The Great Gatsby- Movie Review

 Thinking Activity

The Great Gatsby

This blog is written as a part of a thinking activity assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir, Department of English MKBU on the Movie The Great Gatsby which is based on the novel with the same title by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Introduction of the Novel The Great Gatsby:

The Great Gatsby is third novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was published in 1925 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. The novel is set in Jazz Age New York, which tells the tragic story of Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, and his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy young woman whom he loved in his youth. It was not successful while it was published but the book is now considered a classic of American fiction and has often been called the Great American Novel.

On 3rd January 2023, Dilip Barad sir organised screening of the movie The Great Gatsby which is based on the novel with the same title by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This screening was organised to have a better understanding of the novel.

Movie: The Great Gatsby:-

The Great Gatsby is a 2013 historical romantic drama film based on the 1925 novel of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The film was co-written and directed by Baz Luhrmann.

Release date: 17 May 2013 (India)

Director: Baz Luhrmann

Story by: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Adapted from: The Great Gatsby

Nominations: Academy Award for Best Production Design, Academy Award for Best Costume Design

Each and every element of the novel is well captured by Baz Luhrmann in this movie where he uses various symbols to give Cultural effects and state of mind of people like Jay Gatsby is who is newly wealthy and Tom Buchanan and Daisy who belongs from wealthy family and how the differentiation is taken place between both the class.

So as an observer I have found that the movie captures all the aspects very clearly. All the concepts are presented effectively.

How did the film capture the Jazz age, the roaring Twenties, the flappers and the Prohibition Act in America 1920?

Jazz age, the roaring Twenties, the flappers and the Prohibition Act in America 1920 are the significant concepts during the twentieth Century. All these aspects are intertwined. Jazz and flappers are the two major aspects of the Roaring twenties or the twentieth century. So let's try to understand each one by one and how it is presented or captured in the movie.

The Roaring twenties:-

The Roaring Twenties, sometimes stylized as Roaring '20s, refers to the 1920s decade in music and fashion,as it happened in Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural edge in the United States and Europe, particularly in major cities such as Berlin,[2] Buenos Aires, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York City, Paris, and Sydney.

  The Great Gatsby captures the exuberance of the 1920s. It portrays the darker side of the era, and a pointed criticism of the corruption and immorality lurking beneath the glitz and glamour. Through the movie we can see glamour and glitz everywhere but what is behind this is under the dark shadow that one has to encode. Big parties thrown by Jay Gatsby are being liked by those party lovers but no one knows where the money is coming from. People waste their time and money behind such things. We come to know that the secret of Gatsby's wealth is Share market and most probably bootlegging- the illegal business of liquor. While considering this point one has to notice the point that this king of glamour is done by newly rich people like Gatsby. Each kind of glitter- glamour can be categorised under roaring Twenties like Flappers, Jazz and Prohibition act in America.

Flappers:-

Flapper" is the word used for young women known for wearing short dresses and bobbed hair and for embracing freedom from traditional societal constraints. Flappers are predominantly associated with the late 1910s and the ’20s in the United States.

The movie captures the Flappers very accurately. The young ladies Like Daisy and Jordan Baker. Daisy married Tom because he is a wealthy man and she is lying on her husband's money and doing nothing else. When she meets Jay Gatsby and after watching his big mansion and all the prosperity she now wants to be with him.

She is not even sure what she actually wants to do and with whom she wants to be. Here money and property play a vital role to control Daisy's desire.She doesn't have any job except beautifying herself and showing off money and property. She does not have his own brain to think of like other flappers. In appearance also she wears short dresses and boobed hair.

Jordan Baker is a young woman who is always found in the Buchanan house and with luxury. Her appearance is also like Daisy. In the movie we somewhat find attraction between her and Nick but she constantly goes with another man. Her constant appearance in the Buchanan house proves that she is relying on others. She is a free woman but she is not doing what she has to.

