If you know anything about me, you KNEW this post was coming. If you don't know anything about me, I'm sure if someone had asked you 'what is Leah excited about, movie-wise?' you would eventually have guessed at the answer.
Gatsby. The GREAT Gatsby. The greatest Gatsby (according to Stephen Colbert). That old sport Gatsby. Okay, I'm done now. As a heads up, this post contains a crazy amount of spoilers, because I am about to go HAM on The Great Gatsby.
If you've never read the book, you need to go get a copy. Right now. Obviously, I'm a supporter of the book-is-better-than-movie movement, but I will always admit when the movie is just as good. I'm a big fan of both the novel and the film version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, for example. Different perspectives, a different take on the story, but each is equally magnificent in its own right. That's partially why I love the Harry Potter movies (and even the film version of To Kill A Mockingbird); they are not better than the novel, they are not even as good as the novel, but as a stand alone film (or series), there is something magnificent about those films. If I separate myself from the novels, I can appreciate them in isolation. I love them, but I'll always choose the book. And I am the person who leans over in the middle of a scene and whispers that's not what happened in the book! Ugh, I'm so obnoxious!
But back to Gatsby (Gatsby? What Gatsby?) and the beauty that is Fitzgerald's novel. I had the insane luck to actually teach the book twice this year to my 20th Century Lit seniors, and I have to be honest, the second time around was a much better experience. That's true of all teaching -- the first time through might not be a total disaster, but it's not going to be pretty. I don't think I did the book justice first semester, but this time through, I was ready to roll. The impending release date of the film was a good selling point, but I focused on the story this time around.
That sounds weird. What I mean is that we just read the book. Obviously we looked at symbolism and the use of colors (our study of Daisy's name as a metaphor was the reason they laughed so much at the Colbert clip I linked above), but when you have 27 students who simply don't read (EVER), your priorities shift. I wanted them to love the book, not feel overwhelmed by it. I read a lot of the book out loud to them, for some of the same reasons I read the majority of part one in Mockingbird to my 10th graders. My personal inflections and intonations, and even just my awkward pauses, made the book come alive. Not my skills as a reader, mind you -- although I do LOVE reading to people.
As an avid reader and a student of English literature, I often forget that they way I read is not normal. Many of my students struggle just to understand the words on the page, which doesn't allow much freedom to read between the lines, understand the humor, or just enjoy a story. It has nothing to do with technology or generational gaps, but instead is just a sign of how little people read. When reading is not part of a daily routine, it does become more difficult and boring. And I didn't want that for my students.
So I read to them. And you know what? I found a deeper understand of the novel through my reading. The reunion between Daisy and Gatsby is so tense and awkward and hilarious, and I recognized it in a way that wasn't always so clear on my own readings. It was simple for me to pause in the middle of a chapter and Tarantino it (as one of my students dubbed the technique), going back through the plot points, rereading sections until they understood what was happening. Some of them followed along, some just sat and listened (two of them fell asleep most of the time), but they became enthralled by the strange and twisted lives of the characters. By the time we hit the second party at Gatsby's, I was able to tell them to read the rest on their own. Some of them had already finished it, and were completely devastated by the ending.
So what does all of this have to do with the film? Well, The Great Gatsby is a visually stunning novel -- wait, wait, hear me out -- even though it's not a visual. The use of color in the book is overwhelming at times, always symbolic, always important, always memorable. The green light, the yellow car, the scarlet walls, the white dresses, Gatsby's gold tie. The descriptions are simple but done with a finesse that is distinctly Fitzgerald. He is able to waltz his characters from scene to scene, location to location, party to party, without missing a beat. This, in theory, should transfer easily to the big screen but it doesn't. The novel is not meant to be a film. It's like the 5th Harry Potter, The Order of the Phoenix; it's so much inside Harry's own thoughts, and that makes for a pretty shitty movie. No one wants to listen to 3 hours of straight narration! The novel is told through flashbacks and introspection from Nick, and he's annoying enough as it is.
But I was still excited. It's Leo. And Baz. And I was going in with low expectations because no movie has ever been able to capture the novel. Did it do justice to what is arguably one of the most iconic American novels? Ehhh, not quite, but it was close. And here's why. If Gatsby were to make a movie about himself to show Daisy, it would be this version. Minus the weird screaming angry scary Gatsby parts (WTF was that????). It's corny and romanticized and over the top and loud and glitzy and cost wayyyy too much money to make and... wait a minute, didn't I just describe ALL OF GATSBY'S LIFE AFTER DAISY MARRIED TOM AND HE TRIED TO WIN HER BACK BY MAKING MONEY AND THROWING LAVISH PARTIES AND BASICALLY JUST BY BEING A CREEPY AWKWARD WEIRDO???? I mean, I'm just saying, but really...
I think people want to hate the movie because it's the type of movie 'literary types' aren't supposed to like. We are expected to scoff at the plebs who haven't read the novel and don't understand the magnitude of this film, those who just like the Jay-Z soundtrack because they can't appreciate jazz, we are expected to ridicule those who aren't as educated or cultured as we, the civilized types... wait a minute, didn't I just describe TOM BUCHANAN'S DOUCHBAGGARY AND THE EAST EGG WEST EGG DIVIDE???? I mean, I'm just saying, but really...
I liked the over the top moments, and the fireworks that exploded when he told Nick "I'm Gatsby" because it just felt so appropriate to what the novel is really about. Decadence, materialism, reality verses fantasy... the movie is unbelievable because Gatsby himself is unbelievable. Was it perfect? HELL NO. Was it pretty effing good? Absolutely. I'll give it a solid B. It lost points because of the funeral scene, and the fact that Klipspringer never called to get his tennis shoes back. It's the little things, I suppose.
I waited 5 years for this movie to be released and.. wait a minute, didn't Gatsby wait for Daisy for five years? Dammit, Baz, you sneaky devil.
