, Tara has never done anything for her, etc. etc.]
Blue: Who�s Tara?
Me: [speechless]
Me: Um, it�s the house.
Blue: The house?
Me: Yes, it�s the house. The plantation, you know?
Blue: I thought it was her mom or someone. She kept talking about going home to Tara.
[I am trying very hard not to fall off the couch laughing at my husband, because I love him, and he can't help it that he was not exposed to these things at a young age, as I was, and somehow missed picking them up along the way.]
[Blue goes off to finish getting dressed. He comes back in pulling on his jacket and tying his tie as Scarlett is shooting the Yankee. He is impressed by this, and think there should be more shooting, as this would improve the story.]
Blue: Isn�t the war over yet?
Me: It�s Sherman�s march to the sea. It will be over in sec, and Ashley comes home, and Scarlett tries to get him to run away with her, and then she finds Rhett in jail, and makes a dress out of curtains, and �
Blue: Goodnight, sweetie. I�m going to work. Promise me you will go to bed before the end of this?
Me, totally lying: Okay.
[Blue leaves. I go online, where I chat a bit with Baf and Natalie who find the "who�s Tara" comment very entertaining, and "so Blue" (which is not an insult). Then Swwoop calls and I can tell someone the whole story. Thank goodness; I know that if I have to wait until the morning to tell someone, I will never get to sleep.]

The End.

Afterwards: Blue later overhears me telling this story to my mom, although not quite in these terms. He defends himself by comparing this to me never having seen "The Longest Yard."
Me: I know it's a football movie.
Blue: I knew Gone With the Wind was a Civil War movie!

Point to Blue? Can a guy legitimately compare a football/prison movie starring Burt Reynolds to an acknowledged Oscar-winning film classic starring Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh? The answer, it seems, is yes. At least, if you want to preserve the marital peace!

12:02 a.m. - August 08, 2002

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