She only wrote one novel, but one was enough. Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind is a great American classic. That’s why almost every star and would be actress coveted the role of Scarlet for an upcoming movie sequel of the same name.
Believe it or not, they had sequels back in Mitchell’s day too. It wasn’t as common, but they did exist. Still, instead of writing a new blockbuster, Mitchell had the audacity to insist that her tale was over. Yes, over. Imagine that. A story which ends!.
Because Margaret Mitchell has been dead for years, her copyright ran out in the 1990’s and Gone with the Wind became public domain. This was good news for publishers and producers who circled like vultures waiting to earn the ultimate dollar from the ultimate sequel. Mitchell’s family dreaded this for years. Eventually the fear turned into a protective maneuver. As heirs who, at the moment, still owned the rights, they decided to authorize a companion novel so that they could at least maintain some control and selectivity. In other words; “ If we have to have a sequel, let’s make sure it a quality sequel ” I sympathize with their predicament. Under the circumstances, I believe they did the best they could, but I fear there may be no such thing as a quality sequel. To be more precise; there is no such thing as a quality continuation of a story which was not intended to continue.
Sequelites has broken into an epidemic today. The reasons are understandable: Where as the first generation of movie makers grew up reading books, the second generation grew up watching television. Now don’t misunderstand me; There is nothing wrong with a television series. It therefore follows that nothing inherently evil lives inside a movie series. Star Trek, James Bond and Indiana Jones (to name a few) were designed as series from the original drawing board. Unfortunately, this is not where the buck stops, for a buck has no boundaries. You see, Gone With the Wind was not written as the first in series. Indeed, the publishers of Scarlet advertise their work as a sequel to a classic. Very interesting. What exactly do they mean by classic? Do they mean a story which was uniquely written? Was the ending an essential part of the specialty? Aren’t some stories meant to end instead of turning into soap operas?. Maybe Margaret Mitchell thought long and hard about her ending. Maybe she felt it necessary to leave a little bit up in the air. Since she refused to write a sequel, she obviously didn’t find it imperative to reveal the final destiny of Scarlet and Rhett Butler. Perhaps, by leaving a little bit up to the imagination, she was stimulating her readers. A sequel undoes all of this. A sequel gives a new ending; not because there was honestly more to tell, but because somebody makes money by pretending there is more to tell. Such exploitation destroys the classic. It makes the characters less realistic because we are now faced with a choice: Do we honor the author and keep her from turning in her grave by ignoring the new book and deciding that Scarlett didn’t t really go on to do what the sequel says she did? Or do we accept the sequel, and in so doing, believe things about the characters which their own creator wouldn’t have believed?
Of course, I am only using Gone With the Wind as an example. One could plead the same case for 2001: A Space Odessy . Hailed by critics as the director of an artful masterpiece, Stanely Kubrik refused to make a sequel. Back when the movie was released, sequels were not in and the invitation to continue the story came almost twenty years later. But Kubrik undoubtedly remembers the best experience related to his movie: standing around the lobby afterwards, listening to people try to figure out what it was all about. Be of good cheer. 2010: Odessy Two has answered all of the questions. The studio made a sequel without Kubrik. Our imaginations may rest in peace.
As you read this blog, you are undoubtedly thinking of your own favorite classic. Maybe they didn’t get to it yet, but they will. If they can continue Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, they can do anything. Remember? Butch and Sundance died at the end of the first movie, so a prequel was filmed called, Butch and Sundance: The Early Years. Of course, if the first movie had been made in the age of sequelites, a prequel wouldn’t have been necessary. Butch and Sundance would not have died at the end. Well, maybe Butch would have died and in the next movie Sundance could realize he had only been dreaming.
I can see it now; Music 2: The Von Trapp Sound Continues, Ben Hur: After Nero, Born Again on the Fourth of July. Braver Heart. Forrest Gets the Mumps. With some classics, it’s tough to come up with a title. “Lets see, J. B., should we call it Ten Commandments Two or The Eleventh Commandment ? Only one commandment matters: Play it safe. Be as uncreative as possible. Have the same characters, the same jokes, the same music, and the same title with a number after it. Why take a creative risk when there’s a sure pile of money somewhere? Let’s give the public what it wants: packaged, formula merchandise.
Thank goodness some people still take risks. Some people still feel that art for art’s sake is important. There will always be directors and authors who refuse to do sequels. Only one problem : The author eventually dies and then one of the characters which was killed off comes back to life.
Hey Here’s an idea. Three sequels in one movie Gone With the Winds of War and Peace.
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