The Great Gatsby Film Versions

The Great Gatsby is known to be one of the greatest American novels written. And not only is it one of the greatest novels it has been made into a movie four times!

The first version of the novel was made in 1926 directed by Herbert Brenon. This film version was made into a silent film. Some of the actors in this film include Warner Baxter (Jay Gatsby), Lois Wilson (Daisy Buchanan), Neil Hamilton (Nick Carraway), George Hale (Myrtle Wilson), William Powell (George Wilson), and Hale Hamilton (Tom Buchanan).

The second version was made in 1949 directed by Elliott Nugent. This film version was never released onto television because of the making of The Great Gatsby 1974 version. The actors in this film are Alan Ladd (Jay Gatsby), Betty Field (Daisy Buchanan), MacDonald Carey (Nick Carraway), Ruth Hussey (Jordan Baker), and Barry Sullivan (Tom Buchanan).

The third film version was made in 1974 directed by Jack Clayton. In our opinion this version was the best out of all four of the versions because it related more to the text then the others. The actors in this film are Robert Redford (Jay Gatsby), Mia Farrow (Daisy Buchanan), Bruce Dern (Tom Buchanan), Karen Black (Myrtle Wilson), Scott Wilson (George Wilson), and Sam Waterson (Nick Carraway).

The fourth film version was made in 2000 directed by Robert Markowitz. This version in our opinion was ok but it being made in 2000 where technology was a bit more advanced we believed some parts could have been more realistic but on the other hand the characters fit each character perfectly. The actors include Tony Stephens (Jay Gatsby), Mira Sorvino (Daisy Buchanan), Paul Rudd (Nick Carraway), Martin Donovan (Tom Buchanan), and Francie Swift (Jordan Baker).

There even is rumor going around of another film version of The Great Gatsby said to come out in 2012 but we’ll just have to wait and see how that goes.

Sources:

"The Great Gatsby 1926: Movie and Film Review from Answers.com." Answers.com: Wiki Q&A Combined with Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Encyclopedias. Web. 07 June 2010. .

"The Great Gatsby 1949: Movie and Film Review from Answers.com." Answers.com: Wiki Q&A Combined with Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Encyclopedias. Web. 07 June 2010. .

"The Great Gatsby 1974: Movie and Film Review from Answers.com." Answers.com: Wiki Q&A Combined with Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Encyclopedias. Web. 06 June 2010. .

"The Great Gatsby 2000: Movie and Film Review from Answers.com." Answers.com: Wiki Q&A Combined with Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Encyclopedias. Web. 07 June 2010. .

Old Money vs New Money

Old money is money earned through hard work and self-determination; old money is money that was obtained before World War I and industrialized businesses. New money is quite the opposite. It is money earned through something as simple as the lottery, or bootlegging, such as in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald makes the characters in the book to be symbols of the trends of the 1920's. People from West Egg are generally what is considered to be the "new money", while those from East Egg are known as "old money" or the established aristocracy.

Old money is money which was made before the war and industrialized business came into play. The concept of old money is symbolized through East Egg and it's established aristocracy. The air of East Egg is potent with the elegance and disapproval of the way that the new money is making their cash. Daisy and Tom Buchanan, as well as Jordan Baker, live in East Egg. The novel does not lead on to any of those three characters having anything to do with the fast-paced money-making of the 1920's. Also, they are depicted in their younger years to be more on the wealthy side in Chapter 4, meaning that they acquired the money through inheritance. Thus, they are well established in the aristocracy, making them "new money" in the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The old money and new money clash in The Great Gatsby, with neither type of money agreeing with the way that the other obtained their money. In West Egg, the new money trend has taken reign. The key people that are considered to be new money in West Egg are Jay Gatsby and Meyer Wolfshiem. Jay Gatsby and Meyer Wolfshiem are considered to be new money because of the way that they have earned their money- through bootlegging and organized crime. Jay Gatsby is a bootlegger; he takes advantage of the Prohibition Movement of the 1920's and makes a "quick buck" off of distributing liquor illegally. Wolfshiem fixed the 1919 World Series and is a gambler, thus makes money without having to do any grueling work; he also does not inherit it. Therefore, Gatsby and Wolfshiem are prime examples of new money in West Egg.

Sources:

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "Chapter 4." The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print. "Great Gatsby Website - 1999." FCPS Home Page Redirect Page. Web. 3 June 2010.

