fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3308 ]

[ SECRET POST #3308 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3308 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

__________________________________________________

02.

__________________________________________________

03.

__________________________________________________

04.

__________________________________________________

05.

__________________________________________________

06.

__________________________________________________

07.

__________________________________________________

08.

__________________________________________________

09.

__________________________________________________

10.

__________________________________________________

11.

__________________________________________________

12.

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 065 secrets from Secret Submission Post #473.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

11. http://i.imgur.com/8peGhBe.png?1

They'd probably be a really boring couple to read about tbh

I always found Mellie (and Ashley for that matter) super boring. But I think she was supposed to be the epitome of southern elegance and self sacrifice, which is why she as supposed to be the ideal. Scarlett had opinions and didn't keep them to herself, so she wasn't as wonderful as Mellie. Apparently.

I think that Melanie epitomized the ideal of the era, as a genteel, kind, well-bred lady. Scarlett's strong will and determination don't fit the ideals of the time, but she is definitely the hero of the story. She ends up owning her own business, running it better than her husband, driving alone and flouting conventions and generally acts in her own self-interest - it wouldn't make her popular with the people of the time, but it did with readers and film-goers.

No, Melanie's great! Yes, I agree the public face of Melanie--self-effacing, generous, always does the right thing--is boring. But she is fiercely loyal and thinks on her feet. One of my favorite Melanie scenes is when Scarlett shoots the Yankee marauder and Melly comes running in, dragging Charles's sword because she is too weak to lift it. But there she was, ready to defend Scarlett.

There were hurried stumbling steps in the upper hall, a pause and then more steps, weak dragging steps now, punctuated by metallic clankings. A sense of time and reality coming back to her, Scarlett looked up and saw Melanie at the top of the stairs, clad only in the ragged chemise which served her as a nightgown, her weak arm weighed down with Charles’ saber. Melanie’s eyes took in the scene below in its entirety, the sprawling blue-clad body in the red pool, the sewing box beside him, Scarlett, barefooted and gray-faced, clutching the long pistol.

In silence her eyes met Scarlett’s. There was a glow of grim pride in her usually gentle face, approbation and a fierce joy in her smile that equaled the fiery tumult in Scarlett’s own bosom.

“Why — why — she’s like me! She understands how I feel!” thought Scarlett in that long moment “She’d have done the same thing!”

With a thrill she looked up at the frail swaying girl for whom she had never had any feelings but of dislike and contempt. Now, struggling against hatred for Ashley’s wife, there surged a feeling of admiration and comradeship. She saw in a flash of clarity untouched by any petty emotion that beneath the gentle voice and the dovelike eyes of Melanie there was a thin flashing blade of unbreakable steel, felt too that there were banners and bugles of courage in Melanie’s quiet blood.

“Scarlett! Scarlett!” shrilled the weak frightened voices of Suellen and Carreen, muffled by their closed door, and Wade’s voice screamed “Auntee! Auntee!” Swiftly Melanie put her finger to her lips and, laying the sword on the top step, she painfully made her way down the upstairs hall and opened the door of the sick room.

“Don’t be scared, chickens!” came her voice with teasing gaiety. “Your big sister was trying to clean the rust off Charles’ pistol and it went off and nearly scared her to death!” ... “Now, Wade Hampton, Mama just shot off your dear Papa’s pistol! When you are bigger, she will let you shoot it.”

“What a cool liar!” thought Scarlett with admiration. “I couldn’t have thought that quickly. But why lie? They’ve got to know I’ve done it.”

She is GREAT. Trust me, Scarlett is my favorite--I too am a Scarlett!--but a big part of Scarlett's journey is her evolving relationship with Melanie who is just as practical as she is.

Nice use of text! I'm in the middle of the book and have already read this part. I love Scarlett, but I agree that Mellie also has a lot of strength and steel in her. It's not as bright or ostentatious and Scarlett's mettle, but it's there.

Absolutely. The real love story (and you can read that however you want, though IMO it was platonic) of the whole book was Scarlett and Melly. Pitting them against each other basically defeats the message.

I think she wanted him because he was unattainable, and she was used to getting everything she wanted. I think that if she got him, she would eventually despise him for what she would see as his weaknesses, and it would happen sooner rather than later.

To throw advice from another fandom into the mix, as Spock said to Stonn: "After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true. "

"I think that if she got him, she would eventually despise him for what she would see as his weaknesses, and it would happen sooner rather than later."

I think, in the book anyway, Scarlett came to that very revelation. I think it was when Melly died and Ashley latched onto Scarlett to handle everything, and she realized that was how Ashley would always act in a crisis. Granted I only read the book once, a long time ago, but wasn't that what made her realize Rhett really was the man for her?

I think that was also in the movie. It's been a long time since I read the book, but I definitely recall that in the movie, when Melanie is dying. Which, slightly OT, but Melanie and Scarlett saying goodbye to each other always made me cry buckets. Scarlett was always oblivious to how much she loved someone until they were leaving her.

That's exactly what happened. She realized that he was stuck in the past, always dreaming about and wishing for the days gone by, and would never move forward, and never be in tune with the present day.

She also realized he was just a kind of ideal, that she'd built up in her head, and that she didn't really love him, she actually loved Rhett.

I was always so angry that it took her that long to figure it out.

I don't have a lot of opinions on this pairing, but I do wish that, in general, a strong / opinionated woman paired with a more gentle, quiet man wasn't considered laughable. Like, I get that we idealize certain traits for men and women, but wouldn't that just make a different dynamic more interesting to explore and figure out? Like, what's wrong with it, really? It could be just as interesting (or more so) than one more semi-rapey trope with a bullheaded asshole of an alpha-male and a weakly woman who falls for him despite her better judgement.

