Wednesday, April 2, 2014

The Great Gatsby Movie

Okay so, this isn't really an advice post, but more of a rant post and if you pay attention I will rant sometimes about something that I feel like ranting about.

So two weeks ago, in English class we finished reading The Great Gatsby which is honestly the best book I've ever been forced to read (a class mandated book) and I do not like any books that I've been forced to read, but I loved it to death because I'm really an old soul in a new body and often times I wish that I was born like 90 years before because I love the style and the music, but then again I don't like how women were treated and how they had not as much freedoms as we do now.
In the movie that came out last year (2013), which I really enjoyed and thought it was a very good movie and the soundtrack was done well for what it was. Most of the people in my class, however, didn't like the soundtrack although they said that the movie was done well. I mean I am a traditionalist and most times I would be cussing out a movie for messing with classic time period music that I enjoyed and I would swear never to listen to that music because it was butchered, but not this time. What I mean by that is that I think the remixes of songs and the up-tempo songs that they put in the movie was fantastic (maybe it's because I listened to the soundtrack over and over before ever even seeing the movie). I even read up on the soundtrack and how the songs came about and I found that to be so fascinating because I found out that most of the artists (like Will i am) were asked to put songs like The Charleston into their songs so that they sounded more like the music of the time, but I agree that the music isn't traditional to the era, but that's okay because the directer probably thought if he put the traditional songs it wouldn't appeal to the larger crowd and that's okay because that was his choice to make and he just happened to do an amazing job at that choice.
Furthermore the casting could have been better at times, but it was overall fantastic. I love Leo DiCaprio and Toby Maguire in other movies that they've starred in. I have watched Spider-man and that's the only other TM movie that I've watched which is sad, but with Leo, I've watched so many of his movies, The Titanic, Romeo & Juliet (which I know every line to and can talk along with them), Shutter Island, The Departed, The Aviator, Inception (There's more, but the list can go on forever plus I don't remember, but I know there's more. My mother loves Leonardo DiCaprio movies so she started me off watching them at a young age as she often does with so many of her favorite actors).
The point about the casting that I was trying to make, however, was that I found it to be amazing although some might disagree with me and that's okay because that's their own opinion and they are certainly entitled to it as I am with mine. I just thought the girls were perfect for their characters because the characters reminded me of what I pictured them as when I reading the book, I mean Myrtle was Marilyn Monroe/Jessica Rabbit worthy (that's the presence she brought to the movie and book). Also the guy who played Tom was a good fit because I wanted nothing more than to punch Tom in the face the whole time I was watching the movie and reading the book because I hated the character in the book and movie.
Also I have this way of falling in love with fictional characters and if there is an enemy, in any way, to that character I will end up hating that enemy with a fiery fiery passion and I often will fantasizing about ways that enemy can die (I can go to a very very dark place sometimes and I've come to terms with that fact of myself). That can be because the author of the novel has this way of brilliantly writing the book where you are just absorbed into the book like Fitzgerald does, or it could be because the actors are that good with conveying their characters to the camera.
I feel like a Gatsby fan girl with this rant, but Gatsby is sooooo amazing like no one understands. This past weekend I found it on Xfinity On Demand and I started playing it and my family would sit and watch it with me then they'd get up and leave and then come back and the whole time I just had figurative stars in my eyes and they were so very confused that when I would look at them, I would just respond to their puzzled faces with "It makes more sense if you have read the book". Then my brother asked me what a mistress was so I had to explain it to him and he's 13 almost 14, it was kind of awkward.

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