Jack Clayton’s The Great Gatsby was produced during a decade of progressive movements such as Second-wave Feminism, and in particular, the Sexual Revolution. Second Wave Feminism demonstrated the fight of females of all classes and races to gain reproductive rights and equality in the workplace, which signaled an ideological background for gender struggles. In the Sexual Revolution, women searched for their role in society through exploring their bodies and challenging sexual normativity in an effort to rid forms of sexism. While Second-wave Feminists assumed a noticeable presence in society, much of their agenda failed. In turn, 1970’s society was comprised by a nostalgic craze, an effort to relive the wondrous ways of the past as a sense of hopelessness arose over society.
The release of The Great Gatsby (Paramount 1974), an adaptation of a popular novel published during First-wave Feminism refracts Second-wave Feminism through the objectification of Daisy Buchannan in the film and of Mia Farrow by the media. This paper explores the inability of female audience members to connect with Daisy Buchannan as well as the media’s characterization of Mia Farrow. While Paramount used New Hollywood marketing techniques to built momentum for the film, the film eventually failed, as audience members were not able to relate to the female protagonist and the resolution of the film. The film’s nostalgic treatment of woman, as represented by Daisy’s failed attempt to overcome patriarchy, was antiquated and did not reflect the mood of the 1970’s. Clayton’s disconnect with 1970’s society in his intent to re-make The Great Gatsby not only displays the nostalgic view of the decade, but also epitomizes the conflict between feminist and anti-femi...
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Gatsby is a hopeful man. No matter what happens he holds on to the hope of what could be, of what he always dreamed could be, of his “American Dream.” A dream in which he has ac...
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is an absurd story, whether considered as romance, melodrama, or plain record of New York high life. The occasional insights into character stand out as very green oases on an arid desert of waste paper. Throughout the first half of the book the author shadows his leading character in mystery, but when in the latter part he unfolds his life story it is difficult to find the brains, the cleverness, and the glamour that one might expect of a main character.
During the 1920’s women were fervently depicted as inferior to men and incapable of the success. In the novel The Great Gatsby female characters are subject to gender based stereotypes and blindly follow culturally accepted norms which dictate their place and position within society. The expectations placed upon the female characters to comply with the norms of society limit their potential to become successful in comparison to the male characters, who are successful in the 1920’s. Within The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald illustrates the female characters as socially and economically limited and dependant, due to the strong implementation of patriarchal roles of men in society. Women are confined
From the start of the book we can see that women in the book are
Tom Buchanan and George Wilson have plenty in common with their attitude pertaining towards women in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald throughout the entire novel gives the audience an insight on his thoughts about the nature of man. Fitzgerald portrays men often treating women harshly throughout his novel. For example, there are many violent acts towards women, a constant presence of dominance, and also ironically Tom and Georges over reactions to being cheated on.
Trilling, Lionel. "F. Scott Fitzgerald." Critical Essays on Scott Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby." Ed. Scott Donaldson. Boston: Hall, 1984. 13-20.
Trilling, Lionel. "F. Scott Fitzgerald." Critical Essays on Scott Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby." Ed. Scott Donaldson. Boston: Hall, 1984. 13-20.
Trilling, Lionel. "F. Scott Fitzgerald." Critical Essays on Scott Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby." Ed. Scott Donaldson. Boston: Hall, 1984. 13-20.
Sutton, Brian. "Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby." Explicator 59.1 (Fall 2000): 37-39. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Linda Pavlovski. Vol. 157. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Web. 24 Feb. 2011.
F Scott Fitgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, is centred upon 1920’s America. In the text, characters such as Myrtle Wilson, Jordan Baker and Daisy Buchanan are all carefully constructed to reveal various attitudes held by America in the early 20th century. Overall, the construction of female characters in The Great Gatsby showcases an accurate representation of women in the time period the text was composed in.
Throughout time women have been written as the lesser sex, weaker, secondary characters. They are portrayed as dumb, stupid, and nothing more than their fading beauty. They are written as if they need to be saved or helped because they cannot help themselves. Women, such as Daisy Buchanan who believes all a woman can be is a “beautiful little fool”, Mrs Mallard who quite died when she lost her freedom from her husband, Eliza Perkins who rights the main character a woman who is a mental health patient who happens to be a woman being locked up by her husband, and then Carlos Andres Gomez who recognizes the sexism problem and wants to change it. Women in The Great Gatsby, “The Story of an Hour,” “The Yellow Wall Paper” and the poem “When” are oppressed because the fundamental concept of equality that America is based on undermines gender equality.
The 1920’s were a time of social and technological change. After World War II, the Victorian values were disregarded, there was an increase in alcohol consumption, and the Modernist Era was brought about. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a perfect presentation of the decaying morals of the Roaring Twenties. Fitzgerald uses the characters in the novel--specifically the Buchanans, Jordan Baker, and Gatsby’s partygoers--to represent the theme of the moral decay of society.
Fitzgerald's Critique of Capitalism in The Great Gatsby." Critical Essays on Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Ed. Scott Donaldson. Boston: G.K. Hall and Co., 1984.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald took place in the 1920’s when the nation was undergoing rapid economic, political, and social change. Looking through different literary lenses the reader is able to see the effects of these rapid changes. The marxist lens reflects the gap between rich and poor while the feminist lens showcases the patriarchal society.