Thinking Activity:The Great Gatsby

Francis Cugat’s jacket design for The Great Gatsby is the most celebrated and widely disseminated jacket art in American Literature. After appearing on the first printing in 1925, it was revived more than a half-century later for the “Scribner Library” paperback editions (1979 – present).  Cugat’s painting is iconic: the sad, hypnotic, heavily outlined eyes of a woman beam like headlights through a cobalt night sky. Their irises are transfigured into reclining female forms. From one of the eyes streams a green luminescent tear; brightly rouged lips complete the sensual triangle. Below, on earth, brightly colored carnival lights blaze before a metropolitan skyline.

1) How did the film capture the Jazz Age the Roaring Twenties of the America in 1920s?

The Jazz Age was a period in the 1920s and 1930s in which jazz music and dance styles rapidly gained nationwide popularity in the United States. The Jazz Age's cultural repercussions were primarily felt in the United States, the birthplace of jazz. 

Fitzgerald himself coined the term  of Jazz age. In the term reaction to the death/destruction/loss of innocence from WWI (post-war prosperity). During this time, there was a mass migration from rural areas to cities where “parties were bigger, the pace was faster, the buildings were higher, the morals looser” (Fitzgerald). So Some called it the first truly modern decade. In this time women is Flapper. Flappers means modern women of the 1920s – young, rebellious, fun-loving, and bold – short hair, short dresses (to the knees), more makeup (esp. lipstick) – attitudes changes – ex:  began to smoke and drink in public.

All these things we can go inside the movie that comes to the jazz age. From the video below we will understand more that the way jazz age is defined, the thing happens inside the movie.

2) How did the film help in understanding the characters of the novel?

The film based on the great gatsby introduces the character in a different way.  Before the introduction of each of the characters in the movie, a different kind of events take place.  When Nick is introduced, a room with curtains flying before him is shown.  It is then introduced by the top.  The camera angle also plays an important role in this movie.  Camera shoots from all over the top, bottom, inside and outside introduce the characters.  A big party is shown inside the movie when Getsby is about to be introduced, and everyone dances with each other.  nikke asks everyone who is Mr. Gatsby? .  And finally a guy comes in and says I am Mr. Gatsby.  That’s how Gatsby introduces it.Which we can see in the video below.

3) 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- the area between West Egg and New York City.  It is a desolate area filled

with industrial waste.  It represents the social and moral decay of society during the 1920’s.  It also shows the negative effects of greed. This movie has a scene from Valley.  It is a symbol.  The valley is next to both the train tracks and the road that runs from West Egg to Manhattan — Nick and other characters travel  through it via both modes of transportation.  The thing we can see inside the movie.

The Eyes of Doctor. T. J. Eckeburg: 

As the car passes through the valleys  in the movie at that time shown  the eyes.  It shows that someone is watching.  This eye is also shown in the center of the movie when a car accident occurs.  Which shows that, if no one has seen, nothing.  But the eye has seen.  This eye is as a symbol. The Eyes of Doctor. T. J. Eckleburg can be interpreted in different Ways. They can be seen as God's eyes  judging and looking at people who have lost their morality. They look down upon humanity and the human condition.  Making a connecti on between God and the eyes exists in Wilson's imagination. They can also be interpreted  as the meaninglessness of this world.  Nick Carraway describes the billboard as a huge pair of blue eyes. He says in chapter two:  "The Eyes of Doctor. T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic- their retinas are one yard high".

'The Green Light'

The green color usually symbolizes hope, spring and vitality.   The green light in the novel symbolizes the hope and optimism for Gatsby to have Daisy and reunite with her. When he looks at this light, he feels confident and hopeful that his dream will be fulfilled. Green Light- at the end of Daisy’s dock and visible from Gatsby’s mansion.  Represents Gatsby's hopes and dreams about Daisy. It also seems that the green light at the beginning of the novel foreshadows the tragic end in the last chapter, when we find Gatsby dead.

4) How did the film capture the theme of racism and sexism?

The Great Gatsby is an American literature.  In which the difference between black people and white people is shown.  Like Tom is a rich man.  There are many black people working as servants in his bungalow.  It shows the difference in color.  The Great Gatsby movie also has sex scenes.  Including the relationship between....

Marriages

Tom/Daisy

George/Myrtle

Relationships/Affairs

Daisy/Gatsby

Tom/Myrtle

Nick/Jordan

5) Watch the video on Nick Carraway and discuss him as a narrator.

Nick was the novel’s narrator.  Nick is also a mid-westerner who moved East.  He happens to be Daisy’s cousin.Nick happens to move to a small house next to Gatsby’s mansion in West Egg.  His mid-western sensibilities  give us an outsiders perspective on how the wealthy socialites like the Buchanans lead their lives. He participates  actively in its events and action.  A wise and cultured young gentleman, Nick is also conscientious. He lends company to the readers throughout the novel, judging the events as they happen from his own unique perspective. His conscience and sense of morality differentiate him from the others. He uses some of the interesting lines. He recalls her father and his moral advises. The way he represent the story is awesome and in chronological.