Make 'em Laugh, Make 'em Laugh...

...everybody just wants to laugh :)

In order to get the full effect, both videos need to be posted, and you must have SOME idea of Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind (or at least the movie version!). If you don't know of Gone With the Wind, you are culturally deprived and probably won't understand this in the least.

These videos are clearly parodies of Gone With the Wind. The title, "Went With the Wind," should tell you that much! What makes the humor work? The easiest answer would be Carol Burnett. Everything she does is hilarious, but in this episode of her show, she works directly off of main ideas found in Gone With the Wind.

• Sissy's annoying voice. Sissy has a ridiculously shrill voice in Gone With the Wind, and it follows through to this parody. Carol Burnett's character, Scarlett O'Hara, proceeds to slap Sissy across the face to shut her up. This doesn't happen in Gone With the Wind, but is found throughout the parody: when Scarlett runs upstairs to make her famous curtain dress, Sissy doesn't know how to keep Rhett busy. She inevitably slaps herself across the face to settle down.
• The ditziness of Melody Hamilton. Scarlett says, "In the meantime Melody, why don't you just stick your head in the punch bowl. I'm sure it could use a little more sugar," and Melody willingly complies. Not in the original movie, but it makes the point!
• The dress made out of curtains. A much-remembered moment from Gone With the Wind turns the audience into hyenas as Carol Burnett leaves the metal pole from the curtains attached to the fabric. If you hadn't caught it by now, this is a parody, ladies and gentlemen!
• Melody's death. Could it be more dramatic? Probably not, but that was the point! Pushing Scarlett back down the stairs was a twist on Melody's overly-peaceful character.
• Scarlett's famous line: "As God is my witness, as God is my witness they're not going to lick me. I'm going to live through this and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat, or kill. As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again." Sissy singing opera in the background helps dramatize the poignant moment in Scarlett's life...making it into a joke as Sissy wails and Melody gives birth.
• The most famous line of the movie: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." Rhett doesn't even say it in this version! Sissy exclaims the famous words shortly after slapping Scarlett across the face (Remember all the slapping from before? Now it's reversed roles!).

Melody's cool, calm, and collected character provides a stark contrast to Scarlett's obnoxious, hilarious, and harsh character. Carol Burnett's overreactions to the circumstances and overacting of Scarlett's character make this parody hilarious. This version of Gone With the Wind is far funnier than the actual movie as Carol Burnett puts spins on the events of the actual movie, adding in more modern language and other references. "Dixie's Land," by Daniel Decatur Emmett is mentioned, as is "A Streetcar Named Desire." These references make the parody even funnier, providing Sissy with sassy comments for Rhett, and a connection to the audience members as they see how the references fit in with the "content" of the parody.