15. The Great Gatsby: “An Absurdity That Speaks a Twinge of Truth” #CaPC25

All this week, the writers of Christ and Pop Culture unveil their 25 most loved things of 2013. 

Previous #16: Kentucky Route Zero (PC/MAC)

#15. The Great Gatsby

Nick Caraway likes New York. He likes having rich parties, seductive women, and sensuous alcohol at his fingertips. His life exists as a bystander to an affair between his cousin Daisy and newfound friend Jay Gatsby. What is life? Possibly, one constant party into another, or else broken hearts, shredded dreams, and seeking an enchanted escape. The 2013 film The Great Gatsby directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Leonardo DiCaprio caused viewers to revisit F. Scott Fitzgerald’s brilliant narrative, and to understand the shallow nature of the escapist life.

Jay Gatsby actively seeks out his true love, but he does not seek truth. He denies reality and surrounds his life around a lie. To deny that lie would be to destroy all of his ambitions and the love he deeply desires.

We needed “The Great Gatsby” this year with all its pomp and circumstance, with all its sound and fury. Without an absurdity that also speaks a twinge of truth, we might not recognize our own idols, our own shallow ambitions, or our own desperate lies.

Suggested Reading
The Revolting and Honest World of The Great Gatsby
The Kiddy Pool: Re-reading Gatsby (Careless People and Beautiful Little Fools)
The Moviegoer: The Colossal Vitality of Baz Luhrmann’s Great Gatsby Illusion
Living the Gatsby Life

Next #14: Lorde – Pure Heroine