The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is a fictional tale of people all connected through a man known as Gatsby  in the 1920’s. as they gather at the marvelous parties more secrets are revealed as we learn of daisy’s failing marriage with her cheating husband, who is with a woman drawn to money but stuck in marriage to a mechanic. As time passes we hear that Gatsby is throwing giant parties at his mansion full of extension show-offs hoping to draw in Daisy and win her heart. Gatsby learns of his neighbor Nick who luckily enough is the second cousin to this marvelous Daisy. He befriends Nick as a way to get Daisy around more often. As this new group forms, Daisy, Tom (her husband), Nick, Gatsby, and Jordan (friend of Daisy) life becomes a scandal. Daisy with Gatsby and Tom with his lover, Myrtle leaving a revenging husband.  When questioned Tom sends the angry man straight to Gatsby whom he kills before killing himself. With no choice Daisy returns to Tom to move to England and Nick leaving for a less dramatic western city.
    Although the story is about a man trying to win a girl over with his new fancy things, the story does hold historical accuracy. Throughout this time , up until Kennedy, men would wear hats during the day generally during the work week and this was well displayed. Ladies however kept hats as an accessory of wealth and style which was common at Gatsby’s parties or out to meet someone. While on th etopic of fashion the clothes they wore were key to understanding the time. Woman desired the boyish figure and would do anything to get it from wrapping cloth around their chest to flatten it, even ditch the corset to focus on hips and legs. Although I think it was overdone in the movie the costumes were authentic. I believe that every woman, except Daisy’s daughter, had that short hair cut shaped like a bob but boyish enough for the time. Another popular trend was smoking mostly from the war many men had picked up the habit but women had their own elegant European style with it placed at the end of a long think stick. Through the ages music players have changed from what you or someone you hire can play to the radio, to the phonograph: similar to our parents record players only it needed to wound up like an old car. Both Gatsby and Daisy owned one placed near the back patio. This item was probably as luxury considering the wealth they both had. Throughout the movie we hear the song, “We’ve got fun” which was a big hit at the time with its release in 1921. Towards the beginning of the movie we see staff preparing for another weekend party at Gatsby’s. they show men pulling items out of a crate full of ice since refrigerators were not around yet. Later on we see Tom wrapping a cold cloth around a bottle of whisky both to keep it cool and hidden since this was a time prohibition. The final thing that stood out was when Tom snickered at the horror of a black man marrying a white woman. The fact was Nortic Whites were trying to hold their superiority over anyone not of German, English, or Sweedish back round because so many other groups were moving in during this time after the war. And of course nothing is without flaw, especially in Hollywood. In the beginning of the film, Nick has just moved to the fictional west egg where all “new money” is for the summer and while there he visits his second cousin once removed Daisy and her husband Tom on east egg, where all “new money’ lives. While there Daisy mentions that she  see’s a starling in the garden and wonders if it came from the boating business of either Kunard or White Star Line. Although just a guess on her part, it was impossible because in the late 1890’s an animal group sent 100 European starlings to central park and these 100 birds were the only to see America and they ended up reproducing and from there became fairly common. Not long after Nick and Tom head to New York to pick up Myrtle, Tom’s affair. Tom is driving a blue car. Up until 1926 ford only made black cars because it was faster and trying to quickly paint hundreds of cars would take too long. With the movie being based in 1922. This blue car was unlikely as was the later shown yellow Roll’s Royce that was owned by Jay Gatsby. In 1926 however Ford discovered Duco Lacquer, a point of assorted colors for automobiles that dried quick enough for mass production. The final major flaw that was noticed was when Gatsby is driving to town with Nick and he begins telling Nick about himself. When he gets to the part that he was in the service during the war. Gatsby shows a medal of honor given to him by the country of Montenegro. Well this is impossible because the independence of the country ended in 1918 when it was taken to be apart of Serbia. This movie played a message of time. It showed the way wealth dominated both honest and through lying. The Great Gatsby showed us that with all the money in the world he wasn’t happy, he didn’t end up with the girl. The message that hit me was the power men had. Daisy cried when she discovered she had a baby girl and told the nurse, “I am glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” at this time it was truce. Women still were there for a mans pleasure, a prize this wouldn’t change for some time.