The prohibition act in America 1920:

 Prohibition act is legal prevention of the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the United States from 1920 to 1933 under the terms of the Eighteenth Amendment. Although the temperance movement, which was widely supported, had succeeded in bringing about this legislation, millions of Americans were willing to drink liquor illegally, which gave rise to bootlegging- the illegal production and sale of liquor  which was capitalised upon by organised crime. Crimes like these would not happen if the government did not ban alcohol and the most important reason is that people wanted to consume alcohol. So many campaigns were also held to remove this act.

In the movie the great Gatsby Jay Gatsby is the one who is a bootlegger- he is doing illegal business of liquor. Though drinking alcohol was prevented legally, in his parties people can drink as much liquor as they can. Cinematographer has absorbed the idea presented in the novel in a very good way in the movie. 

It is the truth universally acknowledged (as Jane Austen begins her novel 'Pride and Prejudice') that people always do those things at double speed which are prohibited.

Like, in Gujarat there is a complete prohibition on manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. But in India, Gujarat is at top in consuming alcohol. This indicates when there is any kind of prohibition over anything, there always lies a chance to have an illegal business of it. People will not stop consuming alcohol, but as a result of prohibition they may get liquor of lower quality. The Lattha kand in Gujarat is the result of it.

2. Difference between the novel and the movie 'The Great Gatsby'

        Whenever we tend to compare the film and the novel, we have to consider some sort of changes that the filmmaker has made in the movie and how it creates the overall impact on the viewers. Basically the movie 'The Great Gatsby' is an impactful film and in many ways is faithful to the novel. Though the filmmaker has made so many changes. So let's try to analyse the changes which Luhrmann has done in the movie 'The Great Gatsby'.

        The chief change that Luharmann has done is the beginning. The movie begins with Nick Carraway who is in a sanatorium because he is diagnosed by a doctor with some sort of Morbidly alcohol. The other change in the story is that in the novel Nick refers to get be as the man who gives his name to this book. Whereas in the movie Nick first gives it the title 'Gatsby' and then adds 'The Great'. In the novel Nick says that he has consumed alcohol twice in his life but in the movie he is shown drunk more than that.

        The relationship between Jordan and Nick is portrayed differently in the movie. In the novel they become a couple and break up near the end of the novel, whereas in the movie we can't find even the development of their relationship. The scene of the apartment Party is also different in both forms. In the novel Tom and Myrtle disappear and reappear before other guests arrive. Whereas in the movies Luhrmann describes so many things together. Luharmann's Nick wakes up at home and doesn't know how he got there, while in Fitzgerald's novel he goes to the station at 4 O'clock for the train to get home. 

          The lunch with Wilson is described by Luharmann differently. In the book Gatsby takes Nick to lunch where he introduces Nick with Meyer Wolfsheim Whereas in the film Gatsby and Nick go to the barber shop and see Wolfsheim. This meeting is also depicted differently. Luharmann also cuts out two characters, one his maid The Finnish Woman and Ella Kaye, to whom in the novel the wealth of Dan Cody goes whereas in the movie it goes to Gatsby. 

        Jay Gatsby's death and funeral is also differentiated in the film. In the novel Gatsby is murdered by George Wilson but Fitzgerald doesn't depict the murder. In both the movie and the novel Gatsby is waiting for the phone call of Daisy, but in the film Nick calls and his phone ring Gatsby hears at the end and he dies believing that that call was of Daisy. None of that happens in the novel. In both the versions, Gatsby dies loney. But in the film Gatsby's Father arrives unexpectedly. 

The Valley of Ashes is an important setting in the movie 'The Great Gatsby'. The filmmaker has captured the concept of Valley of ashes in an excellent way and has given more essence to the idea of F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Valley of Ashes is an unpleasant place that reveals the dark side of American society in the 1920s. Ultimately, it represents the breakdown of morality caused by extreme wealth inequality. It is in stark contrast to settings such as East Egg, West Egg, and Manhattan.

