History YMMV / TheGoodEarth

* ToughActToFollow: After winning her second Oscar for this film, Luise Rainer retired from acting shortly afterwards, knowing she wouldn't be able to top her previous performances.

* InsaneTrollLogic: A casting example; the leads were all played by white actors in Yellowface to better appeal to American audiences. Anna May Wong wanted the role of O-Lan, but the producers declined because the Hays Code prevented showing mixed-race couples on screen...which wouldn't have been an issue if they cast a Chinese actor to play Wang Lung in the first place like they should have.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: The story is a very bleak look at the lives of Chinese farmers. The main characters endure famine, poverty, social unrest, and the threat of bandits. Their home lives are characterized by ingratitude, jealousy, and betrayal. As Wang Lung rises through the ranks, he remains very unsympathetic and treats O-Lan horribly. His relationship with Lotus is sexually charged but ultimately loveless and hollow. None of the supporting characters are that nice either, except for the Poor Fool and Pear Blossom. It's perhaps for this reason that the characters are softened in the film adaptation.

* OvershadowedByControversy: The film is usually mentioned for the scandal involving Creator/AnnaMayWong not being able to play O-Lan, due to the Hays Code.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The effects that create the locust storm in the film are pretty impressive for a TroubledProduction during the late 1930s.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The effects that create the locust storm in the film are pretty impressive for a TroubledProduction during the late 1930s.

** On that note, Wang Lung's father's reference to how "a woman must bear and bear and bear" just to have any hope of surviving offspring. He points out that Wang Lung's mother had so many children ("a score or more") but he can't even remember the actual number. Of all those babies, only Wang Lung survived.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The effects that create the storm in the film are pretty impressive for a TroubledProduction during the late 1930s.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: The story is a very bleak look at the lives of Chinese farmers. As Wang Lung rises through the ranks, he becomes very unsympathetic and treats O-Lan horribly. None of the supporting characters are that nice either, except for the Poor Fool and Pear Blossom. It's perhaps for this reason that the characters are softened in the film adaptation.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: The story is a very bleak look at the lives of Chinese farmers. As Wang Lung rises through the ranks, he becomes very unsympathetic and treats O-Lan horribly. None of the supporting characters are that nice either - except for the poor fool and Pear Blossom. It's perhaps for this reason that the characters are softened in the film adaptation.

* JerkassWoobie: Lotus, when you think about it. She was sold into a brothel from a young age and has spent her entire life being valued for her looks. She even becomes Wang Lung's concubine because she knows her looks are starting to fade, and she'll have no prospects otherwise. Still she is a massive {{Jerkass}} to everyone.

** The poor fool, who's something of a MoralityPet for everyone. Lotus's biggest KickTheDog moment involves kicking the poor fool.

* FridgeHorror: Wang Lung's uncle is healthy and active long after Wang Lung's father is sick enough to be confined to bed [[spoiler: and even dies.]] That means he's probably related to Wang Lung's mother, not his father. Say... how big of an age difference would that imply between Wang Lung's father and his mother?

* TearJerker: [[spoiler:The death of O-Lan.]]

* FridgeBrilliance: A lot of characters discuss the high infant morality rate babies shortly after childbirths, and thus the importance of a woman bearing as many children as possible (so at least ''some'' of them survive). Yet, all of O-lan's children make it to adulthood (except the daughter she's implied to have strangled at birth during a famine). Why is that? Well, in the early 20th century germs were discovered, as well as the link between doctors and midwives not washing washing their hands before delivering newborn babies and their high mortality rate. O-lan herself goes against the tradition of having a midwife by bearing her children alone, and cutting their umbilical chords with a clean reed leaf. Thus, none of her children are exposed to potentially deadly germs, and they all lived to adulthood (sans one).

** On that note, Wang Lung's reference to how "a woman must bear and bear and bear" just to have any hope of surviving offspring. He points out that Wang Lung's mother had so many children ("a score or more") but he can't even remember the actual number. Of all those babies, only Wang Lung survived.

* TearJerker: [[spoiler:The death of O-Lan]]

* CompleteMonster: Wang Lung's uncle, who repeatedly mooches off of his nephew, treats his niece in law cruelly, is suspected of eating some of his children during a famine, joins/becomes the leader of a gang that kills people, burns down houses and rapes women [[ForTheEvulz for laughs]], and attempts to blackmail Wang Lung with this fact. [[spoiler: Fortunately, [[KarmicDeath he ends up dying from his opium addiction]]...and then his equally vile son takes over]].

* CompleteMonster: Wang Lung's uncle, who repeatedly mooches off of his nephew, treats his niece in law cruelly, joins/becomes the leader of a gang that kills people, burns down houses and rapes women [[ForTheEvulz for laughs]], and attempts to blackmail Wang Lung with this fact. [[spoiler: Fortunately, [[KarmicDeath he ends up dying from his opium addiction]]...and then his equally vile son takes over]].

* JerkAss: Wang Lung, at various points.
** His relatives ''much'' more so.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Though Buck was a die-hard feminist, she depicts traditional Chinese practices (such as concubines and foot-binding) fairly straightforwardly.

* TearJerker: [[spoiler:The death of O-Lan]]
* ValuesDissonance: Though Buck was a die-hard feminist, she depicts traditional Chinese practices (such as concubines and foot-binding) fairly straightforwardly.