Well, Joe, you've hit the nail on the head as far as modern cinematic sensibilities--

You are not the first to make these observations; I heard similar criticisms of this film during a college psychology class in the 1990s. But for the 1930s, right on up, I'd say, through the 1950s? Clark Gable and his scoundrel of a character Rhett was the man, when it came to cinematic "bad boys".

I, for one, still think this film is a masterpiece, even if, admittedly, movie-going audiences of today would never accept, so unquestioningly, a character like Rhett Butler.

Yes Rhett could be an , but he had some good qualities. He genuinely respected Melanie. He was a good stepfather to Scarlett's other children, especially Wade. He kept it a secret after her overheard Scarlett declaring her love for Ashley, when he could have publicly embarrassed them both. He bid on Scarlett at the dance because he knew she was miserable not being allowed to dance. He saved Ashley and probably every other man in town when they could have been arrested for being in the KKK. He let Scarlett spend as much as she wanted restoring Tara and built her the house she wanted. And I agree, he should NOT have been teaching Bonnie to ride sidesaddle and jump at the same time. I would assume there were women back then who knew how to jump while riding sidesaddle, so Bonnie could have learned if he had done that eventually if Rhett hadn't rushed things.

Yeah Rhett was the archetype of the popular Hollywood narrative that women go for abusers and scoundrels. It dominated Hollywood for most of the 20th century and still persists in a lot of mainstream movies today.

If you want to hear a great, hilarious and surprisingly deep dialogue on this subject, check out the movie Last Days of Disco where there's a recurring humorous argument between 2 guys over the cartoon Lady and the Tramp. The "good guy" says that stories like this are meant to brainwash young girls into always going for the Tramp, excusing selfish and misogynistic behavior. The "bad guy" clumsily retorts that it's a (implied) story of redemption... Tramp will reform himself after the movie ends. lol

Rhett is a selfish scoundrel all the way to the very last line, yet Scarlett still chases him. It's your basic alpha male wet dream.

@Asharah said:

Yes Rhett could be an , but he had some good qualities. He genuinely respected Melanie. He was a good stepfather to Scarlett's other children, especially Wade. He kept it a secret after her overheard Scarlett declaring her love for Ashley, when he could have publicly embarrassed them both. He bid on Scarlett at the dance because he knew she was miserable not being allowed to dance. He saved Ashley and probably every other man in town when they could have been arrested for being in the KKK. He let Scarlett spend as much as she wanted restoring Tara and built her the house she wanted. And I agree, he should NOT have been teaching Bonnie to ride sidesaddle and jump at the same time. I would assume there were women back then who knew how to jump while riding sidesaddle, so Bonnie could have learned if he had done that eventually if Rhett hadn't rushed things.

Yes, he had good traits, and was a good dad/stepdad, but he wasn't a good husband. ANd I was never praising Scarlett

@rooprect said:

Yeah Rhett was the archetype of the popular Hollywood narrative that women go for abusers and scoundrels. It dominated Hollywood for most of the 20th century and still persists in a lot of mainstream movies today.

If you want to hear a great, hilarious and surprisingly deep dialogue on this subject, check out the movie Last Days of Disco where there's a recurring humorous argument between 2 guys over the cartoon Lady and the Tramp. The "good guy" says that stories like this are meant to brainwash young girls into always going for the Tramp, excusing selfish and misogynistic behavior. The "bad guy" clumsily retorts that it's a (implied) story of redemption... Tramp will reform himself after the movie ends. lol

Rhett is a selfish scoundrel all the way to the very last line, yet Scarlett still chases him. It's your basic alpha male wet dream.

Hmm, I think Tramp was more sympathetic than Rhett, and Lady was DEFINITELY more sympathetic than Scarlett

@Joeisacoolguy said:

@rooprect said:

Yeah Rhett was the archetype of the popular Hollywood narrative that women go for abusers and scoundrels. It dominated Hollywood for most of the 20th century and still persists in a lot of mainstream movies today.

If you want to hear a great, hilarious and surprisingly deep dialogue on this subject, check out the movie Last Days of Disco where there's a recurring humorous argument between 2 guys over the cartoon Lady and the Tramp. The "good guy" says that stories like this are meant to brainwash young girls into always going for the Tramp, excusing selfish and misogynistic behavior. The "bad guy" clumsily retorts that it's a (implied) story of redemption... Tramp will reform himself after the movie ends. lol

Rhett is a selfish scoundrel all the way to the very last line, yet Scarlett still chases him. It's your basic alpha male wet dream.

Hmm, I think Tramp was more sympathetic than Rhett, and Lady was DEFINITELY more sympathetic than Scarlett

I remember a discussion on a BB about the Disney cartoon Beauty & The Beast being about Stockholm Syndrome. Somebody responded that her mother explained it this way, Beast was master of the castle with nobody to correct his behavior. When Belle snapped at him about how his yelling scared her, he was actually shocked. He really believed he was feared only because of his appearance and not his behavior. And he never yelled again after that. So Beast was actually a good guy who had never been taught it's not acceptable to yell when you don't get ytour way.