The Great Gatsby

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Inspired by the Andy Kaufman thread.

Anyway, I read it a few years ago in high school and liked it a lot, though with the usual resentment that comes with being forced to read anything. (I had to read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest the same year, but I avoided 'school book' syndrome by reading it a few months before everyone else.) I'm about to reread it now and I have the feeling it might turn out to be one of my favorite books. That's mainly based on my vivid memory of the last page, which made me cry.

So, the Great American Novel, or just another one of those boring Classics?

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 22 October 2002 17:46 (10 years ago) Permalink

Great, totally. I just read it a month or so ago.

― Mandee, Tuesday, 22 October 2002 17:49 (10 years ago) Permalink

I've never read it but 'Norwegian Wood' made me want to.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 22 October 2002 17:59 (10 years ago) Permalink

yeah, I didn't read it until last year and liked it and read a few other fitzgeralds as a result of liking it as much as I did.

not thee great but a verry good.

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 22 October 2002 18:02 (10 years ago) Permalink

I like it. Gatsby is great.

I'm reading Norwegian Wood at the mo, just so I can say it's not his best work.

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 22 October 2002 18:06 (10 years ago) Permalink

is good

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 22 October 2002 18:06 (10 years ago) Permalink

It's definitely not his best work, jel.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 22 October 2002 18:12 (10 years ago) Permalink

Tender is the Night = his best book by far.

― david h (david h), Tuesday, 22 October 2002 20:17 (10 years ago) Permalink

The Great Gatsby is a great book. we did it in school too, but it's one of those books that repays being studied. In writing it F. Scott Fitzgerald was trying for a Joseph Conrad styleee. Mad, eh?

― DV (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 22 October 2002 21:25 (10 years ago) Permalink

It's wonderful, and also the short story "Winter Dreams", which Gatsby always reminds me of.

― Nicole (Nicole), Tuesday, 22 October 2002 21:26 (10 years ago) Permalink

i haven't read it since high school but i remember being disappointed by the end - i didn't think it was long enough, that it didn't build up enough momentum to justify (SPOILER!!) gatsby's death.

i thought the style was way more flaubert than conrad. < /asshole >

― ch. (synkro), Tuesday, 22 October 2002 21:37 (10 years ago) Permalink

Never read it, actually -- that and Huckleberry Finn were the two 'high school English' books I missed out on for one reason or another (and yet somehow I got assigned Pynchon to read, go figure!). One day I'll get to Gatsby and Fitzgerald in general, I suppose, but not Finn -- every time I've tried I get bored to death forty pages in.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 22 October 2002 21:50 (10 years ago) Permalink

Oh man, this book used to be a major point of debate between myself and a friend...she was always complaining that she had to read it for English class. "What the fuck? It's a great book! You try reading fuckin' Os Lusiadas instead, now there's a dull book!" I'd say. "But this book is just about rich people whining!" she'd reply. "Rich people have feelings, too!" I'd say, and on it went...

This probably wasn't helped by the fact that I'm relatively well off and her family struggles to make a living. Insert Ironic Manic Street Preachers Quote Here.

― Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 22 October 2002 22:01 (10 years ago) Permalink

Gatsby is great. Huckleberry Finn bored me rigid.

I'm both surprised and impressed that you got assigned Pynchon in high school ahead of either of those two though.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 22 October 2002 22:56 (10 years ago) Permalink

I loved Gatsby, I wrote a comparison piece on that and Coupland's "Microserfs" for my main A-level coursework. Daisy is easily one of my top five characters for literary history, Fitzgerald has her down to a perfect tea.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 22 October 2002 22:58 (10 years ago) Permalink

I'm both surprised and impressed that you got assigned Pynchon in high school ahead of either of those two though.

I had one heck of a creative English teacher for 11th grade...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 00:18 (10 years ago) Permalink

I read it in seventh or eighth grade and I don't think I understood it, I just found it irritating. Maybe I should reread it but I found it very, very annoying the first time.

