We just recently rented The Great Gatsby. I read this book in high school, but didn't remember much about it other than I don't think I liked it and thought it was boring. I really think Baz Lurman brought this book to life on the screen. He was the director of Moulin Rouge also, and you can tell when you watch. The styles are similar....eye candy. LOVED Moulin Rouge.
Gatsby said something towards the end of the film that struck me:
"If I can just get back to the start...."
He was obsessed with wiping out the 5 years he had lost with his love Daisy. But he was not just wanting to start over, he was wanting to pretend those 5 years didn't exist basically. He kind of seemed like he wasn't right in the head, but I sort of got it.
How many times have I wished that POOF, all the bad things could be whisked away from my memory and I could be sent back in time to do it all over again. But do it in a better way of course. In a way that avoids all the pain and heartache. So many times I've wished this. That's all Gatsby wanted. He just wanted to start over.
Nick Carraway told him: “You can’t repeat the past.”
“Can’t repeat the past?” he cried incredulously. “Why of course you can!”
And he was dead set on making that happen! haha Sure, he sounds a little crazy, but that HOPE that you feel from him. You almost believe him!
It's just too bad that he lost everything by being obsessed with this goal. If he had just accepted the past for what it was and let it go, he could have moved forward with the love of his life and lived happily ever after.
So yes, I sometimes feel a little crazy like Gatsby, but I do understand that what is done is done. It's in the past. There's no redoing it. No matter how hard a person tries...the past can't be forgotten. It becomes a part of you. It changes you. Sometimes for the worse, but hopefully for the better. Accepting this is part of moving on. It won't make everything better, but it's a start.
