What Is The Theme Of The Great Gatsby

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I am reviewing The Great Gatsby which was released in 2013. The movie was based off of the popular book “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald which was published in 1925. The story begins and is narrated by one of the characters who is named Nick Carraway. Nick takes us on a flashback to explain the great Gatsby. Nick is currently in a mental institute which makes us question his liability as a narrator and the reasons for him ending up there. As the story unfolds we realize that Nick was Gatsby’s neighbor who had recently moved from Minnesota to the West Egg, in Long Island. Nick has a cousin that lives in East Egg (known as the old money side) named Daisy Buchannan. Daisy has a husband named Tom Buchanan who Nick went to Yale University …show more content…

It has the inescapability of the past. Nick can’t get over his past with Gatsby and everything that had happened and Gatsby can’t escape from his past and his love for Daisy it has become his life, and his obsession. There is an ambiguous theme of good vs. evil as well. The good are the poor (Gatsby) and the evil are Tom Buchanan and Daisy because they are rich and reckless. This is especially obvious when Myrtle is killed and Gatsby is blamed for her murder while the Buchanan’s do nothing but runaway letting their money win over what is morally right. New money which is Gatsby and most of the people in West Egg is considered almost “bad money” which can go with our theme of good vs. evil because old money is what the Buchannan’s’ and most of the people in East Egg have. Old money means that generations before were also rich. You could also say there is a theme of corruption in this film because Gatsby is corrupt in his way of making money-it is never clear what he does, but it is noted that it is sketchy- The Buchanan’s are corrupt in the way that they blame the murder on someone else and leave, feeling no moral resentment. In the article I read that is cited below of the 5 rules of Film Noir, the first rule is “Choose a Dame with a Past and a Hero with No Future” that theme if we can call it that is very obviously in The Great Gatsby. Daisy is a lady with a past of having fallen in love, but chosen money, while Gatsby is seen as a …show more content…

The Valley of Ashes is a very poor town, where Myrtle and George Wilson reside. One could argue it was urban or destroyed by its urban-ness. The most important scenes in The Great Gatsby happen in the nighttime a typical setting for Film Noir. The first dark scene is the night Daisy and Gatsby discuss their love and running away together. Most of Gatsby’s big and famous parties introducing the lifestyle of Gatsby were in the nighttime as well. The biggest turning point scene also, occurred during the nighttime and that was the homicide of Myrtle. Myrtle was running towards the car and Daisy ran her over, Gatsby was later accused and killed for her

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