Gatsby

     My friend Brandon had always recommended "The Great Gatsby" to me but I never bothered to read the book until it was assigned in this class. I had watched the movie long before reading and in a way it spoiled the book for me. Never the less, I finally understood why my friend liked it so much.

I said that the movie had spoiled the book for me, not just that I had known most of the content before reading and know what was coming next, but when I started reading I couldn't come up with an idea of the characters for myself. I would always picture the actors in the roles while I was reading. It took away from the imagery and my own imagination of the story. I would recommend reading before watching. Despite it all, I couldn't help but to still like the novel. Their were parts and details that I had never known about, such as Gatsby's funeral and Nick's conversation with Wolfsheim towards the end. I remember seeing Owl Eyes in the movie but other than the library scene he had no more importance to the film.

I liked it better than Fitzgerald's short story "Winter Dreams", which to me is a little weird because to me both stories were very similar, almost the same. "The Great Gatsby" and "Winter Dreams" share a few key topics. They discuss social class, love, what was and what might have been. Both stories are centered around a man who has made a name for himself, starting from the ground up. They both have dreams and goals to improve themselves and work to earn their place in the upper class. Both men find the woman of their dreams which they are with for a short period of time, but after they "leave" her they are never able to get her back. The characters "live in the past" and always wonder what might have been.

They say that the book is better than the movie and I've found that in most cases that is true. Sometimes the movie surpasses the book and other times the movie doesn't due it justice. "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck is one in which I thought the movie did a little better than the book, not to say that the book wasn't fantastic. Stephen King's book "The Dreamcatcher" however was way better than the movie which was just awful. I can't say if the movie for "The Shawshank Redemption" is better than the book because I haven't read it; although I'd have to say that it's going to be pretty tough to beat the movie.

In the case of "The Great Gatsby", I think that the book and movie did about the same. The character development in both were amazing. Toby McGuire did a phenomenal job playing Nick Caraway, and Leonardo DiCaprio always does great in whatever role he plays. The movie lines up almost exactly with the book, which I really didn't expect it to do. The largest change that they had made was cutting out Gatsby's funeral. Of course lines are omitted and you don't get all the details from the book but the movie holds up, and then some.

A Play Named A Streetcar Named Desire

     I wasn't expecting to read a play in this class but I guess I should have. I had never heard of "A Streetcar Named Desire" before but I really enjoyed the play and overall thought it was, for lack of a better word, pretty good. The movie wasn't half bad either. It had ended on a darker note than I was expecting though. Based on the title, the play doesn't foreshadow just how violent the conflict is. The arguing between Stanley and Blanche increasing was one thing but I never thought that it would end in sexual abuse.

    One of the things that I found really interesting about "A Streetcar Named Desire" was that the play was based around a game of poker. The two player were Blanche and Stanley, and Stella was the dealer. Stella wasn't just the dealer though, she was also the prize. Blanche wanted to take Stella away and Stanley wanted to keep her. Poker is a game of luck with a bit of strategy involved; having to know when to hold or play your cards and also knowing how to bluff. Blanche was the best at bluffing, but it was by a stroke of luck that Stanley knew a guy who had known Blanche, which lead to her downfall.

    I didn't have a favorite character from the play, none of them really stuck out to me, but if I had to pick my least favorite it would have to be Blanche. It wasn't so much of what she did or tried to do that bothered me, but I just didn't like her personality.

    Overall, I enjoyed the play, but it wasn't one of my favorites. Then again, drama isn't my genre of choice. It was better than some of the other plays that I have read. I never did get into Shakespeare and didn't enjoy Arthur Miller's "The Crucible". It was a play symbolizing McCarthyism and its flaws and irrationality involving the Salem Witch Trials but I just didn't really care much for it. Some of the character developments were fantastic but altogether... meh. Getting back to "A Streetcar Named Desire", if "The Crucible" were a zero and "Noises Off" were a ten, I'd rate it at a six, maybe seven.