East Egg vs West Egg

In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald there are two fictional towns known as East Egg and West Egg. Although East Egg and West Egg have some things in common, they are entirely different within their social aspects. East Egg and West Egg happen to both be part of Long Island in New York, and they are both egg-shaped as well, but they have differences in the way that the societies on each "Egg" live. East Egg and West Egg are separated by a body of water. This body of water symbolizes the separation of the social classes and the distinguishment between the urbanized area and the rural area of Long Island.

East Egg is the more urbanized town out of the two, representing the "new money" of the 1920's. Daisy Buchanan and her husband Tom Buchanan live in East Egg; the two tend to flit from place to place and have money to burn, so to speak. Consequently, they have an extremely large house in East Egg and are more elegant and used to an urban way of life versus people that reside in West Egg. East Egg is also home to Jordan Baker, who is a professional golf player; she is also elegant and rather conceited since she has so much money. These three people are examples of "new money" in the 1920's, as well, showing East Egg to be a place where the "new money" prefers to live. East Egg also has a reputation of being elegant and, for lack of a better term, clean. Thus, East Egg is the more urbanized town out of the two, and it represents the "new money" of the 1920's, along with the elegance of the people in the era. East Egg also represents the culture of the 1920's.

West Egg is more rural than East Egg, proving it to be quite the opposite of the urbanized and elegant town. West Egg represents the "old money" of the 1920's, or the people that have worked harder to earn their money. An exception to this "old money" concept is Jay Gatsby; he lives on the very edge of West Egg, symbolizing the transformation from his life as James Gatz, who was a poor son of a farmer, to the overly-rich Jay Gatsby, who is not yet fully accepted into the society of wealthy people. Despite Jay Gatsby's residency in West Egg, the town represents hard working people who don't take the "easy way out" when it comes to making money. Nick Carraway lives in West Egg; Nick turns down multiple offers from Gatsby to go into business with him, but Nick wants to earn his money the way he knows is right- the hard way. George Wilson also lives on the West Egg territory, but he lives in The Vally of Ashes; he owns a car garage, and he is not very wealthy, but he is working in an honest job and not taking the easy way out. The Valley of Ashes being located in West Egg also proves as a symbol that West Egg is the ruins of what used to be a great American Society; this shows that while West Egg represents "old money", it also represents the disintegration of the American cultures and societies from the late 1800's and early 1900's.

Therefore, while East Egg and West Egg appear similar in some ways, they are very different in what they stand for.

Sources:

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "Chapter 2." The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print. "Great Gatsby Website - 1999." FCPS Home Page Redirect Page. Web. 2 June 2010.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "Chapter 3." The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print. "Great Gatsby Website - 1999." FCPS Home Page Redirect Page. Web. 2 June 2010.

Selfish People

To be selfish is when you only think about yourself and no one else. In The Great Gatsby the people who are obviously selfish are Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, and Myrtle Wilson
Daisy Buchanan on the inside is very selfish. She is described in the novel to have “Her voice filled with money“ (The Great Gatsby). And that means that since she has been spoiled her whole life she doesn’t know the meaning of wanting something. An example of her being selfish is how she only married Tom because Gatsby was poor and Tom was rich, but she later says that she would’ve waited for him if only he had been rich. Which shows that she only cares about the money.
Tom Buchanan is also very selfish. He is just one of those guys who will do whatever to get what he wants. For example when he finds out about Gatsby and Daisy secret affair he forces a confrontation and since Daisy is all freaked out about what’s happening he gains her trust again. He’s also selfish about Daisy’s affair with Gatsby. Since Tom is cheating on Daisy with Myrtle for him its ok but for Daisy it isn’t only he can have Daisy.




SOURCES:

"The Great Gatsby Characters." Shmoop: Study Guides & Teacher Resources. Web. 31 May 2010. http:/www.shmoop.com/great-gatsby/characters.html>.

Unrequited Love

First of all unrequited love is when you are in love with someone that isn't in love with you. Unrequited love is hard for the person that is in love with a person who doesn’t love them back. In The Great Gatsby George Wilson loves his wife Myrtle, but Myrtle obviously love George because if she did she wouldn’t be cheating on him. George loves Myrtle very much and that’s why he doesn’t beat her or yell at her. Another example is between Gatsby and Daisy it may seem that they love each other and they really do though. But in their relationship Gatsby loves Daisy a bit more than she loves him. And that just doesn’t help her situation with her husband Tom.
Now a days unrequited loves are all around us. In music, for example Untouchable Face by Ani Difranco, Jessie’s Girl by Rick Springfield, etc. all these songs talk about how they love someone and that one person doesn’t love them back. In movies like 500 Days of Summer the guy is head-over-heals for a girl who doesn’t return any feelings back to him. And many people know about Forest Gump, Forest was in love with Jenny but she never really loved him back. So as you can see unrequited love has been in our lives for a very long time, either you have gone thru it or know someone unrequited love is a hard thing to deal with.

