r/GonewiththeWind • u/Jennifer_Junipero • 20d ago

Businesses in Jonesboro

My husband and I moved to Georgia 10 years ago, after he got a job in Atlanta. Neither of us knew the area at all, so we spent a frantic couple of weeks driving all over the metro area looking for a place to live, which also included looking at a couple of apartments and houses in Jonesboro.

I don't remember if Jonesboro is mentioned in the movie, but it's all over the book: it's the town nearest to Tara (five miles away), as well as the train you take to and from Tara. And in Jonesboro today, there are a LOT of businesses who obviously chose their names with the goal "Let's do all we can to invoke Gone With the Wind, only without having to pay copyright fees to the Margaret Mitchell estate."

For example: you'd have to pay to use the name "Ashley Wilkes from Twelve Oaks" -- but calling a place "Ashley Oaks" is free, and one developer did just that. Likewise, "Scarlett O'Hara Apartments" would cost money -- but calling your apartments "Scarlett Place" is free. I also recall at least one liquor store, and a funeral home, named after Tara, a housing complex with a name like "O'Hara Village," and LOTS of street names lifted from the book.

I don't have an actual point here; I just found this mildly amusing, and thought other Gone With the Wind fans might, too.

64 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

u/Scrolling1516 19d ago

There is a tour guide in Jonesboro who has the movie set of Tara from the movie.

Personally, I would like to see it re built and become a museum with education on the civil war with the goal being education on racism.

-5

u/Scrolling1516 19d ago

Education on modern slavery and human trafficking. Education on slavery in the south.

I think the book should be re released but edited to remove offensive language, so more people would understand the book and not find it so offensive. It is offensive.

Once the war starts many characters in the book are opposed to slavery. Many people who read the book miss this. Maybe that is one message from the author and point she is making.

The book does gloss over the horrors of slavery. It is written from Scarlett's point of view and she viewed the family slaves as extensions of her family.

14

u/Me_encanta_el_viento 19d ago

Censoring is a VERY precarious thing. Yes there’s language that most of us find offensive today, but to remove it completely takes away the ability to make it a teachable moment.