You know, I’ve never been a huge fan. Why not? I don’t know. I liked The Great Gatsby well enough. Didn’t love it. In reading Fitzgerald, it’s always seemed to me that the author, in truth, has only disdain for his characters.
He’s like a god, creating a world, populating it, writing the fates of its inhabitants, all the while remaining far above - not benign, not indifferent. Rather, Fitzgerald laughs at his creation and his creatures. Maybe it was the time in which he lived, the fashion of writers back then… I don’t know. I only know I hear the author’s cynical laughter hiding in plain sight behind his words.
I just finished a book of the F’s short stories, one of which is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I have no idea how I missed this book during my Jazz Age fascination as a teen, but I did. I loved the movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. Yes, I’m aware a lot of reviewers had issues with the film, but I couldn’t look away for 166 minutes. That’s why I decided to read the story.
Here’s what I have to say - the movie is a million times better. Thank you, screenwriters, for fleshing out this short, cynical, detached piece on our miserable failures as human beings. Thanks for taking a meaningless story and imbuing it with meaning. You gave it flesh and blood and a poignancy it lacked in the original telling.
Good job, writers!
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Double Bind, by Chris Bohjalian is an interesting take on the whole F. Scott thing.
I resented and resisted reading Fitzgerald in my teens. I’d heard about Zelda and F Scott’s personal issues and it was hard for me to relax and enjoy the hijinks of beautiful people living high in the roaring 20′s. It always came across to me as desperately sad from the get go.
When I was young, my mom and older sister dragged me to a matinee of the Great Gatsby in at a beautiful theater in Westwood. The cream colored car used in the movie was parked in the lobby surrounded by velvet ropes. It was an early show and the theater was nearly empty that day. It was just us, and a small entourage of people gathered in the middle of the theater. In the center of the entourage, my sister pointed Katherine Heburn out to me.
The movie got a little dull so I watched Ms. Hepburn most of the time. She was very animated and chatty amongst her party. When the lights came on, she stood up and said with a denouncing tone of voice, “That was shallow!”
Years later when I had the book pushed on me in school-during a speed reading program no less, I kept hearing “That was shallow” ringing in my head.
I enjoyed Benjamin Buttons and loved the texture and the feel of the film but it was such an emotionally wrenching experience I’m not sure I could watch it again any time soon…
XXOO Kat
I just read that director Baz Luhrmann is filming a remake of the Great Gatsby starring Leonardo DiCaprio-this version can’t possibly be boring…
I might have to reread “Gatsby” oh dear. lol
XXOO Kat
Sorry, Kat…I think I’ll skip it. I saw that too.
I can’t believe you saw Katherine Hepburn! OMG! I adore her, Kat! Have a collection of all her films. Yes, shallow is a good word for Fitzgerald. Feels as if he’s making fun of all his characters - they mean less than nothing to him.
I’m gonna have to read that, Steph.
That has to be a first. The movie is better than the book. Guess I’ll be skipping that book.
Ciara - some people totally love the book. I was neutral about it.