The film, The Great Gatsby, serves as a symbolic tribute to 1920s America. The movie emphasizes a society of materialism and corruption while also portraying a sense of the social structure and spiritual desolation associated with the 1920s. In the tragedy, The Great Gatsby, Baz Luhrmann, portrays irony, symbolism, and materialism to depict the moral decline of society.
Using references and symbolism, The Great Gatsby brings to life a society whose attitude was affected by the recent ending of World War 1. At the center of this morally decayed and corrupt society is Jay Gatsby. Jay Gatsby is a reinvention of James Gatz and representations a world of materialism. No longer is the American Dream one of hard work and honesty. Gatsby’s version of the American Dream is “rising from rags to riches, of amassing a great fortune that will assure a life of luxuriant ease, power, and beauty in an ideal world untroubled by care and devoted to the enjoyment of everlasting pleasure and nothing to intervene between wish and fulfillment” (70). At first, how Gatsby acquires his fortune is not completely clear. We find out more on the subject when Gatsby introduces Nick to Meyer Wolfsheim. Gatsby explains to Nick that Wolfsheim is a gambler and adds that Wolfsheim was “the man who fixed the 1919 World Series” (The Great Gatsby). His relationship with Wolfsheim implies that Gatsby is involved in illegal dealings. The character of Tom Buchanan identifies Gatsby as a bootlegger. Tom suggests that Gatsby is involved in other illegal dealings with Wolfsheim that have not yet come to light.
The movie introduces a different kind of corruption than that found in Jay Gatsby. The marriage of Tom and Daisy Buchanan is corrupt because both Tom and Daisy are corrupt. Furthermore, although not entirely clear in the beginning, this corruption seems to unite both Tom and Daisy. From the beginning, Tom’s corrupt nature is obvious. Daisy refers to him as a “brute” (The Great Gatsby). Also, various comments made by Tom show him to be a racist, “we’ll have intermarriage between black and white” (The Great Gatsby). Early in the story, we learn Tom is having an extramarital affair which he does not try to hide. At first, Daisy’s corrupt nature is a little less obvious, giving the impression that she is unhappy with Tom. This later makes Gatsby’s dream of recapturing the past seem possible. However, when Daisy complains to Nick about her marriage to Tom, Nick feels the insincerity of what Daisy has said. During one of Gatsby’s lavish parties, problems in the marriage of Tom and Daisy become more evident. Daisy spends a good deal of time dancing and talking with Gatsby while Tom is busy pursuing another female partygoer. Although both Tom and Daisy seem unhappy with each other’s behavior, they remain united in their dislike for the nouveau riche and are again asserting their membership in upper-class society. It becomes clear when Gatsby asks Daisy to tell Tom that she never loved him that it becomes clear that Daisy’s intention is not to leave Tom. Also, when Tom reveals how Gatsby acquires his wealth, Daisy, like Tom, sees Gatsby as unequal. Therefore, Daisy and Tom are once again united in their bond. Later, when Daisy accidentally kills Myrtle, we see Tom and Daisy are indeed corrupt.
The relationship between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan is quintessential to The Great Gatsby. Through this relationship, the underlying theme of the materialism associated with the 1920s is depicted. Gatsby meets Daisy at a time in his youth when he has already transitioned from Gatz to Gatsby. Still, a young man of meager means, Gatsby, knew that it was only by pure chance that he was in Daisy’s house. Daisy represented an entirely different social class, one of money and status. Gatsby falls in love with all that Daisy represented rather than with the young girl herself. Based on lies told to Daisy by Gatsby regarding his social standing, Daisy promises to wait for Gatsby to return from the war. Sometime later, however, Daisy in submission to all that material wealth has to offer, marries Tom Buchanan. Gatsby, who never stopped loving Daisy, goes on a never-ending quest to recapture the past. Everything Gatsby does, from the lavish parties to the purchase of the mansion on West Egg, is to win Daisy. In his blinded pursuit of Daisy, he sees her as the fulfillment of his distorted American Dream. When he re-enters Daisy’s life, Daisy-like Gatsby also sees through the eyes of a materialistic society. Gatsby becomes a possible contender to Tom once Daisy sees his vast collection of shirts.
The movie uses symbolism to express the corrupt and materialistic nature of the 1920s.
He uses Fifth Avenue, a place associated with wealth, as the place that Nick used to love, but in the end, made him “sick” (The Great Gatsby). Regarding the fixing of the 1919 World Series, not even the game of baseball, an American tradition, is free from corruption. It is also interesting to note how the movie uses a play on names to encompass the corruption and materialism associated with the Roaring Twenties. The name Gatsby or Gat which is slang for the word pistol or Gatlin Gun the name Buchannan whose first syllable is a homonym for a buck or dollar bill both capture the spirit of the 1920s.
Nick, one of the characters in the movie tells the story from his perspective. Since we are hearing the story from Nick’s perspective, we can see the story from a more personal viewpoint and relate better to the story. Also, Nick, being in a different social group than the other characters, we the moviegoers get more insight into the various worlds of each character.
The tone of The Great Gatsby affects the audience in that various emotions are felt due to the changing feelings of the narrator.
Masterfully, Baz Luhrmann brings to light a strong awareness of the social class characterized in the 1920s. By the use of East and West Egg, by type of wealth old money versus new money, and by one’s behavior or conduct as seen by Gatsby’s partygoers. Home to the old money wealth of Tom and Daisy Buchanan is East Egg with its single green light flashing at the end of the dock. This green light helps to symbolize Gatsby’s hope for his and Daisy’s future. But in the end, it showed his inability to attain full status as a gentleman regardless of his wealth. As members of the nouveau riche, Gatsby, as well as Carraway, are sentenced to West Egg. The Valley of the Ashes, home of Myrle and George, introduces us to another social class, the poor. With its gray and black colors, and dirty streets and clothing. Also, seen through Gatsby’s lavish parties is debauchery associated with the nouveau riche that Daisy finds vulgar, therefore defining Daisy as a non-member of the world of the nouveau riche.
The moral decay of the 1920s is evident in the movie The Great Gatsby. The characters of the movie all display a non-existent moral code and show no concern for how their actions affect others. Tom Buchanan continually has extramarital affairs while married to Daisy, which Daisy is knowledgeable about. When riding with Nick, Tom insists that Nick meets his girl, therefore showing no shame for his infidelity. Jordan Baker cheats at golf and is careless when driving her car. However, it is when Daisy leaves the scene after she hits and kills Myrtle Wilson that she shows her true nature and conscienceless existence. Tom also finds justification in telling Wilson that Gatsby was the owner of the car, which leads to the events of Gatsby’s death. A lack of concern for one’s fellow man is shown through the absence of mourners at Gatsby’s funeral.
The use of The Valley of Ashes presided over by the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg, serves as an introduction to the absence of a traditional God in the 1920s American society. The God of Gatsby is a God incapable of having any real influence over the people and the things that he sees. However, when Mrs. Wilson is killed, God is nowhere to be found in the mind or heart of Mr. Wilson. So, again, it becomes clear that God exists but exerts no power.
Through the characters of Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, Nick, and Myrtle the years of 1920-1929 are brought back to life again and again. The movie The Great Gatsby utilizes the power of words to tell of a generation’s past and expresses concerns about a society gone astray. The irony, symbolism, and materialism are skillfully used to depict the moral decline of a society and enabled the audience to see into the mind of the narrator.
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