Band of Angels shows a very different viewpoint of the South than Gone With the Wind. Gone with the Wind portrays an air of superiority in the south while Band of Angel breaks that notion very quickly. Each movie varies in its sympathy towards Slaves and their treatment.
Slaves in Gone with the Wind are portrayed as fully subservient and enjoying their enslavement. The never breaks this stereotypical look at slaves and slavery. It portrays them as incapable, bumbling, and stupid. Band of Angles show slaves as varying on thier opinion of their enslavement. Characters like Ra Ru did not enjoy serving their master Hamish Bond. While not all the slave were educated which was accurate they portrayed more intelligence and humanity. The slaves had real emotion and individual behavior rather than a group identity.
Gone with the wind's view of the south is that it was this once great institution destroyed by the North which is true to an extent. It depicts the destruction of the south and their way of life with the goal of creating sympathy for the south. It basically gave a southern aristocrats view of the Civil War. Band of Angels shows the North as not quite heroes but much more sympathetic than Gone with the Wind. It portrayed who would seem to be the weakest a white woman into the role of a slave and fully exposed her to slave treatment. It would have been horrific to white audiences to see women treated this way. It generates sympathy for slaves and distaint for the south. The sympathy is tempered with belief in the inferiority of blacks and their lack of education. The movie seems quite progressive for it’s time.
Band of Angels is a movie that has much more sympathy for black people and is far more generous to the north than Gone with Wind. Gone with the Wind was more generous to the south.
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