A Pattern For Female PTSD: The Unauthorized Memory in Victor Fleming’s Cinematic Adaptation of Gone With The Wind and Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth

Abstract

The narrative of post-war trauma is often focused on the experiences of the average white male, while females are often silenced and denied authority to speak about their own war trauma. The researcher aims to assert this fact by examining the quadri-phasic development of war related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder exhibited by Scarlett O’Hara in Victor Fleming’s 1939 cinematic adaptation of Gone with the Wind and Vera Brittain in her own 1933 memoir Testament of Youth. Using William Niederland’s theory of Survivor Syndrome along with numerous literatures on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, the researcher examines the two female characters in the stages of Pre-trauma, Peri-trauma, Post-trauma and Growth. The findings indicate that a positive pre-traumatic life increases women’s chances of developing Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder, and that women’s tendency to dissociate when exposed to trauma is further the root cause of the disorder as both female characters re-experience the feelings of shock and fear that have been dissociated during the traumatic event. The researcher further concludes that women with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder may exhibit an inability to feel and form healthy relationships and that the only means of post-traumatic growth is the establishment of meaningful relationships and connections after resolving and letting go of the past.