Degree
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)
Major(s)
English
Document Type
Immediate Campus-Only Restricted Access
Abstract
In the mid-nineteenth century, a dark double to the antebellum belle appeared in southern white women’s fiction, quickly becoming a staple character in southern literature. A sister to the femme fatale, the bad belle is an expert in both manners and manipulation, known for twisting her skirts and the rules of Southern society to get what she wants. Since her inception, the bad belle has undergone many changes as a result and cause of shifting attitudes about women’s ambition and sexuality. Though her literary evolution has been well documented, her place in film remains largely unexplored. In this presentation, I will begin to remedy this critical gap by considering David Selznick’s Gone With The Wind (1939) and Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled (2017), the two films which currently bookend the collection of films with a recognizable bad belle. Through a comparative analysis of each film's bad belles, I will argue that the films make contrary arguments about the nature of women’s sexuality. In GWTW, Selznick conflates Scarlett’s desire with her greed, thereby condemning women’s pleasure as destructive and self-serving. In The Beguiled, however, Coppola presents Alicia’s desire as active but gentle, the natural and beautiful consequence of a girl becoming a woman. Furthermore, she presents Miss Martha's authority as firm but benevolent, revealing that a woman's leadership is not wicked but caring. These starkly different messages demonstrate that the filmic bad belle has changed as much in 70 years as her literary counterpart has changed in 150, a dramatic evolution which warrants more critical attention.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.54718/AENO3921
Date Defended
5-2-2025
Thesis Director
Ted Atkinson, Ph.D.
Second Committee Member
Andrea Spain, Ph.D.
Third Committee Member
Eric Vivier, Ph.D.
Recommended Citation
Kirkpatrick, Annie, ""If I Just Wasn't A Lady": A Study of the Belles Gone Bad in David Selznick's Gone With The Wind and Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled" (2025). Honors Theses. 176.
https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/honorstheses/176
Included in
English Language and Literature Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, Visual Studies Commons, Women's Studies Commons
