Review of The Great Gatsby (2013) by Jackson L — 23 Apr 2016

In the Spring of 1922, the young Nick Carraway moved to Long Island , in a house that borders the Wonderland house of Gatsby , a mysterious millionaire who usually organizes memorable parties and of which it is said all but very little is known. Cousin of the beautiful and sophisticated Daisy Buchanan , wife of a former polo champion, Nick comes to know the past elapsed between Daisy and Gatsby and decides to host a meeting between the two , to five years away . Overwhelmed by the roaring atmosphere of the Jazz Age , by rivers of alcohol and tragedy of an impossible love , Nick discovers himself witness, accomplice and disgusted about American dream. In The movie, there are five important characters who strive for a dream having in common a deep feeling of hope. These five individuals characters are Nick Carraway, the middle class representative, Jay Gatsby, representative of the new rich class, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, who belong to the upper-upper rich class, and Myrtle Wilson who forms the character representing the lower classes of society. They look for fame, wealth, money, social position and power. Moreover, they assume that wealth has the advantage to buy happiness. What a materialistic and sad belief of poor people which are not able to distinguish between illusion and reality, and that through immoral actions decline the American Dream's values.

Jay Gatsby, which has origins from the movie, who changes his name from James Gatz, to make it sound more appealing and glitzy, is the example of a person who become rich although his wealth and money have an unknown origin; most think he made money in illegal businesses and bootlegging with Myer Wolfsheim. Gatsby's purpose is to occupy such a prestigious position in order to impress and recapture for the second time Daisy Buchanan, a lady that only few years before refused to marry him because of his poor social class.

This movie teaches some concrete aspects of life that everyone should be watching, in my opinion this is a postmodern masterpiece, the group of actors are able to make the final product memorable. Even though the movie is about 2 and a half hours long, it does not give a sense of boredom or exhaustion. Part of the credit should be attributed definitely to Luhrmann who was able to create an atmosphere somewhere between the ancient and the modern. The reconstructions are literally stunning of the fantastic parties given by Gatsby in a triumph of bodies , lights and sparkling colors. Music played a big role in the movie, soundtracks and songs were fitting right, they help the audience get into the movie scene even more. Music transmitted feelings and created an accurate atmosphere based on what scene was played.

In summary, Fitzgerald uses his characters to illustrate that the greediness and unquenched desire of material possessions drive people to act as irresponsible. High class people, are the ones that just to achieve their goals they do not care in hurting other people and make them fail. While on the other hand the lower classes in order to achieve wealth are willing to renounce important values.