Got the money, got the mansion, now where is my beautiful wife? Jay Gatsby (Leonardo Dicaprio) confronts the dark side of the American Dream. (Photo courtesy: Warner Bros.)
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is one of the most subversive American novels ever written.
That’s because it smashes what may be the biggest idol in the United States: The American Dream. That’s the idea that the purpose of our lives is to achieve– by whatever means necessary — a materialistic standard of life that’s supposed to make us happy. Success equals fulfillment, it says. Many don’t get there and end up unhappy without it. Some achieve it and still feel like something’s missing.
Fatal attraction: Leonardo DiCaprio plays Jay Gatsby and Carey Mulligan portrays Daisy Buchanan. Their ill-fated love story is also the story of disillusionment, romantic obsession, and crushed idealism.
Jay Gatsby’s path to material success leaves a trail of lies and corruption. Even with his spectacular wealth and success his long sought-after status still leaves him unfulfilled. It’s lonely at the top. Fitzgerald forces us to ask the question: what do we do when we’ve done everything society has told us to do and it still leaves us unhappy? The spiritual core of this story is the question asked in the Gospel of Matthew: “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”
A Stunning and Frenetic Update of a Classic Novel
Baz Lurhmann’s screen adaptation of this novel takes the story out of the context of what could have been a stuffy1920’s costume drama and dramatically links it to current times. This is the story of excess in the era of the reign of the 1 percent. Yes, it’s a bit over the top at times. Yes, the moving camera and digital effects are dizzying at times. And yes, it features modern music instead of jazz standards.
But it’s a frenetic movie for a frenetic era. This is a tale of life inside the territory of the 1 percent. And it’s a place everyone else is trying to get in. No one seems content. Those outside strive to get inside, those inside must just continue amassing success and pleasure.
The use of contemporary music only adds to the connection to the present day. Songs by artists such as Jay-Z, Lana Del Ray, and Florence and the Machine send us this message: this is a story just as relevant today as the 1920s. Then is now.
Mystique, Fascination and Repulsion
For those of you who haven’t read the book since high school (and you should read it again – classic novels like good wine are appreciated better with age), the story is about a World War I veteran who returns to America and becomes a successful businessman. But he’s unable to get over the loss of his pre-war love (Daisy, played by Carey Mulligan) who has married another man. Gatsby inhabits a huge Long Island mansion across the water from Daisy’s home. He hosts parties at his home in the hopes that she will come.
Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), left, is on a quest to find out more about the elusive and charismatic Jay Gatsby. His journey takes him to both the myth making and the cold reality of the American Dream.
But after he meets his neighbor Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), who is Daisy’s cousin, they concoct a plan to meet Daisy alone. But that only ultimately leads to more heartbreak.
The mystique surrounding Gatsby is one of the strong points of both the novel and the film. And Leonardo DiCaprio plays Gatsby well. He somehow is able to inhabit all of the following traits: charm, innocence, hollowness, obsession, deception, manipulation, romanticism. We are both fascinated and repulsed.
In many ways, Jay Gatsby was the original Gordon Gekko. Both lived in Long Island. Both were obsessed with Wall Street finance. Both used nefarious ways to earn their money.
Among the Gekko-isms Michael Douglas delivers in the 1987 Wall Street movie: “If you need a friend, get a dog,” When asked about romantic relationships his advice is “no emotions.”
However, Gatsby appears to be more of a romantic. Much of The Great Gatsby is about his obsession with Daisy. He feels empty without her attention. He seems to only live for the possibility of her affection.
Obsession with Possession? Or a Longing for Innocence?
Is she just an obsession he craves to complete his view of what his American Dream should be? Is she just another object to acquire? Or does she represent a lost sense of innocence before he was swept up in a path of greed? We don’t know. That’s one of the masterful complex elements to this story.
But the movie is more than Gatsby’s dilemma. It’s a scathing examination of a society obsessed with wealth and pleasure. And Luhrmann’s contemporary take on this story seems to be this: the fallout from 1920s excess is the same as the fallout from pre-stock market crash 2008 excess. And like Carraway’s piecing together of this story, all we can do to make sense of the carnage of excess is to seek whether there is any moral center to anything. And Carraway senses something in Gatsby that might hold a clue to finding that.
Like Carraway, some of us too are looking for something moral in this culture to grab onto. Something to believe in to help us regain our sense of purpose. Carraway’s quest is for some kind of spiritual meaning in a world that sometimes seems devoid of sincerity and compassion. It’s a masterful examination of why the American dream is an attractive lie.
Here’s the trailer for the movie ‘The Great Gatsby’:
