# I'm curious about "The Great Gatsby," and I don't know why. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 7, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739 "2013-05-07T20:14:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/1 "2013-05-07T20:14:53Z")
I read _The Great Gatsby_ in high school, and I hated hated HATED it. It had no plot that I could detect. Basically, a bunch of rich snobs went to parties and talked about the mysterious Mr. Gatsby, who supposedly had some kind of shady connections. Eventually, when F. Scott Fitzgerald decided that he couldn’t pad out the book any longer, some guy pops up and shoots Gatsby. The end. Yet, now that a movie version is coming out, I’m strangely curious to see it. I can’t expain it; it makes no sense to me, but there it is. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/2 "2013-05-07T20:34:29Z")
I tried to read it twice in high school and couldn’t make it past the first chapter either time (faked my way through the papers I had to write each time). I gave it another shot as an adult and loved it, and finished it in four or five hours. I’m not very eloquent when writing about themes and what not but this bit from SparkNotes is a good summation: > [@](#): > > **The Decline of the American Dream in the 1920s** > > On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman. The main theme of the novel, however, encompasses a much larger, less romantic scope. Though all of its action takes place over a mere few months during the summer of 1922 and is set in a circumscribed geographical area in the vicinity of Long Island, New York, The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s America as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/3 "2013-05-07T21:33:11Z")
It doesn’t just describe the disintegration of the American dream, but it portrays how empty it was to begin with. What a wonderfully-written book. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/4 "2013-05-07T22:07:10Z")
And now a Major Motion Picture directed by Baz Luhrmann in 3-D with rap music. What could possibly go wrong there? ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/5 "2013-05-07T22:10:29Z")
I didn’t really get Gatsby in high school either. The plot is a not as obvious as it is in other books and the action is more mental and subtle. Many of the relationships between the characters is hinted at rather than coming right out and saying anything. It’s a subtle book all the way around. I re-read it just a few weeks ago and finished it in just a few hours. I found it engrossing and deserving of it’s place on the classics list. I loved the subtlety of it as an adult. The language is beautiful and the whole thing feels very dream like and crazy. You just feel heat of the summer and the alcohol induced fog of the characters. I can’t wait to see the movie. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/6 "2013-05-07T22:31:46Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I read _The Great Gatsby_ in high school, and I hated hated HATED it. It had no plot that I could detect. […] > > Yet, now that a movie version is coming out, I’m strangely curious to see it. I can’t expain it; it makes no sense to me, but there it is. Heh heh heh. Well played, Mr. Fitzgerald. 😉 I saw the earlier version of _Gatsby_, the one with Robert Redford, on an airplane recently, and thought it was excellent. I’m very curious to see what the new version will bring to the story, besides lots more explicit sex. (And Amitabh Bachchan as Meyer Wolfsheim! Eeeeeeeeeeeee!! 🙂 :)) ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/7 "2013-05-07T22:43:06Z")
> [@randwill](#): > > And now a Major Motion Picture directed by Baz Luhrmann in 3-D with rap music. What could possibly go wrong there? I think the 3-D aspect alone is enough to keep me away. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/8 "2013-05-07T22:49:30Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I read _The Great Gatsby_ in high school, and I hated hated HATED it. It had no plot that I could detect. Basically, a bunch of rich snobs went to parties and talked about the mysterious Mr. Gatsby, who supposedly had some kind of shady connections. Eventually, when F. Scott Fitzgerald decided that he couldn’t pad out the book any longer, some guy pops up and shoots Gatsby. The end. > > Yet, now that a movie version is coming out, I’m strangely curious to see it. I can’t expain it; it makes no sense to me, but there it is. The rich have their ways and diversions. Gatsby seeks to win in that world, kinda does in an American Story mysterious kinda way - but when he is shot, it turns out he was just another diversion for the rich, who go back to their ways. It’s a great story, with a rich commentary on the American Dream. And so beautifully written. I would think Baz could capture the opulence of the playgrounds of the rich, but contrasting period look with modern hip hop sound kinda scares me… ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/9 "2013-05-07T23:06:12Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > The rich have their ways and diversions. Gatsby seeks to win in that world, . Though it’s not the money that interests him so much as its ability to bring him into Daisy’s orbit. Which it does, at least for a while… ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/10 "2013-05-07T23:51:42Z")
I love the book and have read it about 50 times, so no matter how good the movie is, I won’t like it in comparison. I was still going to go see it even though I’m not a Luhrman fan, but reviews I’ve seen so far aren’t good… ---
**Author:** ![Hermione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cdc98d/32.png) [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/11 "2013-05-08T00:18:23Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I would think Baz could capture the opulence of the playgrounds of the rich, but contrasting period look with modern hip hop sound kinda scares me… I think what Luhrmann’s going for is the same effect he pulled off in Moulin Rouge. He was quoted as saying that he wanted to get across the wild atmosphere of the Moulin Rouge at the turn of the century. In that era, he explained, the can-can was shocking, daring, cutting-edge. Today it’s seen as quaint and charming–local color for Parisian postcards. (Or used in supermarket ads.) So by replacing the old-style can-can music with modern-day rock and pop, he made us see it as the audiences of early 19th-century Paris did. So it probably is with Gatsby. Today, we see Jazz Age culture as innocent and fun, and the Charleston as a quaint relic. But when we pair the Art Deco atmosphere with hip-hop and other modern-day music, we can see it as wild, reckless, avant-garde…as they must have seen it. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/12 "2013-05-08T00:33:30Z")
I hope to make it on opening night, wearing white tie and tails. I will look freaking awesome. ---
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/13 "2013-05-08T01:58:22Z")
> [@Hermione](#): > > I think what Luhrmann’s going for is the same effect he pulled off in Moulin Rouge. > > He was quoted as saying that he wanted to get across the wild atmosphere of the Moulin Rouge at the turn of the century. In that era, he explained, the can-can was shocking, daring, cutting-edge. Today it’s seen as quaint and charming–local color for Parisian postcards. (Or used in supermarket ads.) > > So by replacing the old-style can-can music with modern-day rock and pop, he made us see it as the audiences of early 19th-century Paris did. > > So it probably is with Gatsby. Today, we see Jazz Age culture as innocent and fun, and the Charleston as a quaint relic. But when we pair the Art Deco atmosphere with hip-hop and other modern-day music, we can see it as wild, reckless, avant-garde…as they must have seen it. I agree with this–and interestingly, it is the same argument made for the ceaseless profanity in Deadwood. While at the time they would have used “hells” and “God damn yous” and other things that sound much milder to us, by using “cocksucker” and “motherfucker” and what have you, ceaselessly and endlessly, it portrayed just how far out of bounds from polite society these people were. I think it’s really interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Hermione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cdc98d/32.png) [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/14 "2013-05-08T02:03:47Z")
> [@apollonia](#): > > I agree with this–and interestingly, it is the same argument made for the ceaseless profanity in Deadwood. While at the time they would have used “hells” and “God damn yous” and other things that sound much milder to us, by using “cocksucker” and “motherfucker” and what have you, ceaselessly and endlessly, it portrayed just how far out of bounds from polite society these people were. I think it’s really interesting. Oh, it’s even better than that. (I was never a Deadwood watcher, but I always got a kick out of this particular story.) Time-appropriate profanity focused more on blasphemy than on sexual or scatological references–there were “hells” and “damns”, but things like “Gol durn it” were also considered swearing. So the writers tried it with the appropriate profanity…and realized everyone sounded like Yosemite Sam! ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/15 "2013-05-08T02:08:16Z")
> [@Miss\_Woodhouse](#): > > I didn’t really get Gatsby in high school either. The plot is a not as obvious as it is in other books and the action is more mental and subtle. Many of the relationships between the characters is hinted at rather than coming right out and saying anything. It’s a subtle book all the way around. I re-read it recently and liked it (not loved it) but I could see why I got nothing out if at at 15. The inherent pathos of living with the limits placed on us by class and geography just wasn’t ringing my bell back then. If anyone’s curious, the Corona Ash pit was located in the present-day site of Flushing Meadows Park. The fill was used to level the Van Wyck Parkway. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/16 "2013-05-08T03:03:08Z")
Moulin Rouge or Rome+Juliet? ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/17 "2013-05-08T03:47:51Z")
> [@Hermione](#): > > I think what Luhrmann’s going for is the same effect he pulled off in Moulin Rouge. > > He was quoted as saying that he wanted to get across the wild atmosphere of the Moulin Rouge at the turn of the century. In that era, he explained, the can-can was shocking, daring, cutting-edge. Today it’s seen as quaint and charming–local color for Parisian postcards. (Or used in supermarket ads.) > > So by replacing the old-style can-can music with modern-day rock and pop, he made us see it as the audiences of early 19th-century Paris did. > > So it probably is with Gatsby. Today, we see Jazz Age culture as innocent and fun, and the Charleston as a quaint relic. But when we pair the Art Deco atmosphere with hip-hop and other modern-day music, we can see it as wild, reckless, avant-garde…as they must have seen it. Whoa. That’s an interesting way to look at it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/18 "2013-05-08T04:07:26Z")
I read _Gatsby_ in college and didn’t care much for it - didn’t hate it, but wasn’t transported by rapturous delight, either. I love history and thought the Twenties setting and allusions to Prohibition, the Black Sox Scandal etc. would hook me, but no. My son’s high school English class has read \*Gatsby \*this semester and will be seeing the movie together. I might later, if the reviews are esp. good, but probably not. I saw Luhrmann’s _Moulin Rouge_ on DVD and turned it off after half an hour - too frenetic and self-consciously, cloyingly “Oh, aren’t we daring!” for my taste. And I very rarely stop watching movies partway through. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/19 "2013-05-08T04:45:15Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I hope to make it on opening night, wearing white tie and tails. I will look freaking awesome. Sure, but you’re going to sit in the theater and sweat your spats off. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739/20 "2013-05-08T06:23:39Z")
It’s been a while since I read it. He was shot by Norma Desmond, right? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-curious-about-the-great-gatsby-and-i-dont-know-why/657739.md?page=2)