The Great Gatsby has a vast number of connections to the latest HBO drama, Boardwalk Empire. Boardwalk Empire is centered around the political corruption of Atlantic City in the 1920’s, the same time period that The Great Gatsby is set in. The main character of the show is Nucky Thompson, who is the county treasurer, but more akin to an extremely wealthy town dictator. Although, if he were to be called despotic, he would most definitely be of the enlightened version, as his reign greatly improves all aspects of life for the residents of Atlantic City. This sort of theme of corruption and moral deterioration of the American dream almost identical to that in The Great Gatsby.
Another text to world connection I was able to make was that in the novel, Meyer Wolfshein is a thinly disguised allusion to Arnold Rothstein. Rothstein was a very prevalent crime leader, known as the head of the jewish mafia. He also was infamous for throwing the 1919 world series by personally paying off players of the chicago white sox in order to reap huge rewards by betting for the Cincinnati Reds.
The third text to world connection I made was that of the life of Gatsby with his lavish summer parties to that similar environment present in the TV show, “Royal Pains” which is about a pair of concierge doctors in the hampton’s which is the same location of The Great Gatsby on Long Island. The incredible mansion parties seen frequently on that show allowed me to easily envision the similar events that happened at Gatsby’s house throughout the course of the summer.
I thought the connection that you made to Boardwalk Empire was really relative because of the time periof and such. I thought it was interesting that you were able to make that connection, because personally i have never heard of this story. Your connections werent broad which is good for a writer and reader, this blog showed that you really focused in the reading and that Fitzgerald did a great job of portraying his story in a way that the readers could connect to.
ReplyDeleteI have not seen the aforementioned shows, but I had myself failed to recognize that Meyer Wolfsheim was based off an actual person. It is indeed interesting that Fitzgerald chose to throw in a little history to add realism and spark to the story–and perhaps to his readers, when the book was first released, this would have been more prevalent, perhaps an interesting tidbit that readers could recall.
ReplyDeleteAlso, good for you for putting words to pictures, in the literal sense. When I read The Great Gatsby, I focused more on individual objects that the author described, but I probably should have done what you did–found a whole scene I could have related it to, and used that as my setting. I think yours is a really creative connection.