Jealousy

Jealousy is often referred to as resentment or a feeling of rivalry towards another person. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, this feeling of resentment and rivalry is exactly what many of the characters feel towards each other. The main rivalry in The Great Gatsby is seen through Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan. Both of the men are jealous of each other on account of Daisy, Tom's wife and Jay's only true love besides money. Tom Buchanan has pushed Daisy away with his coldness of being and his alleged mistresses which Daisy knows about; because Tom is not kind of loving to Daisy, she retracts herself from him, making her all the more accessible for Jay Gatsby. When Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan are finally reunited after five years, they begin to see each other and fall in love all over again. Jay Gatsby envies Tom because he is married to Daisy at this point in the novel. Although Gatsby loves her and believes he would be a better man to her than Tom is, she is married to Tom, thus he is jealous of Tom. He also becomes more jealous of Tom in Chapter 7 of the novel when Daisy Buchanan admits that she "can't say that [she] never loved Tom." (The Great Gatsby). Gatsby is heartbroken because his delusion that Daisy has always only loved him has been shattered; he also grows increasingly jealous after Daisy admits this because he wanted to be her only love, but after hearing Daisy's proclamation, he felt as if he had to compete for her love. Although Jay Gatsby is envious of Tom Buchanan for his importance in Daisy's life, Tom is jealous of Gatsby, as well. If Tom is already married to Daisy, then why is he jealous of Gatsby? Well, Tom Buchanan is jealous of Gatsby simply because his wife is in love with him. Tom is hypocritical in this way; he is in love with Myrtle Wilson, but he is angered when he find out that his wife is in love with Jay Gatsby. Is it not the same principle? Tom is envious that Daisy and Gatsby have known each other for five years, as well; this leads him to believe that they had more of a romantic past than Daisy and Gatsby actually did have. Tom and Gatsby show their envy for each other in Chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby when they argue over who Daisy really loves. Thus, Jay Gatsby is jealous of Tom Buchanan, while Tom Buchanan is jealous of Jay Gatsby.

In the novel, it seems that Tom and Gatsby's envy toward each other overshadows any of the other jealousies that present themselves. Although their jealousy is portrayed the most throughout the book, Daisy Buchanan's jealousy of Myrtle Wilson (Tom's mistress) is shown in The Great Gatsby, as well. In Chapter 2 of the novel, Daisy shows that she is jealous of Myrtle after Tom arrives back at the dinner table after receiving a phone call from his mistress. Daisy tries to make Tom feel guilty about cheating on her by saying that their backyard is romantic. The logic behind this tactic of Daisy's is to remind Tom of everything that they have together that he and Myrtle do not have. She is showing her jealously by doing this because she hints at the fact that she is hurt by Tom cheating on her with another woman, so she is trying to win him back by making him realize what he and Daisy have together. Just as Tom and Gatsby's jealousy mirrors each other's, Daisy and Myrtle's does, as well. Myrtle is jealous of Daisy Buchanan because she is married to Tom. She shows that she is jealous of Daisy in Chapter 3 of the novel when she is fighting with Tom about Daisy in their apartment, and in Chapter 7 when she is seen through the Mr. Wilson's garage window looking at Jordan Baker in pure envy; while it seems odd that Myrtle was looking at Jordan Baker with jealousy, it is not, because Myrtle was under the impression that Jordan Baker was Daisy. Thus, this proves that Daisy Buchanan was jealous of Myrtle Wilson, while Myrtle Wilson was jealous of Daisy Buchanan.

Sources:

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "Chapter 2." The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print. "Great Gatsby Website - 1999." FCPS Home Page Redirect Page. Web. 18 May 2010.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "Chapter 3." The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print. "Great Gatsby Website - 1999." FCPS Home Page Redirect Page. Web. 18 May 2010.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "Chapter 7." The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print. "Great Gatsby Website - 1999." FCPS Home Page Redirect Page. Web. 18 May 2010.

