The Great Gatsby: A Beacon of Hope

Some people may not feel this way, but movies affect me in an astounding way. The world is such an unexpected place, and one of the ways we come about understanding it, is through the films we watch. Although some films may not seem like they do, they bring us a certain self-realization. Whether we laugh or cry, understand or empathize with the characters in a film is completely up to us. This helps us face things about ourselves that we would have otherwise ignored.

My experiences with films have been many. If a story has really touched me, I seem to break into a fit of gut-wrenching sobs. It is as if the events have happened to me and not some obscure character. 

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, happens to be one of my all time favorite books. At first I thought it was because of the whimsical nature of the characters. Daisy, with her almost sad air of loftiness, Jordan, with her cynical remarks and lavish lifestyle, Nick, with his blatant admiration for Gatsby and all that he stood for without knowing the details, or Gatsby, with his no-holds-barred fantastical love for Daisy, a woman he has not seen in years. I cannot choose which made me love the book most. You can see since I held this book so dear why I had my doubts about the movie version. No other movie version seemed to capture how I felt about this tragic love story. As I sat in the movie theater, I was in awe of just how much the movie made me feel. It wasn't about the love between Gatsby and Daisy, or Daisy's confusion, or Tom's general blehh. It was about how in a world where there was no true happiness, nothing deeper than a few drinks and music too loud to hear your thoughts, there was still the shining beacon of hope and faith that is Gatsby.