Gone With the Wind

There are a few shows that I have watched from start to finish (more than once). To name a few- Friends, The Office (American version), How I Met your Mother, Scrubs, and there are probably more.

The endings of these series, and by ending, I mean the writers know it is the end of a series that has been going on for years, are hard. By hard, I mean it takes me some time to absorb that the end has actually happened, and I have to walk away from characters I feel like I have related to and been in their lives for so long.

Some of the above named series did a great job with while taking away characters who I felt were friends, giving me a happy existence for them. I could close the chapter in their lives that I got to watch with the knowledge (fictitious as it was) that their lives were going on happily, away from me. One of the above I was less happy with, and anyone who has seen all of those knows which one it is.

I finished Gone with the Wind today. I had seen the movie, long ago, and forgotten most of it, and I loved it. I read it significantly faster than I expected to, and loved knowing the behind the scenes thoughts and emotions that the movie could not portray as much as they tried.

If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, and are reading this post, you should stop here. There will be spoilers below (about the book and the shows above too), and honestly, they are both so epic, both so much a part of culture, even if you didn't know it, you are probably missing references to the movie all over the place. The story and the characters are vivid and real, complete with flaws (for the most part).

For those of you still reading, I am assuming that you either know the ending or don't care if you know the ending. Here is my rant- I want my stories to end happy.

Especially when I have invested so much time and effort into a story as sweeping and covering as long as Gone With the Wind does, I want my investment to pay off.  I don't mind that you have to have Ross and Rachel separate more than together over the decade of the show, I'm just happy that they end up together. Have all the drama you want in the J.D. and Elliot story, they end together. Pam and Jim were fun to watch even as the writers showed the stress of the relationship of the last season, but at least they ended happy.

I can handle the tragedies Scarlett went through, especially since they were historical. No problem killing off characters either- adds drama, realism and shoot, if I can make it through Game of Thrones I can handle Gone with the Wind. I think everyone knows the line Rhett says to Scarlett at the end, but gosh, I so wanted it to end happy.

Those two have had so much drama and problems in their lives... I really wanted a good resolution for them. To be clear- the ending is well written, as is the whole novel, but it is a tragic ending. Obviously, to have Rhett and Scarlett happy together would have been my ideal ending, but I would have settled for Ashley and Scarlett to make it work too, for him to see that he really loved Scarlett, and for her to finally understand him, and it to still be a version of a happy ending. But no. Everyone realizes their true loves too late, Rhett is "over her" to use a modern phrase, and she is left all alone when she finally realizes that she cares about a lot of people. I just feel unresolved, and I don't like it.

Now, those of you who want to come back with a "but life is tragic" kind of line, I don't disagree. I have read enough news stories to know that far, far, far too many people have to live through tragedies. But reading is an escape. Especially a novel. Especially a romance novel (for though historical, it is hard to argue the current of romance throughout the book). I firmly believe that a romance novel should end with two happy characters!

Even if Scarlett eventually wins him back, and I wish her all the luck in the world, my bone to pick is with Margaret Mitchell. Why leave your characters separate instead of giving them a romantic finish worthy of them? Sigh.

My other main take-away from this was that I find myself frequently too similar to Scarlett. Thankfully, not in the hankering after someone who is not my husband way, but in my headstrong determination to get what I want. Though, at the resolution of the book, my lesson is not that I need to ignore that side of me, because like Scarlett, there are things you can only achieve if you set your sights to do so. But instead, I was reminded to find a balance between my pursuits and the people in my life who I love, and make sure that they both have a good portion of my time and attention.