Vivien Leigh places the Oscar she won for her role as Scarlett in Gone With The Wind on her mantlepiece at home, 1940.

 

 Vivien Leigh places the Oscar she won for her role as Scarlett in Gone With The Wind on her mantlepiece at home, 1940. Photographer Unknown.

In honor of the Oscars which aired the other night, I found a photo on TIME.com about the Academy Awards. The picture, which is captioned: “Vivien Leigh places the Oscar she won for her role as Scarlett in Gone With The Wind on her mantelpiece at home, 1940” immortalizes a moment from 75 years ago. In it, Vivien Leigh places her Oscar on top of a fireplace mantle in a messy and cluttered room. From a technical standpoint, the shadows of the room provide a nice contrast. Vivien Leigh, presumably still in her gown from the ceremony, glows.

                This picture appealed to me for several reasons.  The setup of the room seems so disconnected from what I would expect an Oscar-winner’s room to be like. Like my own desk, her table is covered with magazines. Her fireplace mantle has only a statue and a wobbly candle stick on it (before the Oscar is placed). The mantle itself is cracked and dimpled, both of which certainly don’t seem like a movie star would own. Lying next to the fireplace is some sort of pot, as if it were for cooking. Finally, the corner of the room has a couch (which would remind one of Freud’s) that is pushed to the side. Nothing about the room reminds me of a movie star’s house. In fact, the room is so unassuming that the Oscar, which is cinema’s highest achievement, seems like it is just some figurine being placed above the fireplace.

                What I liked most about this image was its timelessness. While the room seems out of place due to its lack of technology (today it would have a TV instead of a fireplace, and an iPad in place of the magazines), the Oscar provides a reminder of films permanence. Everything in that room could be gone or destroyed, but the work that the award commemorates will live on forever. Film does a beautiful job as preserving time. The image of the Oscar will always exist just as Gone with the Wind will always be remembered as one of the greatest films of all time. Once you take a look at the Academy Award in the photo, you can’t help but think of all that it will forever represent.