The Beautiful Women of Gatsby

The women in The Great Gatsby are full of interesting things. With each having their own personalities and secrets it makes them just more interesting.
Daisy Buchanan is Tom’s wife and Gatsby’s love of his life. Daisy is shown to be someone who is usually happy when she is given things or when things are going her way. Daisy is very rich and for that she depends on money to do the job and make her happy. She lives in one of the richest parts of East Egg and hopes that her daughter will be like her when she grows up to be just like her "And I hope she'll be a fool --that's the best thing a girl can be in this world today, a beautiful little fool." (Fitzgerald 24). Another problem with Daisy is her past with men. Her past with men has damaged her a bit. With Tom cheating on her and Gatsby coming back and declaring her love for her. Daisy’s beautiful, mysterious, but on the inside she can be really selfish.
Jordan Baker is very cynical, boyish, self-centered, and dishonest. Why dishonest, well she cheated her way to winning her first golf tournament. But despite all that Nick falls in love with Jordan and happy that she isn’t like Daisy. “That is, she is not the kind of girl who holds onto the past, a girl "too wise ever to carry well-forgotten dreams from age to age".” (The Great Gatsby Characters= Shmoop). Jordan and Daisy are best friends but at times they can both be really clueless and careless. But at the end that is why Nick ends up disliking her.
Myrtle Wilson is George Wilson’s wife and Tom’s lover. Myrtle believes that Tom is in love with but cant leave Daisy because she’s catholic which isn’t true at, but she believes it. Myrtle believes that George is passive and a coward and Tom is controlling and authoritative. Even though Myrtle puts up with Tom’s abuse us because she wants to feel a man’s power that her husband obviously doesn’t not have.
As you can see the only three girls in the novel are drama-filled divas. They all have their problems but that is just what makes them them.


SOURCES:
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print.
"The Great Gatsby Characters." Shmoop: Study Guides & Teacher Resources. Web. 23 May 2010. .

The Handsome Men of The Great Gatsby

The men in The Great Gatsby are quite dynamic and differ in personality traits. Nick Carraway is the narrator of The Great Gatsby comes from a good family from Minnesota. He moved to New York and became involved with the bond business. He is not very successful he can still afford his home for eighty dollars a month. Nick is very honest, responsible, and fair-minded but he can still show some differences of the East Egg milieu. Throughout the whole book he is the only one who see's Gatsby's "greatness" which shows him "to be a young man of unusual sensitivity" (The Great Gatsby-Shmoop). Jay Gatz, not known by that name anymore is Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is very wealthy young man and he is known for throwing extravagant parties every Saturday nights in his huge mansion in West Egg. Gatsby is a very mysterious man with everyone wondering how he received his fortune. Gatsby is a deeply flawed man, dishonest, and can be vulgar but on the inside he is a very innocent man. Tom Buchanan is Daisy’s husband he too is very rich man, arrogant, a brute, and an athlete, selfish and will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. Tom is also an adulterer and his mistress is Myrtle Wilson and he really doesn’t care if he is cheating on her. Tom is also very persuasive because he gets Daisy to confess that she loved Gatsby. Tom also emotionally and physically hurt Daisy. Physically there’s is no roof but daisy does claim and shows the bruises on her arm that look like fingers that seem to be Tom’s and he emotionally damages Daisy. George Wilson is blond, spiritless man, and a handsome man. He is the husband of Myrtle, Tom’s mistress. Wilson and his wife live on top of his garage. Wilson is totally clueless that Myrtle and Tom are having an affair because every time she goes to Tom she tells him she's going to see her sister. But when he does he find out he kills Gatsby. Klipspringer is pretty much a freeloader. When he moved into Gatsby's house he didn't even know that he was there. At the end of the book when Gatsby dies Klipspringer didn't even attend Gatsby's funeral. After he calls Nick and rudely asks for a pair of tennis shows without expressing any sympathy. Owl Eyes is the "patron of Gatsby’s library" who showed an interest in him. Unlike Klipspringer he does show sympathy towards Gatsby's death.

SOURCES:

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print. "The Great Gatsby Characters." Shmoop: Study Guides & Teacher Resources. Web. 21 May 2010. .

The Green Light

In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the green light that rests at the dock of East Egg near Daisy Buchanan's house is one of the most prominent symbols in the book. The green light is presented to the reader in first chapter of the book; at first, the reader is unsure why Nick Carraway's neighbor Jay Gatsby seems to be reaching toward the green light at the opposite side of the body of water. As the book progresses, it is made known that the green light lies on at the dock of East Egg, which is where Daisy Buchanan lives. Gatsby actually lives directly across the water from her house. He shows sentimentalism in the way that he is very hopeful that he and Daisy will be together one day, and that he is keeping his hope alive by going out to see the green light near her house every night. The green light is literally just a marker for boats to see from the water at night as to know where East Egg begins, but in an analytical sense, the green light in the novel represents one of the most important symbols in The Great Gatsby.

