Fast forward to adulthood, life experiences, and a shifting filter and the way I have come to view both the book and the film has changed so drastically. I watch it now with sweet nostalgia for those nights at grandma's house. I can still smell the dippity-doo she used as she rolled her hair in front of the TV. I can hear the microwave popcorn popping in the oven for our intermission treat. Yet, I don't still wish to be just like Scarlett. I see now how warped and twisted a character she really is. I can see how she is a weak woman, and only has a veneer of strength to disguise her weaknesses. It is her nemeses/best friend/sister, Melly, who I most admire now that I've become an adult/wife/mother/best friend/sister. I used to watch Melanie and wonder at how naive she was over what was really going on in her life. Now I watch and see that she is almost a reverse of Scarlett...a woman who appears to be weak, soft, yet at the core-as strong as steel. I believe that she understands everything, understands that the humans in her life that she loves are all flawed; yet she believes in unconditional love, and practices it, no matter the cost to herself. I can only hope to be as strong in my core beliefs as the character that Mitchell wrote is in her own. Now I understand that literary/film characters are simple outlines of real life, so Melanie is not a fully fleshed-out person (nor is Scarlett), but she is a closer approximation to what I'd like to be someday. You know, when I grow up.
Maybe that is the real reason my totally rockin grandma let me rent GWTW every weekend for years on end when I spent the night. Maybe she wanted me to let those lessons unfold over time. She wasn't the type to force lessons on us anyhow-she preferred life to show them to us. Just as they did Scarlett & Melly...
