The movie adaptation of F.Scott Fitzgerald’s novel of
the same title is theatrical in depicting the tale regarding the American Dream.
Set in the era of the Roaring Twenties, the story revolves around the title
character, Jay Gatsby, a self-made American man seeking to live an affluent
life he believed was his. The themes of idealism, decadence, excess and social
upheaval put a greater drama on Gatsby’s shady past and marriage-marring
rendezvous with Daisy Buchanan.
This I asked my friends who watched the film with me at
Eastwood Citywalk last week. One said Jay is great because of his self-reinvention
from rags to riches. That there is greatness in being able to turn into reality
what used to be just hopes and dreams, and Gatsby ceaselessly did that in his
lifetime. While another concurred with what Nick Carraway said of him: “For me
Gatsby is great because he holds on to an idea not just but greater than
himself.”
But what then is this idea that Nick Carraway talks about?
I think it is his idea of love. More than becoming a
representation of the American Dream, Jay Gatsby for me becomes another icon of
that which is timeless and knows no bounds. He may be crazy in love, but that’s what others will think of what you become
when you relentlessly pursue something that others believe should not be, and
could not be. But for Gatsby, it must be pursued; for there is no other life he
dreams of but a life with Daisy Buchanan. In the end, his shady past and
baffling wealth is superseded by the greatness of his love for Daisy.
The movie also treats us to a surplus of
thought-provoking lines.
Here is My Pick of 10 movie quotes from The Great Gatsby.
- “Can't repeat the past? Why, of course you can.” — Jay Gatsby
- “There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.” —Nick Carraway
- “Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope.” —Nick Carraway
- “No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.” —Nick Carraway
- “The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.” —Nick Carraway
- “It occurred to me that there was no difference between men, in intelligence or race, so profound as the difference between the sick and the well.” —Nick Carraway
- “Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply.” —Nick Carraway
- “It is invariably saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of adjustment.” —Nick Carraway
- “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter - tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther... And one fine morning - So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” —Nick Carraway
- “I felt married to her.” — Jay Gatsby
The last of these lines sums up the raison d'être of Gatsby’s ardent pursuit of Daisy.
What girl wouldn’t ever fall for such love and end up
with Jay Gatsby?
Well,
Daisy didn’t, and that’s for you to find out why.
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