“Americans, while willing, even eager, to be serfs, have
always been obstinate about being peasantry.” Truth.
14.13 Trimalchio: An Early Version of The Great Gatsby
I am usually not a fan of film adaptations of books,
especially those I taught at school, but I have always have a soft spot for Redford and Farrow as Gatsby and
Daisy; the foggy lenses, and over acting.
Showing it in class was always hilarious. The kids eagerly anticipating the gruesome ending and
instead laughing out loud at the almost comedic scene. It isn’t a perfect movie, but it was
pretty perfect for what it was supposed to be. The Great Gatsby is all about what we see instead of who we
are, what we imagine instead of what we have, so the over acting was just right because these people were always pretending about everything. And now we have a remake coming, and I am sad that this original
version will be relegated to the classics section. The remake is being directed by Baz Luhrmann of Moulin Rouge
fame so is destined to be gaudy as all get out, but will that take away from
the story, from the truth of the book – that in America it isn’t about who we
are, but instead about who other people think we are. I really wasn’t sure, the casting seemed off to me and
rumors of the soundtrack sounded crazy but…
Then I saw this:
The pink suit, the pool, the car. The back-story, the pearls, the green light. All the pretty,
and yes, all the gaudy. But, oh my
gosh, I am in – like totally in (except maybe not the 3-D part, can we just
kill the 3-D part please.) And
this Tom Buchanan is the perfect Tom Buchanan – am I right?
So I wasn’t excited about the movie and now I can’t
wait and because of this I found out about Trimalchio. It is an early version of Gatsby that was written in 1924 but
published in 2000, along with some of the letters Fitzgerald’s editor sent him
in regards to revisions. For me,
it is also the superior book. It
seems to me it is a lot more messy than the original. It feels more obvious
to the reader and the characters that Gatsby and Daisy will never have the future they both have imagined, in
fact, none of the them will.
All I could think about while reading was how much I wish I had had this
edition when I was teaching Gatsby years ago because it seemed a bit more realistic in the end, and maybe this movie will be the same.
