The 1939 film Gone with the Wind is often considered an American classic - its epic scope and sweeping romance granted the film ten Academy Awards, also being nominated for Best Original Score. The orchestral score, composed by Max Steiner, is big and complex, with a lot of subtlety to it as well. The story of independent, passionate Southern belle Scarlett O'Hara and how she works her way through Civil War-era America, while being tamed by the handsome Rhett Butler, is made all the more memorable by the use of Max Steiner's original score, which incorporates traditional folk songs, minstrel songs and Civil War-era popular music as well. Why does Steiner employ the use of traditional American songs of the period so heavily in the film, and employ such a melodramatic style in his incidental music? By combining the use of traditional American songs and melodramatic orchestra work, Steiner's musical score of Gone with the Wind allows the audience to feel the intensity of Rhett and Scarlett's romance while firmly placing the film within the politically charged and rustic setting of the Confederate South.
The primary melody, or theme, in Gone with the Wind is the "Tara" theme; this is essentially the one prominent theme in the film that was orchestrated and composed by Steiner. It is a very simple, two phrase theme, often performed primarily with strings and a French horn section providing countermelody. This is to emphasize both the sweeping romance of the film, as well as the powerful and huge scope of the epic events of the Civil War. Scarlett O'Hara's romance with Rhett Butler, as presented through the theme, sounds almost tragic and helpless at times, but still triumphant by the end. We hear this theme first in the opening credits, acting as a leitmotif for the film as a whole - this lets the audience know to pay attention whenever the score swells. During the early part of the film, when Scarlett's father Thomas is explaining to her the benefits of being Irish, and how it ties her to the land of Tara, the Tara theme itself swells in a grand manner as the camera pulls away from them in a beautiful tableaux, emphasizing the beauty of the shot (Neumeyer, 1991). This move permits the melodramatic nature of the music to suit the epic, heightened visuals of the film, inspiring the intended emotions from the audience.
Steiner also uses a technique called "Mickey Mousing" in his film scoring - basically, what happens is that the music follows along beat for beat what is happening on screen, and helps to telegraph what is going on to the audience (Schreibman, p. 41). Often, when Rhett and Scarlett have their more romantic moments in the film, the Tara theme comes in at its strongest, with the full orchestra sweeping through the theme, complete with blaring brass sections and flourishes from the strings. This happens most memorably in the scene where Rhett is leaving for battle - declaring their love for each other in passionate fashion, the strings and brass swell with the Rhett/Scarlett romance motif. Scarlett O'Hara's interactions with the men in her life often drive much of the' mickey-mousing' in the film. There is always an undercurrent of the Tara theme in the underscoring of her scenes, to constantly tie her to the plantation for which the theme is named. The plantation is where her heart lies, and not in these lovers - that is why the theme keeps playing. When Ashley rejects Scarlett in favor of someone more compatible to him, the resulting argument is echoed in the music; the violins grow louder, and rise in volume as Scarlett yells at him, until the point at which Scarlett finally slaps Ashley. At this point, the music stops and calms down, just as she had. It is in this instance and many more that Steiner follows the beats of the scene with his music, to lead the audience along. The use of mickey-mousing adds to the melodrama of the film, as each overly dramatic beat is matched with the rising of the musical score.
The music for Gone with the Wind does not begin and end with Max Steiner's orchestral score, though - one of the most interesting parts of the movie is the fact that so many traditional American songs were used as well, primarily from the nineteenth century. Much of the music stems from the Civil War era, but there were many other examples of preexisting music before that. "The Bridal March" is used whenever Scarlett and Rhett's marriage is brought up. Christmas dinner at Aunt Patty's is accompanied by "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," and the Negro spiritual "Go Down Moses" is used during the scene when slaves are sent to dig trenches for the Confederate Army in Atlanta (Fisher, 2010). These songs and others are not 'diegetic' - not coming from someone playing or singing them in the movie itself - but instead are part of the score. The ultimate purpose of this is to place the audience in the aristocratic, yet folksy atmosphere of the Confederate South in which the film is set; hearing these songs, which are contemporary to the period, the audience believes more intently that they are experiencing 19th century Georgia.
It is possible to argue that these songs are merely coincidental; the use of American traditional folk songs may simply be an attempt to flesh out the score, as Steiner did not have a lot of time to construct the score (four months for over three hours of music) (Fisher, 2010). As a result, he put in source music, or used their melodies, as a shorthand for coming up with material himself. However, the fact that all of these songs were written before or during the time period in which the film is set, as well as thematically relevant to the scene at hand, makes it clear that these insertions are deliberate and genuine.
In conclusion, the musical score for Gone with the Wind uses existing traditional music pieces to underscore the drama of the scenes, and allowed for the audience to recognize that they were living in the Civil War era. The Tara theme is one of the most recognizable pieces of film music ever made, and its constant presence throughout the film shows the strength and the passion of Scarlett as a character, as well as the romance between her and Rhett Butler in the wake of the Civil War. Instruments were used to full effect, and the scope of the orchestra allowed for the movie to feel big, as it was already through its use of elaborate sets and costumes. The use of spirituals, Stephen Foster minstrel songs, and folk songs of the time helped to place the audience within the world of the film, and created an effect of humanizing these characters who lived in the past.
Works Cited
Fisher, Heather G. American Traditional Music in Max Steiner's Score for 'Gone with the Wind.'
Bowling Green State University. Thesis. 2010.
Fleming, Victor (dir.) Gone with the Wind. Perf. Clark Gable, Vivien Lie, Leslie Howard. MGM,
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Neumeyer, David. "Film Music Analysis and Pedagogy." Indiana Theory Review 11:2. 1991.
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Schreibman, M.A. "On Gone with the Wind, Selznick, and the art of 'Mickey Mousing'": An
Interview with Max Steiner. Journal of Film and Video 56(1): 41-50. Print.
