The Great Gatsby
Due to work and other social obligations, this last week was
crazy for me, and I was unable to see a theater show, which did make me sad.
But I am excited to blog about my thoughts on a different type of artistic
experience I had: The Great Gatsby. Within the last week, I read the classic
novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald and watched the Baz Luhrmann directed film. And
while the film is not perfect, I thought that it was a beautiful homage to the
book.
I spent a lot of this past week considering Gatsby, and the
themes of the story. The process of reading the book during the lead up to the
movie kept so much of the story at the forefront of my mind that I kept
building up my expectations for the film. It is amazing how something written
so long ago can still have such poignant themes in today’s American society.
And it’s amazing that one of the premier American novels by a premiere American
writer is still so controversial and relevant. It’s themes the pursuit of
wealth, love, sex, happiness, without regard to those around you, continue to
plague American society today. Luhrmann’s task to create a film of this beloved
story is doomed from the start, since the source material is so well regarded
and so well loved by professors, critics and readers alike. Not everyone will
like his interpretation and many will say he failed at capturing the themes
Fitzgerald attempted to convey. And yet some (including myself) will say it’s a
suitable version of the story.
The main failure of the film in my eyes was to justify our
narrator’s narration of the story of his friend Jay Gatsby. From the start, we
see Nick Carraway at an asylum, disheveled and unable to live life due to the
instances that happened to him while in New York (and specifically surrounding his
relationship with Gatsby). This is not a part of the novel. The novel merely
begins with Nick telling us about his life, and ultimately his time with his
friend Gatsby. But the movie starts at the asylum, and checks back in with Nick
Carraway as he tells his story (first orally and then through a typewriter) to
his doctor. And it ends with him putting the final touches on his new novel
“The Great Gatsby.” We as a viewer are constantly reminded that a man who may
not be a trustworthy narrator is telling this story. (And it is oddly similar
in tone, color, and composition to shots of Ewen McGregor as Christian in one
of Luhrmann’s other notable film, “Moulin Rouge”). This device is unnecessary
and takes away from the powerful storytelling of the rest of the film.
The best parts of film version of “The Great Gatsby” revolve
around Leonardo DiCaprio himself. This isn’t the first time the actor was
paired with Baz Luhrmann, as they worked together on “Romeo and Juliet.” He
plays Gatsby, and he does a beautiful job. He performance is perfection, and
the moment he is on screen, the movie really gets interesting. Gatsby is a
complicated character, a man who must be loved by both women and men, and must
be very confident and appropriately insecure. I was moved by DiCaprio’s
vulnerability. There is a lot of mythos around Leonardo DiCaprio himself,
similar in many ways to Jay Gatsby. They are wealthy men who are both intensely
private. And there isn’t much known about DiCaprio’s day to day life, or his
relationships, and I think in many ways, he was able to show a boyish, romantic
side of him, not really seen since he was a young actor in James Cameron’s
“Titanic”.
Another part of Luhrmann’s film that really succeeds, is his
method of creating a mood. He is an over the top director, and his film of “The Great Gatsby” can be appropriately
described as such. He truly captured the images I’d imagined while reading
about the wild parties at the Gatsby household, from the saturated colors of
women’s dresses, to the loud music pumping through guests’ ears. And all the
excess and gaudiness of the film slowly fades as we move along the story, and
Luhrmann adeptly pulls back his fantastical style to show the changing attitude
of Gatsby once Daisy is in his life. The second half of the movie is so calm,
simple, and respectful of the subject matter it’s been dealt. It even remains
eerily calm at Gatsby’s death.
Symbolically, the loss of Gatsby is Fitzgerald commenting on
the loss of the American dream. How the dream is rooted in misguided hopes, and
how even if the dream is attained, it is hollow, not what was expected. Much of
literature and TV and film deal with America’s pursuit for success and
happiness. And much of it discusses the pitfalls that come when these hopes are
rooted in desires fueled by humanity’s greed. The message hasn’t changed in
over one hundred years, and yet, humanity hasn’t changed either. Every day I
hear about another greedy choice made by someone attempting to get ahead in
life. It saddens me. Humanity is so focused on work and
money, success and fame. It ruins our empathy for others and our
relationships.
“There are only the pursued, the pursuing,
the busy and the
tired.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald “The Great Gatsby”
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