Gone with the Wind

 Reflection on Gone with the Wind and Free Speech

After watching Gone with the Wind, directed by Victor Fleming for there first time in class. I was very amazed, The movie was very powerful and impactful to me. However, it's also deeply problematic in how it romanticizes the antebellum South and perpetuates harmful racial stereotypes. 

This movie romanticizes  how a woman must find a man in order to matter in society. This was the case at the time in the 1930s, however may convey the wrong message today.The movie content also raises important questions about the First Amendment and what we protect under free speech.

Two quotes in the movie that stuck with me on the topic of women's oppression is, "I raise up my voice- not so that I can shout, but so those without a voice can be heard... We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back." and, "I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own." These two powerful quotes really  emphasize the struggles for them at the time and how it felt impossible to break these norms.

It is also very clearly detailed through out the entire movie that the women's lives revolved around the mens. How they had to dress to impress them, or had to dress in black if they were fighting at war and mourning. How important the man's wealth status determined their future and how comfortable they were. 

Gerald O'Hara and Ellen Robillard's marriage was arranged, Ashley and Melanie were first cousins and had to get married due to family tradition, as well as many others. the women were trapped with no room for protest over their own body and wants.

The film presents enslaved people as largely content with their situations and portrays the Old South with nostalgia, glossing over the brutal realities of slavery. These representations are offensive and harmful, yet the First Amendment protects the filmmakers' right to create this work and our right to view it. This is actually one of the fundamental principles of free speech, it protects expression we disagree with, not just ideas we find acceptable.

At the same time, I think we need to acknowledge that free speech protection doesn't eliminate the real harm that racist imagery can cause. When a film like Gone with the Wind shapes how generations of people understand history, it has consequences beyond just individual expression.

 The First Amendment correctly prevents government censorship, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't think critically about the responsibility that comes with creative freedom.

This movie was written very well especially for the time it was produced. there are many aspects of the movie that are beautiful as seeing lovers greive each other, as well as how the south looked as war begun and all the men got right up to fight. 

These were just some of the problematic moments in the movie that I noticed while watching for the first time that I think is important to be addressed as they can give a false narrative to history and how slaves were treated, as well as send the wrong message for future women as they grow up. 

Harriet Tubman

A Legacy of Freedom Through Her Documented Voice

Harriet Tubman's life story reads like fiction, yet every word she spoke carried the weight of lived experience. Born Araminta Ross into slavery, she would become known as "Moses" for leading her people out of bondage. Her documented words, preserved through interviews with biographer Sarah Bradford in 1869, reveal a woman of extraordinary courage and unwavering faith.

The Philosophy of Freedom

Tubman's approach to freedom was absolute and uncompromising. As she explained to Bradford, she started with a simple idea: "There's two things I've got a right to, and these are Death or Liberty. One or the other I mean to have." This wasn't mere rhetoric. She meant every word, declaring that no one would take her back alive and that she would fight for her liberty until the Lord decided her time had come.

The Moment of Liberation

When Tubman first crossed into free territory, the experience transformed her understanding of herself. She recalled looking at her hands to see if she was the same person. "There was such a glory over everything," she remembered. The sun came like gold through the trees and over the fields, making her feel as though she had entered Heaven itself.

But the joy was bittersweet. As she told Bradford, there was no one to welcome her to the land of freedom. She was a stranger in a strange land, and her true home remained in Maryland where her family still lived in bondage. That realization sparked her mission: she would make a home in the North and bring them there, with God's help.

Faith as Her Compass

Throughout her dangerous missions, Tubman relied entirely on divine guidance. When asked how she managed to return repeatedly with a price on her head, she had a simple answer: "It wasn't me—it was the Lord! I always told Him, 'I trust to you. I don't know where to go or what to do, but I expect you to lead me,' and He always did."

Her faith was matched by her determination. She famously stated that she never ran her train off the track and never lost a passenger. When frightened travelers wanted to turn back, she was direct: "Dead folks tell no tales. You go on or die." The choice was stark because the consequences were real.

A Dangerous Rescue

One of her most daring rescues involved bringing her elderly parents to freedom. She transported them in a primitive wagon with just a board to sit on and ropes for their feet. The journey was forty miles through dangerous territory, but she succeeded in bringing them safely to Canada.

Her Enduring Message

Tubman served her country in multiple capacities—as a liberator during slavery and as a nurse and scout during the Civil War. Through it all, she never asked for anything except freedom for her people. Her documented words from the Bradford interviews, available through the University of North Carolina's digital archives, continue to inspire generations with their raw authenticity and moral clarity.

As she told those she led northward: the path to freedom requires perseverance. No matter the obstacles—dogs, torches, or pursuers—the answer was always the same. Keep going. With God's help, they would make it through. And they did.