Marxist Perspective of the Movie The Great Gatsby

Analyzing a literary text extrinsically, especially through a Marxist perspective, involves reading out of the text and into the context. The concentration of the analysis will not be on the text- rather, on what the text does not tell the audience.

“The Great Gatsby” is a movie based on the novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is a story set in the 1920’s in America, a time when the “American Dream” was actively pursued. It was a period when equal economic opportunities were available to everyone. In the movie, the rich are clearly distinguished from the poor. In fact, the story focuses on the lives of the bourgeoisies and how their actions affect both the upper class and the lower class. However, the story is told by Nick Carraway, a young man who is neither rich nor poor; although he is not the center of the story. He plays no active role in the movie. On the contrary, he tells the story like he is on the outside looking in on the inside. He is a cousin to Daisy Buchanan and a friend to her wealthy husband, Tom Buchanan. Also he is a neighbor to Jay Gatsby, a prosperous man whose source of wealth is surreptitiously unknown.

Watching The Great Gatsby through a pair of Marxist spectacles brings a lot of matters to attention. Subjects like the setting, the time and the author’s life are taken into deep study in order to fully grasp the meaning of the context. Marxism is a branch of extrinsic analysis which seeks to reveal the world as it is . In this story, we see conflicts arise between different social classes and how they interact with each other such as the story of the affluent being told and the poor devalued.

This movie is set in New York City and on Long Island known as East Egg and West Egg in the story. D...

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...s they do such as the miners living in the valley of ashes, “a grotesque place” which eventually produces the coal used to power the cities, the repairing of Tom’s car by George, the gardening done to impress Daisy by Gatsby’s servants, these are all significant but unfortunately, society fails to take notice of them. It is a matter of the amount of wealth you have, the amount of attention paid to you. Nonetheless, the author brings this detail out when there is a revolution. When George finds out that his wife was killed and that Gatsby is the owner of the car, he decides he has had enough with the unfair system and rises up against it. He obtains a gun, heads over to Gatsby’s house and kills him. Just one shot, and the Great Gatsby is brought down.

The irony of the movie is that the end of Gatsby is brought about by an inconsequential person from the lower class.