A sibling bought me a Thomas Kincade puzzle for Christmas one year. It was a 1000 piece puzzle depicting scenes from “Gone with the Wind”.
Daniel and I started working on the puzzle earlier this year when I complained that we were defaulting to the television for our time together.
We worked on the puzzle a couple evenings, and it’s been on the living room table ever since – slowly being buried under mail, then uncovered, then buried again, then uncovered. I’ve worked on it intermittently, but it’s taken much longer than my usual cheapo 500 piece puzzles from the dollar store.
Well, I finally finished it this week.
And am I glad I did – because until it was finished and put away, I couldn’t keep my mind from puzzling over the little note from the artist on the back of the box.
Kincade wrote:
“My painting is populated with favorite film characters and rendered in small cinematic vignettes designed to capture all the drama and nostalgia of this Hollywood spectacular. I truly hope this painting delights all fans of GONE WITH THE WIND. Beyond this, I pray it reminds us all that true love does exist.”
That last part gets me. I don’t get it.
How does Gone with the Wind remind us that true love exists?
I think back over when I read it a few years back, puzzling over each dysfunctional relationship. Scarlett and Ashley. Melanie and Ashley. Scarlett and Charles. Scarlett and Frank. Scarlett and Rhett.
But surely Kincade doesn’t think Scarlett and Rhett embody true love?
The only potential example of true love I can see in Gone with the Wind is Scarlett’s love for herself.
Unless the movie is that different from the book.
Very odd thing for him to say in regard to this movie! I think the only truly loving person in it was Melanie.
Well. It’s very clear: he never read the book or watched the movie.