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.