Agatha Christie, of all people, has written this dynamic a couple of times. I mean, her mysteries don't usually have strong romantic subplots, but they're sometimes there and more than once they've featured a weak-but-likable man who needs to be "managed" by a strong and opinionated woman. I kind of enjoy that!

Yes, I remember this dynamic in "Appointment with Death" where the main character is a strong willed woman who left her equally strong willed fiance, because she "thought she wanted to be tamed, then realized she didn't like it much."

She ends up perfectly happy with a complete doormat.

"Murder At Hazelmoore" featured a version of this as well.

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2016-01-25 01:37 (UTC) - Expand

That's exactly what I was thinking though! I think Ashley and Scarlett compliment each other really well, but they are amazing opposites at the same time! I never really understood the appeal of Rhett, to be honest.

Sadly, Scarlett was never really in love with Ashley. He was a dream, an perfect ideal, but not *real*, and she realized that several times when he fell short of how she wanted him/whished him/needed him to behave.

I was always so angry she never figured that out sooner. Like - if only his sister hadn't burst in that day of his b-day party, i think she would have realized that she felt friendship for him, rather than love. Or - when she had her miscarriage, and was calling and calling for Rhett, but they wouldn't let him see her. If he'd been able to be there for her then, I think he'd have realized how much she loved him and not been quite the jerk he was, and she'd have done the same.

I dearly loved Mellie, and Scarlett both - the men in their lives let them down a lot.

Yes, I think you're right about the miscarriage - if they'd just spoken to each other then, I think they could have really met and understood each other for once, but afterwards, they were both grieving in their own ways and unable to see each other clearly. They kind of have tragically bad timing. I think they could have come together again, but then Bonnie died, and that was just one tragedy too many for them to get over in that timeframe.

That being said - and disregarding any sequels, because I disregard those - I do like the way the end of the book and film is left open, but I also believe that now that she sees him for what he is, and how they could work together, that they would reunite.

Yes! Just so much bad timing, tragedy, and self-delusion. Frustrating! I read the 'sequel' called Scarlett (I think?) where she goes back to Ireland? Dear gods, it was horrifying. Just awful.

I do think the ending is a bit open, and considering how tenacious Scarlett was, I think she would eventually get Rhett back. It's something to idly think about, at least.

(I really disliked in the movie how her other kids were totally wiped out. That was just stupid.)

Oh, I know we should not speak of the sequel, but I found a free copy of it and I read it. Not a good book. But did you ever see the TV movie? I'd seen a TV movie of Scarlett years earlier with Timothy Dalton (way to un-charisma Rhett, Timothy!), and I remember at some point Scarlett ended up getting raped and there was a trial, so Rhett could swoop in all protector-ish, and it was like the baddest of bad fanfic. So, reading the book many years later - it still wasn't a good book, but I was like, WTF? What happened to the whole rape thing? Seems weird that that was added in for a TV movie.

(no subject)

tabaqui - 2016-01-25 03:20 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2016-01-25 03:32 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

tabaqui - 2016-01-25 03:40 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2016-01-25 03:46 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

tabaqui - 2016-01-25 04:16 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2016-01-25 04:03 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

tabaqui - 2016-01-25 04:17 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2016-01-25 20:42 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2016-01-25 21:30 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2016-01-25 03:42 (UTC) - Expand

I always figured she was only fixated on him because she was a spoiled brat and he was something she couldn't have. If he were interested in her, I doubt she would have cared anything about him.

That's interesting and probably true! Wow!

Oh, OP I thought I was alone!

I always made up my own sequel in the head where in a few years they both live together on Tara, first as friends and then actually get married.
I know I know she never loved him like that blaaaaah, but I always liked this pairing.
I loved Rhett as a character, but never with Scarlett. I do love Mellie, too tho. I loved their friendship. Ironically I ship her with either Scarlett, too or with Rhett. Idk my brain is pretty weird about this story and I feel alone.

Melly and Ashley weren't a passionate romance. Given that their marriage was semi-arranged/family tradition, I figure they settled into an old-married-couple affection stage pretty early because it was a done deal, no need to even bother considering alternate arrangements

You can't understand why Melly and Ashley loved each other, yet you think Scarlett loved him for real and he'd really love her beyond the physical attraction and lust? OK.

I think the strongest and best characters are Melly and Scarlett (that's the dynamic that I liked the most too!)
Ashley is a weak man and that has nothing to do him being good and gentle. Melanie is his soulmate but she balances him out and she is the strong one between the two. Their marriage wasn't passionate like Scarlett's one, but I think it was successful and happy and would last if she didn't die.
Melanie is a good lady but people around her kind of create a false idea of her too and make her a Mary Sue, probably Scarlett and Ashley and Rheet are the only ones that ultimately understand the real her and care about her for real reasons. The others are hypocrite worshipers.
She is good but not stupid or hypocrite (like her husband maybe is instead), I always thought she knew about Scarlett's crush for her hubby but she saw the truth before Scarlett did and knew that she didn't really love him. I think she genuinely cared about Scarlett and saw past the bad things ppl in her family kept saying about her (women were mostly jealous), she respected her. Everyone kind of expected every lady to be like Melanie, but Melanie didn't expect every lady to be like her and doesn't even judge a prostitute (now it's a while I read the book but in the movie I love the scene where she accept the money of that woman)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only