― Maria (Maria), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 00:20 (10 years ago) Permalink

We never got anything too interesting assigned in high school, thought my high school teacher promised that there was a lot of graphic porn in Madame Bovary if we read the whole thing. But it was all a cheap lie to get us to read the damn novel! I guess that is why Flaubert has always disappointed me.

― Nicole (Nicole), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 00:22 (10 years ago) Permalink

Wasn't forced to read it (we got 'Crime & Punishment' instead). Certain sections are breathtaking. There's a certain dopey part of me that thinks really great books should be 500+ pages. The latest big book I've read - the new Dune book - is of course an exception to this rule, as it's a big stinky pile of dung. That's what I get for liking sci fi.

― Bryan (Bryan), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 01:41 (10 years ago) Permalink

C'mon, it was a Kevin Anderson cowrite. You knew going in it would suck.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 01:45 (10 years ago) Permalink

Well, the last three weren't too bad. Shitty in comparison to the original six, of course, but better than a lot of other crap. This one really needed editing, both for length and for things like spelling errors, etc. Disappointing. Cool premise, poor execution. I don't thing Brian Herbert can write his way out of a paper bag, either. How 'bout those Angels?! Oh yeah, 'The Great Gatsby', whoo hoo! And how are the people across the ocean feeling about the Booker? We're (Canadians) all kinda scratching our heads, too.

― Bryan (Bryan), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 03:32 (10 years ago) Permalink

It IS one of my favourite novels. I read it for first time at 14, part_time along with "Portnoy's Complaint", and I regard both of them as the basics of my "education sentimental".

The best ending ever, of course. no recommended for anyone pondering to become a writer him/herself, as John Irving hinted in "The New Hampshire Hotel": it is a heavy weight on your shoulders, because you finish the book with the impression you will never be able to scribble anything like that, to crystallise a feeling so perfectly with so little wording behind.

― arantxa, Wednesday, 23 October 2002 06:05 (10 years ago) Permalink

It didn't do anything for me. Yawn.

― Miss Laura, Wednesday, 23 October 2002 06:34 (10 years ago) Permalink

It's a definite classic, I love the way Fitzgerald weaves all those different little storylines into such a great ending. The only other book by him that I've liked though is Tender is the Night, which is just perfect, simply one of the best books ever written. I don't like to use the word too freely, but absolute genius.

This Side of Paradise on the other hand is a very tedious read, completely lacking in the romance and depravity, just focussing on the rich-boy crap.

― Steve.n., Wednesday, 23 October 2002 06:59 (10 years ago) Permalink

"Tender is the night" and the unfinished "The last tycoon" are my other two favourites. Ironical how "This side of..." was such a blockbuster, and how underrated (out of touch with the times, perhaps?)his last two novels were at the time.

― arantxa, Wednesday, 23 October 2002 08:10 (10 years ago) Permalink

I've never read any Flaubert, but as I said, Fitzgerald was consciously emulating Conrad with "The Great Gatsby". Key Conrad-esque features:

- the narrator not being the main character

- the fractured time sequence

- having the main action of the story take place at sea during a storm

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 08:17 (10 years ago) Permalink

The Wu-Tang Clan reminds me of The Great Gatsby, I know not why.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 09:11 (10 years ago) Permalink

the flaubertian part i thought of as just a general rhythm and chiseled-ness to the prose, along with the descriptions being both highly visual and associative (the alternating blue and gold in the party scene is pure Madame B.) i've never read any Conrad beyond HOD so i'm not sure what i was on about up there anyway.

the first 100 or so pages of 'tender is the night' were excellent, after that it went straight to shit and i couldn't even be bothered to finish it.

― ch. (synkro), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 13:30 (10 years ago) Permalink

the first 100 or so pages of 'tender is the night' were excellent, after that it went straight to shit and i couldn't even be bothered to finish it.

Which version did you read? Fitzgerald's intended version where the story begins at the beach, or the version where the parts are swapped to force the story into chronological order?

His intended version reads better - the other version gives too much away too soon.

― Steve.n., Wednesday, 23 October 2002 13:39 (10 years ago) Permalink

- having the main action of the story take place at sea during a storm

Am I losing my mind? I don't remember anything like this happening in Gatsby.

