The Power of Parody: Went With the Wind (1976), a Film Classic Revisited by The Carol Burnett Show (CBS, 1967-1978)

Abstract

In the 1976 TV parody of Gone With the Wind (1939), Carol Burnett descends the grand staircase of a devastated Southern mansion in a green dress made out of antebellum curtains, complete with a rod that blows her shoulders out of proportion. Rather than downplaying the over-romanticized Southern melodrama, the sketch proceeds through further exaggerations and distortions, seeking to shatter the cult text by spoofing, mocking, while paying a humorous homage to the evergreen background text. This essay argues that despite The Carol Burnett Show’s dodging of race issues, the way it demystifies and takes down the cultural monument named “Scarlett O’Hara”—by mingling it with other generic conventions, such as slapstick comedy—sheds light on how Gone With the Wind can also work as a revelatory intertext. While failing to operate as a racial eye-opener, the 1976 skit paves the way for more critical reassessments of the famous cultural construction rooted in racist ideology and imagery.

Keywords

• Parody
• adaptation
• TV comedy
• Carol Burnett
• Gone With the Wind
• Went with the Wind