A Study in Scarlett

 "Tomorrow is another day" remains one of the most famous last lines in the history of cinema. Gone With The Wind debuted in 1939. The film tells the story of Scarlett O'Hara and her family home Tara during the turbulent years of the American Civil War, and Rhett Butler, the love of her life. 

It's a film about the effects of radical change coming to what had seemed to be a settled way of life, and of the dramatic results that those changes bring to individuals and families.

Tara

The movie, and the story behind it, have been cleverly brought to life in OSGrid (the HG Address is, of course, at the end of the post) by the French builder and historian Wildrose Guardian, who has a particular interest in those life-changing years from 1860 then the United States found itself torn apart by conflicting ideologies that turned to physical violence. 

Take, for example, the pathos of this part of the build, the North and South battleground, with bodies laid out in long lines in a simple field,  transforming the peaceful productive farmland into a somber burial ground.

The tragedy of war

Weaving together photos from real life with 3D tableaux, the scenes from the film are played out across what nowadays is a 2x2 VAR  originally set up with the idea of having it used for Roleplay. 

Teleport board

The build is easy to navigate thanks to a series of Teleports and they're important because two parts of the builds are in skyboxes - one depicting the Premiere of the film, with lots of contemporary photos, newspaper front pages, and posters...

and the war museum, full of maps and descriptions and drawings from the period.

Add to that, a nice waterfront build featuring the cotton trade...

... and a railway station complete with steam engines.

Chances are, it's been a while since you saw the film. Many TV and cable channels pulled it from their schedules over the past quarter century, citing the film's depiction of behavior that today could get you canceled, censured, or even sent to jail.

Wildrose's depiction doesn't seek to glorify or justify attitudes toward women and Black people in the film that today are offensive, but rather she's  achieved something special here - a place where you can experience and meditate on a moment in time and across cultures.

The house at the center of the story, Tara, naturally takes center stage on this build, and in fact it's the main landing point when you arrive. Inside, the rooms are furnished and a few NPCs  and static figures, human and animal, bring the build to life.

Scarlett O'Hara outside Tara

Really nice attention to detail here - there is the classic Southern mansion layout, with the cook house separated from the main house by a breezeway. Both wings of the house are appropriately fitted out with food and cooking items. Even more interesting than the main house, you'll find.

While the values  and traditions of Plantation life don't match up with acceptable behavior in the modern world, this region has so much to teach and to contribute to our better understanding of the past and present, as well as offering a fantastic masterclass in representing in a complete and erudite way a Classic film. Few regions in Opensim can be said to achieve this level of immersion and enthralling education, to be visited again and again... not least for the fabulous freebies, from furniture to firearms to fashion, on Main Street.

HG Address:   hop://hg.osgrid.org:80/TARA/128/128/22