I read it a couple of years ago on my own. For some reason I never got assigned it in school. I enjoyed it quite a bit, especially the chapter early in the book where Nick goes into the city with Tom and Myrtle and they get plastered and fight. I would recommend it on the strength of that chapter alone.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 13:49 (10 years ago) Permalink

The storm at sea bit is clearly a gag.

I think it's among the most perfect, polished novels ever written, and he wrote like an angel. There are very few better American novels - one of those few, Ned, is Huck Finn. And quite a bit of it really is set on the water.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 18:50 (10 years ago) Permalink

one of those few, Ned, is Huck Finn

This may take some convincing. ;-) Keep in mind I love Twain and all (but I'm probably more of an Ambrose Bierce lover at heart).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 18:53 (10 years ago) Permalink

i read fitzgerald's original, i guess, since it was the part at the beach that i liked the most. it's been so long since i've read anything by him, and i remember so little, that i'm not sure why i'm contributing to this thread. is this the first literary thread on ilx which has gone past 30 posts which wasn't about pynchon? (tho he still got mentioned!) (not counting the book club thread obv.)

― ch. (synkro), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 19:19 (10 years ago) Permalink

Interesting fact: Hunter S. Thompson says he modelled Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas directly on Gatsby. Still haven't quite figured that one out yet - aside from the whole American Dream thing.

I'm actually with Ned on Huck Finn. I read it in high school the same year as Gatsby and thought it was okay, but haven't been able to get through it again.

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 19:36 (10 years ago) Permalink

Of course a lot of the reasons why Huck Finn is perhaps the Great American Novel are so in the culture that you don't have to go to the book to get them - you just get them some, even growing up in England, let alone America. I'm mystified how anyone could love Twain and not love this - it's like loving Pynchon but not caring for Gravity's Rainbow!

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 21:18 (10 years ago) Permalink

Actually, I think I do know some people who fit that description of Pynchon fans perfectly! Perhaps it's a reaction to the sheer sprawl of the novel compared to the conciseness (sorta) of V and Crying, if we're talking Pynchon's earlier work.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 21:21 (10 years ago) Permalink

I fucking hated it when I had to read it in my last year of high school. Dunno what I'd think of it now. At the time it was the whole "Who cares about a bunch of rich people sleeping with each other?" thing. God, the movie was even worse. I'd say more but I'm listening to Vexations and nothing matters but these piano chords goddamnit.

― sundar subramanian, Wednesday, 23 October 2002 21:24 (10 years ago) Permalink

God, the movie was even worse.

The original or the seventies version?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 21:25 (10 years ago) Permalink

70s version. Haven't seen the original.

― sundar subramanian, Wednesday, 23 October 2002 21:37 (10 years ago) Permalink

I love The Great Gatsby, because of the images (I always think of the first sighting of Daisy and Jorden sitting in that long room with their dresses billowing around them) and the perfect capturing of that slightly bitchy, but not involved enough to be malicious chat.

Fear and Loathing and Great Gatsby - both have large amounts of mint juleps.

― Anna (Anna), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 21:46 (10 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

revive! i read it again on the way to dedbeat. am far too tired to post anything about it now, except that it's clearly one of the best books ever; this is just a reminder to myself to post more tomorrow.

― toby (tsg20), Monday, 3 March 2003 01:22 (10 years ago) Permalink

Wow, all the lit topics are recurring lately.

Yes, one of the best books ever. I don't really have anything to add to that.

― thom west (thom w), Monday, 3 March 2003 03:02 (10 years ago) Permalink

I love the Pat Hobby Stories best.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 3 March 2003 15:13 (10 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

Dillingham is a divil for the books.

― the pinefox, Thursday, 24 April 2003 11:32 (10 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

I don't think I got it properly. I read the end in a hurry when I was v.tired and wanted to finish it before I turned the light out. I was aware that the last few pages were some kind of tour de force, but I wasn't sure what the force quite was. I must read it again.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 5 June 2003 21:49 (10 years ago) Permalink

it isn't about an escape artist.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 5 June 2003 21:54 (10 years ago) Permalink

A trapeze artist?

