SOURCE: Pauly, Thomas H. “Gone with the Wind and The Grapes of Wrath as Hollywood Histories of the Depression.” In Movies as Artifacts: Cultural Criticism of Popular Film, edited by Michael T. Marsden, John G. Nachbar, and Samm L. Grogg, Jr., pp. 164-76. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1982.

In the following essay, Pauly discusses the screen adaptations of Gone with the Wind and The Grapes of Wrath, noting that despite vast differences in the way critics viewed these films, they both addressed issues of survival during times of financial and social upheaval albeit from very different viewpoints.

Popular culture of the later Depression years was dominated by Gone with the Wind and The Grapes of Wrath. As novels, these two creations topped the best seller lists during 1936, 1937, and 1939. Interest in both works was then renewed in early 1940—perhaps even reached its greatest peak—when both opened as movies within weeks of...