The green light that is placed at the end of the East Egg dock near Daisy's house is barely visible from Gatsby’s home in West Egg, but he continues to go out to see the light, and even reach for the hardly visible light. The green light represents Jay Gatsby’s optimism for the future and his dreams to be with Daisy again. The light symbolizes something that will guide Gatsby to Daisy and his dreams, even in the dark, which symbolizes his doubt and nervousness about the future. Jay Gatsby’s longing and persistance to gain back Daisy's love is hugely connected with the theme of the American Dream in the novel, as well. Thus, the green light also symbolizes the typical American's journey to find the American Dream. The green light is a major symbolic piece in The Great Gatsby, representing hope, dreams, help, and the American Dream.

Sources:
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "Chapter 1." The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print. "Great Gatsby Website - 1999." FCPS Home Page Redirect Page. Web. 18 May 2010. .
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "Chapter 4." The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print. "Great Gatsby Website - 1999." FCPS Home Page Redirect Page. Web. 18 May 2010. .

Dan Cody

Dan Cody was the man who single-handedly made James Gatz into the well-known Jay Gatsby. Dan Cody was was approximately 50 years old when he and Gatsby met; he was a product of the Nevada silver fields, the Yukon, and many other types of "rushes". Gatsby and Cody met each other while Cody was on his boat and Gatsby warned him of a storm coming. After that day he made Gatsby his steward, mate, skipper, secretary, and even his jailor. Cody gave him the name "Jay Gatsby", which was the name that everyone in New York knew him by. Gatsby’s job was to watch over Cody when he was drunk because he was a heavy alcoholic. While he was circling the continent three times, Gatsby fell in love with luxury and wealth. When Dan Cody eventually died he left Gatsby $25,000, but Dan Cody‘s mistress Ella Kaye did not allow Cody to leave Gatsby the money, thus leaving Gatsby poor just as he was before he had been introduced to Dan Cody. Dan Cody's memory gave Gatsby the strength to keep going on and find a way to become rich on his own account.

The character of Dan Cody in The Great Gatsby represents the typical American in the 1920's. He was rich and consumed in material items and luxury, which is how the people of the 1920's are portrayed today. He also represents the "new money" of the 1920's, which was the money that was gained through the booming economy in the 1920's. A lot of people became rich very quickly through the economy, and through many "easy opportunities" in the United States during that era. He became rich and materialistic during this era very quickly, thus representing the "new money" of the 1920's. Additionally, Dan Cody represented Jay Gatsby's father-figure and his role-model in the novel.


Sources:
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "Chapter 6." The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print. "Great Gatsby Website - 1999." FCPS Home Page Redirect Page. Web. 18 May 2010. .

Mafia/Gangsters

A gangster is a member of a gang of criminals, such as the mafia. In the 1920's, gangsters really came about because of the Prohibition Movement. It was within liquor smuggling that mafias grew to be such a huge problem in the 1920's. The illegal liquor business became the foundation of a great criminal empire. The most infamous ganster from the Prohibition era was Al Capone from Chicago, Illinois. He violently eliminated any "competition" that he had, then he used the alcohol trade to create a "business" that earned millions of dollars. With Capone's violent behaviors and skyrocketing business, he, along with other gansters, was able to scare the police-figures in the United States and pay them off to leave them and their business alone. The federal government found it increasingly difficult to compete with the gansters, but they still worked diligently to catch the gangsters and put an end to their organized crimes. The 1920's gangster became the American icon of the "self-made" man. Today, the typical gangster is still the number one consumer of everything of luxury and expensive nature.

The Mafia is an organized secret organization said to be engaged in smuggling, racketeering, trafficing in narcotics, and other criminal activities. The Mafia existed mainly in Italy, but in the 1920's, the United States had their problems with Mafias. The American Mafia is barely over a half a century old, but they have still impacted the U.S. with organized crime. The Mafia was into the bootlegging business in the 1920's, but in the 1930 and 1931, which was approximately seven years after heroin was banned from use in the United States, a war began to explode among the Mafias. Out of this "war", a new generation of leaders came out that had very little to no respect for the traditional values. Salvatore "Lucky" Luciano was the leader of the Mafia Youth Movement; he is known to be one of the most brilliant criminals of modern America. He had an idea for the modernization of the American Mafia, and this idea won over the leaders of the 24 Mafias in America. Soon after, the National Commision was functioning "smoothly"; this proves that Luciano practically made the Mafia into the most dominant criminal organization. Luciano's revolutionary idea is still the basis for organized crime today.


Sources:
"The Mafia in America." Home | Drugtext. Web. 17 May 2010. .