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 5 June 2003 21:56 (10 years ago) Permalink

I think you understood more than you understand.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 5 June 2003 21:58 (10 years ago) Permalink

I think I don't understand the American Dream.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 5 June 2003 22:01 (10 years ago) Permalink

I'm digging on the isotopes
this metaphysics shit is dope

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 5 June 2003 22:03 (10 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 569 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I only watch choose your own adventure movies

― Pasty, British & Shit (wins), Monday, 20 May 2013 22:47 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

in 3d

― Pasty, British & Shit (wins), Monday, 20 May 2013 22:47 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

i sometimes wonder what nabokov would make of the total demystification of chess via supercomputers =(

― 乒乓, Monday, 20 May 2013 22:48 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

oh man i haven't read house of leaves but the only reason i keep almost reading it is i think that revelation is SO CREEPY

― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Monday, 20 May 2013 22:50 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

in this particular case something that is often mentioned, including upthread, is that gatsby is a peculiar book cuz it looks like a 200-page soap opera about pretty rich people that you'll just be able to slap right up there, but so much of the work is being done by prose and strange tricks of structure and careful distancing that unless you are really clever in a way more than one filmmaker has rather spectacularly not been you are going to end up with a 2-hour soap opera about pretty rich people nobody likes. nb i have not seen this. but that's one legitimate reason to compare: if one version is way different and way less interesting and you suspect it has something to do with the media themselves.

haha oh xp

― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Monday, May 20, 2013 6:41 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

yeah i think the other reason i like this is that, the ~greatest american novel ever written~ can be reduced to a p facile love story, and that interpretation isn't even wrong! it's def one of the armatures of the novel, and obv FSG only builds it up maybe to chop off bits of scaffolding here and there, make it unstable, but it's undeniably there, and its a totally valid frame for baz to hang his own tapestries from

ok i just sort of beat that metaphor up... maybe even collapsed it

― 乒乓, Monday, 20 May 2013 22:51 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

good shit

― turds (Hungry4Ass), Monday, 20 May 2013 22:52 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

books also allow for the reader's own interaction, allowing their mind's-eye to carry the story along. the difficulty, and delicacy of adapting a text is replacing the many individual visualizations of a story that in part now becames the reader's *own creation*, with a singular visualization that now tells you another way to see. that's a hard call with a text like Gatsby that has existed in people's minds for decades. Especially since Fitzgerald does do so much with the inner voices of his character.

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 20 May 2013 22:52 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

oh man i haven't read house of leaves but the only reason i keep almost reading it is i think that revelation is SO CREEPY

― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Monday, May 20, 2013 6:50 PM (47 seconds ago) Bookmark

there are some really good parts! could have been a much better book via stronger editing, it's sort of classic first-novel-itis, overstuffed, danielewski could/should have spun off at least half the content of the book into separate works. but the first couple of chapters or so are really well done i think

― 乒乓, Monday, 20 May 2013 22:53 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

would watch a Baz adaptation of "Bernice Bobs Her Hair."

― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 20 May 2013 22:55 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

historical films should never be viewed in relation to the events on which they're based,

sorry to return to this example but i've been meaning to watch marie antoinette and i can't help but think that knowing the intricacies of the french revolution probably wouldn't be too useful in appreeshing the film

― 乒乓, Monday, 20 May 2013 22:56 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

oh man i haven't read house of leaves but the only reason i keep almost reading it is i think that revelation is SO CREEPY

i read 'the 50 year sword' on a plane last week and can recommend it p highly, it also takes the 20 mins to finish. its a better use of time than 'house of leaves' i think but has some of the same pleasures

hungry4ass did you like baz lurhman's 'the great gatsby'?

― Lamp, Monday, 20 May 2013 22:56 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

Fitz's got a bunch of stories more suitable. You want pink champagne and lost love? He could've adapted "The Bridal Party."

― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 20 May 2013 22:58 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

but the end was complete garbage

― Lamp, Monday, May 20, 2013 1:00 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

haha i know i said i didn't mind but this is probably closer to how i feel about the end of the movie 24 hours later, it def felt like baz didnt know how to end the film. but i really lol'd when SPOILER tobey puts the final pages of his manuscript into his tasteful attache w/ the brass triangle clip, and has a moment of hesitation - can't quite close this book just yet, then he takes out his finely weighted & balanced pen, and writes 'THE GREAT' over the typed 'GATSBY'

― 乒乓, Monday, 20 May 2013 23:01 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

of all my unfinished high school movie projects i definitely most wish "rags martin-jones and the pr-nce of w-les" had been finished, if only to make all those girls' parents feel a little better about how much prom dresses cost

― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Monday, 20 May 2013 23:01 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

lawd xp

― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Monday, 20 May 2013 23:02 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

historical films should never be viewed in relation to the events on which they're based,

sorry to return to this example but i've been meaning to watch marie antoinette and i can't help but think that knowing the intricacies of the french revolution probably wouldn't be too useful in appreeshing the film

― 乒乓, Monday, May 20, 2013 11:56 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's the word "never" I'm flagging up, I basically agree w/u

― Pasty, British & Shit (wins), Monday, 20 May 2013 23:03 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

which is why I said "sometimes" it's useful

― Pasty, British & Shit (wins), Monday, 20 May 2013 23:03 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

hungry4ass did you like baz lurhman's 'the great gatsby'?

― Lamp, Monday, May 20, 2013 6:56 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

aint seen it

― turds (Hungry4Ass), Monday, 20 May 2013 23:06 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

he takes old-time footage from back then and turns it into 3D, theres a lot of planes that fly overhead and then all of a sudden ur zooming in from 10000 feet to ground level in 3 seconds like in that old trailer they'd show in front of IMAX science films at the franklin institute, it's really inexplicable

― 乒乓, Monday, May 20, 2013 1:01 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he literally asks WEGA or w/e studio effects house to recreate NYC for him, and long island, so he can have shots of just zooming along the water through mist

― 乒乓, Monday, May 20, 2013 1:02 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

i really cant get over how wild + inappropriate yet appropriate baz's camera is in this film, it's really quite inexplicable. supper's ready, all the doors to the sunroom open at once, white cloth billows sunlight leaps in. the camera moves through the door, you're zooming across the sound now, to new york! through mist, to wall street! who is the audience suppose to be? what kind of wild god is she. is this how third person omniscient should be told on the screen. the book was first person! what is going on.

probably because the last few movies i've seen have all been very 'stately, plump buck mulligan came from the stairhead' in their camerawork that i felt so disoriented and wracked by all this

― 乒乓, Monday, 20 May 2013 23:07 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

after australia and moulin rouge i'd have to be tricked by a trail of ice cold beers into entering a theater showing a new baz luhrmann film

― turds (Hungry4Ass), Monday, 20 May 2013 23:07 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

lol

― iatee, Monday, 20 May 2013 23:09 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

last 2 posts are ✓

uh, xp

― Pasty, British & Shit (wins), Monday, 20 May 2013 23:10 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

baz luhrmann's ulysses

― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Monday, 20 May 2013 23:10 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

h4a otm. I didnt mind Moulin Rouge but Australia idk wtf that even was

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 20 May 2013 23:10 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

i know this isn't what luhrmann's australia is but i would def watch an enormous batshit terrifying all-stops-pulled movie about the colonization of australia

― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Monday, 20 May 2013 23:12 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

i really cant get over how wild + inappropriate yet appropriate baz's camera is in this film, it's really quite inexplicable.

haha i was arguing with a friend that everything i could see him doing was perfectly explicable, the way the camera moves, the use of 3D, the arrangement of the actors in space, its all kinda on-the-nose at all times. although i did like how they were constantly recording themselves on film during the various amazing party montages, its 2013

― Lamp, Monday, 20 May 2013 23:12 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

yeah for sure, the party was pure busby berkeley, also made me feel really anxious because at real parties someone invariably knocks the punch bowl into the pool

― 乒乓, Monday, 20 May 2013 23:20 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

at real parties now someone invariably passes a bowl

― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 20 May 2013 23:21 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

i think that happens too

― 乒乓, Monday, 20 May 2013 23:21 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

there's room for zefirelli, branagh, and baaaaz, not just for shakespeare, but for eveeeeerrrrrryyyyythhiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnngggggg~~~~~~!!!!!