In the movie we can see that many times the Filmmaker moves the camera from East to West and West to East Egg through the valley of ashes to describe the dual condition of the society and unequal distribution of wealth. 

How did the film help in understanding the symbolic significance of 'The Valley of ashes', 'The eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleberg' and 'The Green light'?

The valley of ashes:

The Valley of Ashes is an important setting in the movie 'The Great Gatsby'. The filmmaker has captured the concept of Valley of ashes in an excellent way and has given more essence to the idea of F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Valley of Ashes is an unpleasant place that reveals the dark side of American society in the 1920s. Ultimately, it represents the breakdown of morality caused by extreme wealth inequality. It is in stark contrast to settings such as East Egg, West Egg, and Manhattan.

In the movie we can see that many times the Filmmaker moves the camera from East to West and West to East Egg through the valley of ashes to describe the dual condition of the society and unequal distribution of wealth. It's symbolic significance is very well portrayed in the movie.

I have used a gif from the movie clip in which we can see how the valley of ashes is distinguished from other parts of the city. When we look at the movie clip, we can find a kind of contrast suddenly with the moving camera.

In this clip also we can see how the life of people living in the area 'Valley of Ashes' is portrayed. In the movie it is said that This is the area which provides electricity to the Waste Egg. So in a way this industrial area gives the glitter to Rich people.

The eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleberg:

The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg on the billboard is overlooking the Valley of Ashes. It represents many things at once and also differes from person to person but at the same time it plays a role of God. Like to Nick it symbolises the haunting waste of the past, which lingers on though it is irretrievably vanished, much like Dr. Eckleburg's medical practice. The eyes can also be linked to Gatsby, whose own eyes, once described as "vacant," often stare out, blankly keeping "vigil" over Long Island sound and the green light. To George Wilson, Dr. Eckleburg's eyes are the eyes of God, which he says see everything.

In the movie this Billboard(Eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleberg) is captured accurately. The filmmaker has moved the camera from the Billboard to a particular situation which presents how people's deeds are returned back to them in a way what they have done. But in the case of Carraways, these eyes are partial also.

          In this clip of the movie, the camera is moved from the Billboard to the Valley to ashes which symbolically represents the fate of people. 

In this sequence of the movie the camera first has sight of Myrtle's Husband and suddenly it captures the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleberg and from there it goes to Gatsby. Here eyes are used in an appropriate as well as symbolically that the bullet will go to Gatsby which is seen by these Eyes.

The Green light

The Green light symbolises Gatsby’s love for Daisy, money, the American Dream and the most important his 'Hope'.

         This is the very first frame of the movie. Here the camera moves from green light to the sentoriam. This frame gives an insight of the American Dream.

      This frame denotes the Hope of Jay Gatsby. This Green is on the dock of Buchanan's house. Jay Gatsby has bought or build his house infront of Buchanan's home and this green light which ultimately denotes that Jay wants Daisy in his life and thus in this frame Jay is looking at the green light and suddenly camera moves to the green light which emphatically shows how the desire of Gatsby has been strengthen.

The theme of Sexism:

Sexism:

Throughout the novel women have been shown as the lesser sex, weaker and secondary characters. They are portrayed as dumb, stupid, and nothing more than their fading beauty. They are written as if they need to be saved or helped because they cannot help themselves.  Daisy Buchanan who believes all a woman can be is a “beautiful little fool”. Daisy is shown to be literally stupid or mindless. She married Tom for his money and comfort. Gatsby also knew that only money and elegance can attract Daisy towards him and that's why he shows his property to her and she really admits that she wanted the same. We can see in the movie that Jordan Barker is like Daisy doing nothing. She is shown as living in the money of Buchanan as she always found in the Buchanan house. Myrtle is also having an affair with Tom, a rich man who betrayed her husband.

In a way, all the female characters are shown as having no role in the story. However the whole story is based on female characters at the base.

   

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