All Things Great and Gatsby

Such a beautiful cast //T__T

I've put this off long enough; I think it's about time that I talk about some Gatsby.

I've always subconsciously associated the Roaring Twenties with bright, flashing lights, towering New York skyscrapers, bright red lipstick, shimmery dresses, men in fedoras, tons of illegal booze, handsome men with too much gel in their hair and attractive women with bobbed hair... so when I saw the 2013 remake of The Great Gatsby, my (probably quite limited) vision of the 1920's was quite satisfied....

I'm not exactly entitled to say any more since I have yet to watch the whole movie; I've only watched about 30 minutes in... but that's besides the point.

What I really wanted to write about about was the heavy usage of CGI effects. Before I started watching the movie, I saw a "before-and-after" video on YouTube of the CGI effects used in the film, and my God. There was a crap ton of CGI. I understand that CGI is Luhrmann's style of filming but man... the actors were sometimes filming on an almost entirely blue and green set.

Above, the movie scene. Below, the actual scene.
MY LIFE IS A LIE

Even though the movie is heavily CGI based, however, it doesn't bother me that much. In fact, I think it adds to the atmosphere of the movie.

In my opinion, the Roaring Twenties was an era of oblivion; people, particularly the wealthy, really had no clue what they were doing. All they really thought about was fun, booze, money, and sex. They lived in the moment, and thought life was good.

I feel that the unreal-looking, overly "glowy" background scenes of the movie helped emphasize this sense of oblivion... and create a dream-like effect that nicely describes life in the 1920's. In the 1920's, life literally seemed to "glow" for most people. The world that they lived in was surreal to them, and everything seemed ten times better than it actually was (like looking at the world when you're high...) The fact that America was prospering dominated the minds of many-- the American Dream seemed so within reach, society was enriching itself, the economy was surging, the standard of living was skyrocketing off the charts as more and more people could afford cars and electricity and appliances for their homes... Of course, their prosperity was only superficial, but they didn't know that, so it didn't matter.

Life was unreal, life was a never-ending good dream, life was glowing and shining. The lights grew brighter, and the waters sparkled more than they did a decade ago. The glowy CGI effects of the film were appropriate to elicit that surreal, dream-like feeling for the modern audience. I mean, the Roaring Twenties was a dream, in a way. It was too good to be true.

(Sorry, I just love the Roaring Twenties.)

But anyway, TL;DR, I think the CGI backgrounds were a decent aspect of the film. Yes, it makes the film seem incredibly fake, but that's kinda the point.

Another thing, ever since I listened to Lana Del Rey's "Young and Beautiful" from the Gatsby soundtrack three weeks ago, I've been obsessed...

The song itself is also very dreamy, which is probably why I love it so much. And I love the drum going on in the background. I kinda think of it as a heartbeat... HEARTBEAT OF THE 1920'S-- Ooh, that sounds fancy.

The lyrics are pretty nice too... it's like.. a yearn for assurance. I think the lyrics fit Gatsby's character the most. (He's a pretty desperate guy.)

But actually, when the song gets to the bridge, it does sound a little strange...

"All that grace
All that body
All that face
Makes me want to party"

Um, what... "Oh man, the moment I see your face, my body really wants to party. Oh yeah baby. Feel the love." ...Yeah I dunno, those lines kinda throw off the atmosphere of the song a little bit. BUT WHATEVER, the song is still cool beans.

SIDE NOTE, everyone in the remake is so friggin' pretty. Especially Daisy and Jordan. Myrtle is pretty too, even though she's supposed to be quite fat and ugly in the novel. I used to think Tom was ugly, but he's starting to catch on. Gatsby is pretty because hey, it's Leonardo Dicaprio. Nick though... he's pretty in the film too but I still think of Spiderman when I see him. (Sorry Tobey Maguire.)

This screams OTP

DAMN IT SHE'S SO PRETTY. I love her beauty mark.

JORDAN!!! Jordan is my favorite character out of all of them.
She's so cynical and mysterious I love it--

And Leonardo Dicaprio in an army uniform-- that is all.