― 乒乓, Monday, 20 May 2013 23:24 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

is how i break it down to an extent

― 乒乓, Monday, 20 May 2013 23:25 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

so when will Gatsby be musicalized? inevitable, no? propose song titles.

John Harbison's The Great Gatsby, 1999

― Word Salad Username (j.lu), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 01:23 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

the last few movies i've seen have all been very 'stately, plump buck mulligan came from the stairhead' in their camerawork

i find this claim suspect

― the bitcoin comic (thomp), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 01:43 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

Also http://northernballet.com/index.php?q=the-great-gatsby

― cougars and sneezers (Eazy), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 01:44 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

pretty regretful that I never got to see Gatz, hope they revive it at some point. I'd make a trip for it.

― 0808ɹƃ (silby), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 03:28 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

乒乓's lush descriptions of this though have removed any need I might have had to actually see this movie

― 0808ɹƃ (silby), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 03:28 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

feel like I will be able to navigate thru both literary & cinematic discourse with only the book and this thread under my belt

― 0808ɹƃ (silby), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 03:29 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

― 乒乓, Tuesday, 21 May 2013 12:18 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

^^ i approve of this adaptation, better than the original

― 乒乓, Tuesday, 21 May 2013 12:18 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

The new Pride and Prejudice and Zombies?

― Word Salad Username (j.lu), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 13:00 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

Pride and Psyduck

― 乒乓, Tuesday, 21 May 2013 13:06 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

for whom bellsprout tolls

― you are not a better writer than f. scott fitzgerald. you are not a b (k3vin k.), Tuesday, 21 May 2013 13:08 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

― 乒乓, Tuesday, 21 May 2013 13:10 (4 weeks ago) Permalink

I keep thinking about this film? I actually really like Carey Mulligan's performance - I think it's super successful at suggesting a different & more feminist reading of the story.

I wonder what this movie would be like if you just removed Toby Macguire competely.

This trailer is so so good - love this kinda nonchronological buildup style

― Gravel Puzzleworth, Tuesday, 28 May 2013 11:45 (3 weeks ago) Permalink

just saw this, the first 20-30 minutes are ultrabad, like "hmmm maybe i could sneak into the next theater and watch the internship" level bad. it does sort of come together after that, decaprio is really quite good, and tobey mcguire alternates between being prtty decent whan actually acting with humans, but awful when doing voiceovers, like crazy awful. other than the party scenes, the apartment party in particular, and the car scenes, luhrmann is oddly subdued a lot of the time, and there are other bright moments as well (the floral arrangements in the daisy/nick/gatsby tea scene is a pretty howlingly funny moment actually). most of the female leads are better than expected, although carey mulligan is pretty flat. tom is very well cast and works really well in the part. its def flawed, but much better than i expected while still somehow not being great in any way. music is mostly (with a couple notable exceptions) buried and unobtrusive thank god. weird organ player dude annoyed the shit out of me. no leguizamo.

so yeah theres my review

― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Monday, 10 June 2013 18:22 (1 week ago) Permalink

weird organ player dude annoyed the shit out of me. no leguizamo.

plz say this is supposed to be read in the manner of the problematic "no homo" idiom

― they are either militarists (ugh) or kangaroos (?) (DJP), Monday, 10 June 2013 18:27 (1 week ago) Permalink

haha

― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Monday, 10 June 2013 18:33 (1 week ago) Permalink

― 乒乓, Friday, 14 June 2013 12:10 (4 days ago) Permalink

dicaprio is actually a genetic mutant who has double the number of facial muscles that a normal human would have

― 乒乓, Friday, 14 June 2013 12:10 (4 days ago) Permalink

As if he were Hollywood's bully whippet...

― on the sidelines dishing out sass (suzy), Friday, 14 June 2013 12:13 (4 days ago) Permalink

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