Notes

1. The billboard eyes which belong to Doctor T. J. Eckleburg symbolize God staring down upon and judging America as a moral wasteland. It represents how poor people could not get rich. It also shows how useless the world is which Nick understands after imagining Gatsby’s final thought as the emptiness of symbols and dreams.

2. I think it was smart of Gatsby to befriend Nick since Gatsby wanted to contact Daisy and he thought he could do that by knowing Nick. But it is pretty obvious that Gatsby only wants to use Nick. I also think Tom taking up with Wilson’s wife was a selfish thing to do and Tom only befriended Wilson to do so.

3. Jazz, crazy dancing, debauchery, and other entertainments started getting popular because people had money for it. During the war, people had barely any money to spare, but in the 20s when the economy started to grow, people had money to go to concerts and parties etc and enjoy. Music like jazz could have become popular because the radio got invented.

4. No, Luhrmann didn’t have to because hip-hop was invented in 1973 and it still didn’t exist in the 20s. I think it just gives a wrong idea about the atmosphere at the parties. I think he should have played hip-hop instead.

5. People would proudly smoke even more pot if legalized.

6. I think Jordan Baker is the one who soaks up the entertainment because of her cynical, boyish, and self-centred personality.

7. I think God is present in the story as George Wilson, who is the only one who says seeing everything from the eyes of God. To Nick, they seem to symbolize the haunting waste of the past. To Gatsby, it seems to symbolize his own eyes, once described as "vacant," often stare out, blankly keeping "vigil". I think God made his judgement by making Wilson kill Gatsby for wiping out the cause of making America a wasteland.

8. I think the story is just limited to itself in terms of the music in which the trends change all the time and the laws and restrictions which also changes. Jazz is not as popular as it was before and there isn’t a Prohibition law that made Gatsby rich. But the context is universal about how there are always rich people and poor people. Problems related to relationships also still exists. In terms of these topics, I think the movie makes a good example of an unsuccessful approach to issues.