The drama film The Great Gatsby is a brilliant film adaptation of the novel of the same name by F.S. Fitzgerald, which, despite mixed reviews from critics, was highly appreciated by the audience and became a clear hit in 2013. A vibrant cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, along with lavish visuals and heady roaring 20s vibes, made this film one of the most notable films of the early decade.
What is The Great Gatsby about?
The events of the film take the viewer to New York in the 1920s, during the period of luxury and freedom preceding the Great Depression. The young financier Nick Carraway, on behalf of whom the story is being told, rents a house on Long Island and becomes a neighbor of the mysterious rich man Jay Gatsby, who throws lavish parties and hosts the whole color of the city. Nick later visits the home of his cousin Daisy, who is married to tycoon Tom Buchanan, and becomes an unwitting participant in the next events of the film.
One day, Nick receives an invitation to his neighbor’s party and gets to know him. The mysterious Gatsby turns out to be a pleasant young man who, as it turns out later, once had an affair with Daisy, but the lovers separated, because Jay was poor and could not afford to marry a girl from a rich family. But in five years, Gatsby managed to make a considerable fortune, and now he decided to return Daisy. He asks Nick to bring them together again, to which the narrator agrees, but in the end this causes terrible events. Torn between her love for Jay and her wife’s duty, Daisy accidentally hits her husband’s mistress in Gatsby’s car, and Tom himself blames his rival for what happened.
The husband of the deceased Myrtle kills Gatsby with a pistol, and Daisy and Tom decide to start over and leave New York. Deeply hurt by the tragedy, Nick loses interest in life and is treated for developed alcohol addiction.
Meaning of The Great Gatsby
Like the novel of the same name by F.S. Fitzgerald, its modern film adaptation tells of a dream – pure and pure, which makes the viewer empathize with the dreamer and sympathize with his goal. Such a wonderful dreamer is Jay Gatsby – a man who is so obsessed with the desire to return the woman he loves that he makes truly titanic efforts for this. The son of a poor farmer, in a short time he turns into a real gentleman, a war hero and creates a name for himself. Jay becomes the owner of a luxurious castle and the owner of a huge fortune, but not out of a desire to get rich, because he is not greedy. Each of his noisy parties is worth a whole capital, but he continues to throw them with only one goal – to meet his beloved Daisy there one day.
Although Gatsby made a fortune not quite legally and bashfully hides the squalor of his origin behind a fictional legend, his soul is pure, and his dream is beautiful. In the film, this touching purity is opposed to another dream that Daisy and her husband Tom embody – the “American” dream in the worst sense of the term, with a blind desire for wealth, prestige and high status. These two have had the best since childhood, they do not want another life. Locked in their cozy world of money, the Buchanans are so afraid of losing their stability and place in high society that they are ready to forgive each other’s betrayals and endlessly start all over again.
Tom is a gentleman by right of birth, but he does not hesitate to deceive his wife with numerous mistresses, he is not ashamed to lie and throw his blame on innocent people. His innumerable abominations are contrasted by the pure heart of Jay, who made himself, but is so devoted and touchingly naive that he does not notice that his beloved Daisy is an ordinary empty shell. It is this naivete that makes Gatsby “Great”. It is this confrontation between spiritual purity and malicious intent, sincere blind love and fleeting infatuation, which unfolds against the backdrop of the madness and brilliance of the post-war world, which is drowned in money and opportunities, is the main meaning of the film.
The meaning of the ending of the film “The Great Gatsby”
After the unbridled brilliance of the beginning and climax of the picture, by its end the atmosphere becomes gloomy and dramatic, the colors fade. The sudden death of Myrtle forces Tom and Daisy to do what they used to do in difficult situations – hide behind money and run, but poor Jay will not know this. Wilson’s bullet catches him at a moment when he is completely sure that Daisy will choose him, so Gatsby’s beautiful dream remains with him even in death – this is one of the meanings of the finale, but another lies in the funeral scene of the protagonist.
Jay’s generosity attracted hundreds of New Yorkers to his parties, and all the powers that be sought his favor and friendship, but with the death of the owner, his castle was empty. Nick Carraway was the only one who saw Gatsby on his last journey, and this had a huge impact on the narrator, because he realized that those around him needed Jay only when they could take advantage of his generosity. This episode reveals the deep fixation of society on material values and its depravity.
