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The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

bbc.com

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Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#21

Post by takoid »

I always enjoyed D’Angelo Barksdale’s interpretation from The Wire:

> D’Angelo: "He’s saying that the past is always with us. Where we come from, what we go through, how we go through it—all that shit matters. Like at the end of the book, you know, boats and tides and all. It’s like you can change up, right? You can say you’re somebody new, you can give yourself a whole new story. But, what came first is who you really are, and what happened before is what really happened.

> And it don’t matter that some fool say he different ’cause the only thing that make him different is that he say it. But it ain’t the truth. Gatsby, he was who he was, and he did what he did. And because he wasn't willing to get real with the story, it caught up to him."

> Inmate: "So you're saying he couldn't get over?"

> D’Angelo: "No, I’m saying he was who he was. They found him out. They found him out in the end. And that’s what it is. You can’t get over. You can’t even get out."

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#23

Post by saimiam »

Analemma_ wrote: post #19
hutao wrote: post #6

Today, we tend to see The Great Gatsby as a work of historical literature, as it gives a window into the Roaring Twenties. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald did not set out to depict the past; he was depicting his own present. Similarly, Proust's literature is seen as a window into the French high-society of the Belle Epoque, a society in which Proust lived. Which works today do you think future generations will see as th…

There’s a lot of discussion flying back and forth as to whether we’re in a period of cultural stagnation. Obviously you need to heavily discount the possibility of “old fogeyism” and reactionary nostalgia whenever you make such claims, and historically a lot of them have been totally false, but the one argument I have found convincing that we’re not in a good cultural place right now is the difficulty of coming up wi…

The Social Network movie?

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#24

Post by viccis »

This is a very confused article, I think. The fact that people associate these extravagant roaring 20s parties with the character of Gatsby has everything to do with his character and over-the-top parties being the strongest cultural touchstone that people today have with that era, given that almost all of us (in the US at least) have to read it in high school.

The fact that the aesthetic qualities of Gatsby that are paid homage to have nothing to do with the subtext of those parties when you learn about his character is not a contradiction.

This happens all the time. Rappers loved Scarface and mob movies back in the 90s/00s and used to imitate those aesthetics all the time, despite Tony Montana being clearly depicted as a complete idiot whose lack of impulse control is his undoing. The didn't "misunderstand" Scarface. They just loved the aesthetics and power fantasy.

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#25

Post by rayiner »

gleenn wrote: post #20
rayiner wrote: post #5

I love the Great Gatsby, but I don’t understand how anyone could misunderstand the book. It’s quite a straightforward story.

Um, last I remember, my English teacher's cooy was absolutely full of underlined and also colored words due to a significant amount of color symbolism. The words maybe be within reach but it's the metaphors and deeper meanings which add great depth. I would hardly consider it "straightforward".

The prose is beautiful and satisfyingly layered. But the deeper meaning is consistent with the meaning of the words and is pretty accessible to anyone familiar with American culture and literary themes. It’s not 100 Years of Solitude, where you need a degree in Latin American studies to figure out the deeper meaning.

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#26

Post by akoboldfrying »

thundergolfer wrote: post #7

This article ends up seeming like an ad for some dubious derivations of the original novel. - "Take, for instance, Michael Farris Smith's new novel, Nick. The title refers, of course, to Nick Carraway, the narrator of Gatsby, who here gets his own fully formed backstory." - "Jane Crowther's newly published novel, Gatsby, updates the plot to the 21st Century, and flips the genders to feature a female Jay Gatsby and a…

> Jane Crowther's newly published novel, Gatsby, updates the plot to the 21st Century, and flips the genders

I was tired of the idea of gender-flipping a story before the first story was ever gender-flipped, and I'm no less tired of it now.

I suspect that even people who think it's important to perform the rite of gender-flipping a story don't actually like the stories that result. Because it's the same story as before, but now you have the feeling the author is standing in front of you, waiting for an opportunity to remind you that the main character is a woman now and isn't that incredible?

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#28

Post by kazinator »

duskwuff wrote: post #15
SirSavary wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crazy huh? If an author wrote something as a child and lived over a hundred, you could hit even two hundred :) F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author, died in December 1940. Given the rules around copyright I would have expected things to expire in 2010 (death of author, roll to next calendar year, +70 years) so I'm unsure what happened here.

The rules were different at the time Gatsby was published. Its copyright expired 95 years after it was published - 1930 + 95 = 2025.

But Nick is not a derivative work; it's something original which references the characters and ideas in The Great Gatsby.

It's pretty crazy that you have to wait until 95 years until the publication of the referenced work to publish something like this.

Is it even about copyright or more about the abstract threat of litigation using copyright as a (baseless) pretext.

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#29

Post by tayo42 »

hutao wrote: post #6

Today, we tend to see The Great Gatsby as a work of historical literature, as it gives a window into the Roaring Twenties. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald did not set out to depict the past; he was depicting his own present. Similarly, Proust's literature is seen as a window into the French high-society of the Belle Epoque, a society in which Proust lived. Which works today do you think future generations will see as th…

Game of thrones will be. No main character is safe since Ned Stark was killed on TV.

No ending was going to be good. Sopranos had a controversial ending too.

Silicon Valley captured the feel of the bay area and did a good job with satire.

2000s would be easier, I think 2010 is about the switch to super hero movies.

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#30

Post by SirSavary »

shermantanktop wrote: post #16
SirSavary wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very likely a result of said anyone not having read the book in the first place.

It’s a short, easy read for high schoolers. They won’t be reaching for a dictionary and can probably pass the test based on study guides. No work = no retention and no growth.

I'm well aware, I had the opportunity to read it in high school, though that was because of my grade stream; students in a 'lower' stream didn't get the same material.

Our prom theme the year I graduated was "The roaring 20s". The 2013 film had released months prior, and I remember discussing with friends how misleading it was--making the parties look incredible, while missing the book's subtler commentary. People who only glanced at the book, or only saw the film, can easily walk away thinking the Roaring Twenties were all glamour and fun, which is exactly the gap I was (poorly) pointing out in my earlier comment.

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