I found a parallel between the illusionistic world that the book creates for the reader and the illusionistic world that Jay Gatsby builds for himself. Due to the glitz and glam, the audience cannot help but fall in love and long to be a part of Gatsby's social circle, so one can sympathize and better comprehend why Gatsby would concoct this faux world. It plays on people's dissatisfaction with their own lives. How is it that this man was able to create so much for himself? Even if it is falsified, it is remarkable and admirable.
Monday, May 6, 2013
Revisiting Gatsby Prior to Film Experience
As many of you know, the new The Great Gatsby film by Baz Luhrman is being released this Friday, May 10th. SO, I have been re-reading and therefore re-falling-in-love with the book in anticipation. Fiction is the most basic word that describes the novel for me. It transports my brain and soul to the glamorous and dreamy 1920's.
I found a parallel between the illusionistic world that the book creates for the reader and the illusionistic world that Jay Gatsby builds for himself. Due to the glitz and glam, the audience cannot help but fall in love and long to be a part of Gatsby's social circle, so one can sympathize and better comprehend why Gatsby would concoct this faux world. It plays on people's dissatisfaction with their own lives. How is it that this man was able to create so much for himself? Even if it is falsified, it is remarkable and admirable.
I found a parallel between the illusionistic world that the book creates for the reader and the illusionistic world that Jay Gatsby builds for himself. Due to the glitz and glam, the audience cannot help but fall in love and long to be a part of Gatsby's social circle, so one can sympathize and better comprehend why Gatsby would concoct this faux world. It plays on people's dissatisfaction with their own lives. How is it that this man was able to create so much for himself? Even if it is falsified, it is remarkable and admirable.
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I remember loving that book while I read it, but shortly thereafter forgetting most of what it was about. I don't know why it didn't stick with me like most great books do. Was the fault with the way I read, or the way it was written, or was it a simple lack of compatibility?
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, I think the film will be great. Baz Luhrman (like Gatsby) is the best at wrapping us up in new flashy worlds (Moulin Rouge, Australia). I also think Leonardo DeCaprio and Tobey Maguire were well cast.
I do fear that Luhrmann will romanticize the very thing we are supposed to recoil from in Gatsby.
ReplyDeleteI thought this quotation published today (by Zachary M. Seward at Quartz) was provocative:
"Many people seem enchanted enough by the decadence described in Fitzgerald’s book to ignore its fairly obvious message of condemnation. Gatsby parties can be found all over town. They are staples of spring on many Ivy League campuses and a frequent theme of galas in Manhattan. Just the other day, vacation rental startup Airbnb sent out invitations to a 'Gatsby-inspired soiree' at a multi-million-dollar home on Long Island, seemingly oblivious to the novel’s undertones. It’s like throwing a Lolita-themed children’s birthday party."
http://tinyurl.com/bvvwudb