The Great Gatsby

Here is my blog on The Great Gatsby written by F.scott Fitzgerald our professor asked me to write the blog with reference to the Film The Great Gatsby. so, here is my view on movie screening with reference to The original Text.

Who is Gatsby?

Jay Gatsby originally named James Gatz is the titular fictional character of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald based many details about the fictional character on Max Gerlach, a mysterious neighbor, and World War I veteran whom the author met while living on Long Island near New York City during the raucous Jazz Age. Like Gerlach, Gatsby is an enigmatic nouveau riche millionaire who lives in a luxurious mansion where he often hosts extravagant parties and who gained his vast fortune by illicit bootlegging during prohibition in the United States.

The character of Jay Gatsby has been analyzed by scholars for many decades and has given rise to a number of critical interpretations. Scholars have posited that Gatsby functions as a cipher because of his obscure origins, his unclear religio-ethnic identity, and his indeterminate class status. Accordingly, Gatsby's socio-economic ascent is deemed a threat by other characters in the novel not only due to his status as nouveau riche but because he is perceived as a societal outsider. The character's biographical details indicate his family is recent immigrants which preclude Gatsby from the status of an Old Stock American. As the embodiment of "latest America", Gatsby's rise triggers status anxieties typical of the 1920s era, involving xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment.

A century after the novel's publication, Gatsby has become a cultural touchstone in 20th century America and is often evoked in popular media in the context of the American Dream—the belief that every individual, regardless of their origins, may seek and achieve their desired goals, "be they political, monetary, or social. It is the literary expression of the concept of America: The land of opportunity".Gatsby has been described by literary scholars as a false prophet of the American dream as pursuing the dream often results in dissatisfaction for those who chase it, owing to its unattainability.

 The Great Gatsby is a 2013 historical romantic drama film based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel of the same name. The film was co-written and directed by Baz Luhrmann and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, and Elizabeth Debicki. Jay-Z served as executive producer. Filming took place from September to December 2011 in Australia, with a $105 million net production budget. The film follows the life and times of millionaire Jay Gatsby and his neighbor Nick Carraway, who recounts his encounter with Gatsby at the height of the Roaring Twenties on Long Island.

The film was highly polarizing among critics; it received both praise and criticism for its acting performances, soundtrack, visual style, direction, and faithfulness to the source material. Audiences responded more positively and Fitzgerald's granddaughter praised the film, stating "Scott would have been proud."As of 2017, it is Luhrmann's highest-grossing film, grossing over $353 million worldwide. At the 86th Academy Awards, the film won in both of its nominated categories: Best Production Design and Best Costume Design.

The Cast 

Leonardo DiCaprio 

Tobey Maguire 

Carey Mulligan

Joel Edgerton 

Elizabeth Debicki

Isla Fisher

Jason Clarke 

Amitabh Bachchan

The Jazz Age 

Scott Fitzgerald termed the 1920s "the Jazz Age." With its earthy rhythms, fast beat, and improvisational style, jazz symbolized the decade's spirit of liberation. At the same time, new dance styles arose, involving spontaneous bodily movements and closer physical contact between partners. The Jazz Age in the United States was in the 1920s and is defined as when the influence of jazz music was widespread and society was experiencing prosperity, Prohibition, and the beginnings of social change. An example of the Jazz Age is flapper girls.

Its themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, excess, and absurdity are often used to describe the Jazz Age and American culture in general, particularly the American Dream.

The presence of jazz in his other works, perhaps most iconically in his grand novel The Great Gatsby, linked the term even more tightly to his name. Today, the moniker “Jazz Age” has come to signify, as a kind of evocative shorthand, the 1920s in both academic and pop culture.

Pictures of Jazz Age from the Great Gatsby 

Fitzgerald’s embrace of jazz, then, was both an acceptance of popular music and a rejection of these racist critiques. Although the word “jazz” only appears a few times in the Great Gatsby, the music itself is ever-present; when music is playing in the background, Fitzgerald frequently refers to saxophones and horns, iconic instruments of the genre. Because of how organically omnipresent jazz is in Fitzgerald’s novel, virtually all later depictions of the book feature roaring jazzy orchestras as a way of capturing the book’s atmosphere, from film adaptations to the by-now-common phenomenon of the Gatsby party.

How did the film help to understand the characters of the Novel? 

honestly saying the Movie helped a lot to understand every single flow of the novel very well. Here are some scenes I liked the most.

The scene Where Gatsby suddenly bumped into Daisy.

As the Narrator says Gatsby is the most optimistic character in the novel movie also when he was in the pool he was expecting Daisy's call. That is not just one thing we found him most hopeful person there are lot more things that prove him full of hope person anyone could ever be.

The significance of The valley of Ashes

It represents the moral and social decay that results from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth, as the rich indulge themselves with regard for nothing but their own pleasure. The valley of ashes also symbolizes the plight of the poor, like George Wilson, who live among the dirty ashes and lose their vitality as a result.

The valley of ashes is the depressing industrial area of Queens that is in between West Egg and Manhattan. It isn't actually made out of ashes but seems that way because of how gray and smoke-choked it is.

The below picture shows the plight of the poor. In Fitzgerald's Novel, The rich are becomes richer and the poor become Poorer.  The Valley of Ashes symbolizes that something is going to happen here as that picture is giving a negative vibe. As a sense of negativity and Darkness.

The Eyes of Dr. T.J.Eckelberg 

The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are a pair of fading, bespectacled eyes painted on an old advertising billboard over the valley of ashes. They may represent God staring down upon and judging American society as a moral wasteland, though the novel never makes this point explicitly.

Another dominant symbol within this novel is the billboard eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. The eyes symbolize the loss of spiritual values in America. The billboard was erected to promote the business of an optometrist in Queensborough the eyes symbolize the growing commercialism of America life in America is all about making money, a lot of money as evidenced by the wealth of people like Tom Buchanan a man’s success is measured in terms of how much money he is worth, not on what kind of person he may be moral. The billboard, like the spiritual values of America, is neglected – “But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground.” The old-fashioned values of America, which Nick Carraway returns to reconnect within the mid-West are completely absent from the East, God seems to have abandoned America, leaving only Dr. T.J. Eckleburg behind to stare down with his empty eyes on people who have abandoned their spiritual values in the quest to achieve material wealth.

The Green Light 

The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock is a significant symbol within the book. To Gatsby, the green light represents his dream, which is Daisy. To attain her would be completing Gatsby’s American Dream. The first time the green light is seen in the novel is also the first time Nick sees Gatsby. Fitzgerald writes, "he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away” The green light is described as ‘minute and far away which makes it appear impossible to reach. This will prove to be true for Gatsby. The green light also represents society’s desire and the seeming impossibility of achieving the materialistic American Dream.   

Conclusion

The Great Gatsby is one of the Best American Fiction novels Written by F.Scott.Fitzgerald Which is published in 1925. Set in Jazz Age.

Here is a brief blog on my understanding of The Great Gatsby.

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