Although the main story was kept the same in the newest version of The Great Gatsby there were plenty of changes that really made things interesting for those of us who had just read the book.
The one that I thought was the most intriguing was the idea that Nick had mental illness after it all happened. The doctor's notes had the fact that he was a major alcoholic with other mental problems going on. I think this play on it was really crucial to how the story was told. In the novel, we saw things from Nick's perspective, and I enjoyed reading how he always got stuck in the middle of bad situations. Seeing it from his point of view really enhanced the story, as an outsider would have very different observations from somebody who was in the action.
The fact that Nick was in a mental institution made it very easy to tell the story from his perspective. I'd be willing to bet that Luhrmann didn't want to get rid of the narration by Nick (since it adds so much to the story we might not otherwise see), so the decision to include mental illness provided a way to have him explain the story. It also gave him a chance to put Nick in as the author as some form of therapy, which might explain why the descriptions were so darn interesting in the book.
I know that some people didn't like the idea of Nick having a mental illness, but I actually think it added plenty to the story that may have been left out if he hadn't been the narrator in the movie. Having it told from a third person perspective would not provide the background information, and it might make the super rich seem much less despicable.
My favorite line in both the book and movie is "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made."
That particular line is one of those "drop the mic" lines. It is just so darn heavy with truth, and it really made the idea of them being careless about others very apparent. If that particular line hadn't been included in the movie (if Nick weren't in a mental health institution and narrating) it would be really hard to convey just how careless they are. Most people would find it easy to conclude that they were careless people, but this particular quote makes it even more real.
Friday, May 9, 2014
Mapping
1.This map shows the territory of the United States in both 1790 and in 1800. few parts of the actual map changed here. However, in the corner of the map, there is a population chart. The population of every state grew by at least a few thousand in 10 years. Other states experienced much larger population growths.
One change that did occur was the addition of Tennessee. Before 1800, Tennessee was just called “Territory Below the River Ohio”. Giving this state its name shows that we officially claimed it.
One last detail is that the Native American tribes are listed on here. In those 10 years, nothing changed in terms of their location or existence. No tribes were nearly wiped out during this era.
2. The story that this map narrates is how America began to feel a bit more settled in at this point. The population grew by quite a bit in each state, so people moved to America and stayed. Increased populations also show that during this time, people were living pretty healthy lives. If the population hadn’t grown much, or stayed the same, it would be easy to assume that people were having a hard time surviving in America. This map shows that Americans were all settled in and the number of Americans grew quite a bit.
To me, these maps give off the idea of the people being content. Other narratives I have read promote the idea of Americans being restless and wanting to conquer more land. Within those ten years, land was not gained nor lost, that leads me to believe that contentedness was constant. The people were making this more “homey” and organizing things to their liking. From 1790 to 1800, territories were established. Again, instead of District of Kentucky or Territory South of River Ohio, the United States gave them official names that officially admitted them to the country. Welcome home.
3. “This blessed People was as a little Flock of Kids”
This quote is discussing how later Native Americans were not seen as much of a threat. The map shows that, as they included the Native American tribes on the map, and just sort of left them alone. None of the tribes were wiped out in those ten years, but they were labeled on the map in careful, red writing. Although the Americans didn’t have the entire section that we have today, the populations were not large enough to fill up the big space they did have. That meant that the Native Americans and the former colonists had enough room to leave each other alone.
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