“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn” is, as we all know, what Rhett Butler says to Scarlett O’Hara when he leaves her in the closing scenes of Gone with the Wind.
Because I do “give a damn” about GWTW, I decided to compare Scarlett to a modern day subject of tabloid fodder, Kim Kardashian. Think about it: Scarlett had multiple marriages – the first ending when her husband was killed during the Civil War.
Kim K’s first marriage ended after 70+ days for reasons not as honorable as being killed in combat. (Maybe being married to Kim was another type of combat.)
When each woman remarried, it was to someone who brought them more status than their previous husband. Scarlett was married three times; Kim is just getting started.
Both women will do what they have to do to get what they want – using their womanly wiles to gain money, power, social status.
Scarlett plotted and schemed to accomplish this by saving the family farm, starting her own business, and getting the man she wanted (except for Ashley Wilkes).
Kim has a well-oiled machine to keep her in the spotlight (with the help of her mother) and all thanks to a sex video tape that was publicly released. She has built her “celebrity” on the tape into various business ventures and is currently married to a music mogul.
Here’s a question: Don’t we all have a little bit of Scarlett in us? Fiddle dee dee, I’ll think about that tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is another day.
This week’s Frontier Reads reviewer, Mary Benes, was raised in the South and tries to be a true Southern Belle. She has lived in the Tulsa area since 1990.
