Hello readers, I'm writing this blog as an assignment given by the Department of English, MKBU. Here, I'm trying to answer the questions about 'The Great Gatsby', which is given by Dilip Barad sir.
->How did the film help in understanding the symbolic significance of 'The Valley of Ashes ', 'The Eyes of Dr. T J Eckleburg' and 'The Green Light'?
The Valley of Ashes:
The Valley of Ashes symbolizes the effects of capitalism. To reach New York city the residents of West and East Egg must travel through the filth and degradation that is the Valley of Ashes. “The gray land and the spasms of brake dust which drifts endlessly.” This emphasizes how empty and dull it is. It also shows the people from the Eggs, on their way to party in New York, that the world isn't a perfect place as most of them believe. “When he saw us a damp gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes.” George is happy to see Tom and Nick as he has business with Tom and it suggests the recurring theme of hope throughout the novel. This also shows how oblivious George is with Tom as he and George’s wife Myrtle are having an affair.
The Eyes of Dr T J Eckleburg:
Doctor T J Eckleburg's eyes symbolize God to some of the characters in the novel. The eyes watch over The Valley of Ashes and is still watching when Myrtle gets killed towards the end of the novel. “We walked back a hundred yards along the road under the doctor Eckleburg's persistent stare." This symbolizes judgment and Nick feels judged when he is taken to go and visit Myrtle as he knows that George doesn't know about the affair between Tom and Myrtle. “She might fool me but she couldn’t fool god.” said George, after his wife is killed by Daisy, as if even though he didn’t know what was going on God did.
The Green Light:
The color green is referred to throughout the novel. In chapter one Gatsby is shown to reaching out towards a green light which is at the end of daisy's dock ‘‘he stretched out his arms towards the dark water...and... a single green light’’. This suggests that he is stretching his arms out toward his goals which the novel we have learnt is daisy. It also shows how long he holds on to his dreams, especially his hopes of being with daisy. Again, later on green is mentioned however this time it represents Gatsby's envious character. In chapter seven daisy says ‘’can't say that I never loved tom’’ after this is said Gatsby realizes that daisy might not still love him and because of this he sees that he has to compete with her husband if he has any chance of winning her again. This shows that Gatsby would never be ok if Daisy showed that she was in love with another man.
->How did the film capture the theme of Racism and Sexism?
Throughout the film 'The Great Gatsby', Tom Buchanan shown as a person of racism. It is Tom's hypocritical oratory that frames the unwinding narrative, which begins with his fears of “colored“ encroachment and the destruction of the white power structure: "The idea is if we don't look out the white race will be utterly submerged. It's all scientific stuff; it's been proved", to which Daisy enthusiastically concurs, murmuring, "We've got to beat them down" Gatsby becomes the manifestation of this fear. Yet, Gatsby does not even attempt to dismantle that system, he merely creates a comfortable niche for himself within it, as does the typically passing protagonist, which is perhaps the most unsettling point. They would not disrupt that status quo, they would merge with it and thus increase the potential for unperceived contamination, Tom's greatest fear. Still, their passage does suggest the potential for the erosion of the racial divide, the clear–cut division between black and white, and between rich and poor- which race itself initially symbolized in such eloquent and unambiguous terms.
In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald also writes about sexism in a kind of conservative route. throughout the film, the men work to pocket money for the women to spend carelessly on themselves. Gatsby is in love with Daisy and tries to win her love by showing that he has become prosperous although no matter how rich he becomes, or how many large parties he throws, he still isn’t winning over Daisy. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald illustrates how women are negatively portrayed often objectified by men. In the novel, the author shows gender roles in a dark light. It exemplifies through Daisy’s cynicism, tom’s aggressive masculinity, Jordan, and Daisy being described as being balloons. The damaging gender roles have implemented when Daisy confesses that for a girl to survive she needs to be beautiful and stupid.
"I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool- that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool".
According to Daisy, having beauty and being a fool is how you thrive in the world, she notes the social values of her time, but she does not seem to oppose or challenge them. This shows how Fitzgerald illustrates how women are negatively influenced and frequently objectified by men.
->Difference between the film and the novel.
The difference between The Great Gatsby book and the movie is the perspective of the author and the director. The novel consists of vital phrasings and sentences that are overwhelming to bring into life. The book has enough characters and characteristics that the director finds challenging to portray. The Great Gatsby book was written by F.Scott Fitzgerald in 1925. It was his third novel. The novel is one of his notable works. The story unfolds the journey of a young boy, Jay Gatsby, and his young love daisy Fay Buchanan. J. Gatsby believed in the mystery of the universe. The screenplay was exhibited by Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce. On 17 May 2013, the movie was released. The movie starts with the monologue of the narrator. He rewinds his memories and shares them with his doctor. He is in denial after departing from his soul friend, Gatsby.
The major difference between movie and novel are;
1)Jordan Baker, the golf player has a dishonest face in the novel, the movie sheds out the necessary details of her character.
2)Daisy Fay Buchanan, the wife of Tom Buchanan has an intensity in her presence, the movie portrays her as weak and the actor fails to justify the role.
3)Tom Buchanan has unlikable roles in the book but the movie depicts him as a villain.
4)Nick Carraway is portrayed as a self-conscious person in the novel. The movie exaggerates the darker phase in his life.
Word Count:1170
Reference:
DRAKE, ROBERT. “The Book, The Movie, The Dream.” The Mississippi Quarterly, vol. 44, no. 2, 1991, pp. 183–92. JSTORhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/26475309, Accessed 12 Jan. 2023.
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