I would like to see the movie "The Great Gatsby", filmed in 1974 by the director named Jack Clayton from the standpoint of psychoanalysis ("The Great Gatsby (1974)"). I will consider the film through the prism of the basic tenets of the theory, developed by the Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. I will make out a few key points that define psychoanalysis as a theory and show how these postulates are related to the main character of the book by Francis Scott Fitzgerald and Jack Clayton’s film, Jay Gatsby. Immediately, it should be noted that this film is not selected for analysis in terms of Freud's theory by chance. Jay Gatsby suits for the analysis, because his internal struggles and external flatulence are a consequence of certain difficulties, related to the psychology of the character. It is necessary to consider the main character of the film and the book inside and out, from his origins and ending with a tragic outcome, taking into account all the factors that influenced his fate.
Human behavior, human experience and knowledge for the most part are determined by his unconscious irrational impulses – that is one of the basic postulates of the Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis theory (Freud and Riviere 12). What we see in the movie, filmed in 1974? In order to reveal the identity of Jay Gatsby, Fitzgerald consigns the narration to Nick Carraway, a neighbor of Gatsby. Francis Ford Coppola in his screenplay remained faithful to this technique, keeping such a distinguishing feature of the novel as the atmosphere of chronicles. When Nick, the narrator, is taking the floor, it seems that he will convict. However, Nick is not enough. One day, he would call himself a friend of Gatsby, a close friend. And Gatsby would call him great. Over time, there will be resolved a puzzle, which troubled the residents of Long Island: Gatsby made his millions out of restrictions of the Prohibition. Elucidation of this fact was preceded by a lot of hints and confessions –before us there is a story of a farmer's son, who nearly has caught his happiness by the tail. Almost, because he furnished a huge awkward house, drove a ridiculously long car and gained gloss solely in order to become worthy of Daisy Buchanan. That was an absolutely unconscious attraction that defines his behavior (Ebert).
Apart from the structure of the individual’s personality, described by Freud, the mental development is also affected by the events of one’s childhood. When Gatsby became rich, he was just funny. It seemed that the guests at his parties set out to outdo each other, writing stories about the owner of the house. In a society, clumsiness gave away Gatsby as well as the doubts of a person that did not receive a proper education. He chose his words painfully, supercharged the speech with long memorized grammatical constructions, which just cut the ears. Gatsby has overdone demonstrating his wealth as well. And the point is that Jay Gatsby is a naive dream of James Goetz, a farmer's son, which came true. Being 17, he changed his name and his fantasy about a prosperous Jay Gatsby, which he carried through the World War I, finding true love and the path to it. In the implementation of this fantasy, he served to the beauty, but the understanding of the beauty of the 17-year-old boy from the backwoods blinded 30-year-old man’s eyes to the true state of things. Growing up, Gatsby has not given her dream at the mercy of reality – in the least its shade. In his screenplay, Coppola relied on the Fitzgerald’s symbols – Green Light (hopes and dreams), unblinking stare of Dr. Eckleberg from shield in front of the Wilson’s garage, but he neglected one symbol. All of these are the symbols of dreams, dreams of childhood, early childhood experiences, which greatly influenced the development of Gatsby as a person.
Gatsby is a very confusing character, when it comes to analysis. The film did not respond more or less directly, who Mr. J. G. actually is. The legends that the protagonist himself writes about express to us his desire to hide his true origins from the low class to classify himself as noble and respected people. Money is money, but to be a big money bag in the eyes of the rest is clearly not desirable for him. He rapidly acquires all sorts of useful connections, including those that raise his status in society. But all the secrets sooner or later become apparent, especially thanks to those who has strong interest in this, such as Tom Buchanan.
Mean, stupid and absurd death terminates the life of a mysterious gentleman named Gatsby. And it seems like the story can be considered completed, but the final credits leave us at a loss, because the answer to the main question of the film was not given – it is about what the greatness of this mysterious nouveau riche, Mr. G. consists in. The fact is that through some kind of dark machinations, he punched his way into the heartless and hypocritical world of the Buchanans to deserve a moral right to make a proposition to his girlfriend-dream, or rather the image that he himself drew in his imagination? Not asking the question at the same time, whether this world of the rich and luxury is worth it? Is it worthy to strive to approach yourself to it? And here we return to the first postulate, which states that "a person's behavior, his experience and knowledge for the most part are determined by his unconscious irrational impulses" (Freud and Riviere 12). Jay Gatsby absolutely does not reflect whether he wants Daisy and whether it is worth coming up with such supernatural plans for her? This question, Gatsby himself would not answer, because, according to Freud's theory, his attraction to Daisy was absolutely unconscious.
Speaking about the character of the film from the point of view of the Freudian psychoanalysis in general, there can be summarized a few sentences. The World War I is over. A poor young man, who was so good in uniform, after the conclusion of the peace treaty took it off and became uninterested to the girl from an aristocratic family. She simply crossed him out from her fans. Many years have passed, and next to the house of the beauty, who, by the way, got married and lived it up in endless parties, there appeared a mysterious palace of the fabulously rich millionaire. About the balls in his house, there were legends. Once she was invited to one of those balls. The owner of all the luxury turned out to be her old friend, the same boy. He put his life on to become equal to her. He was obsessed with her personality, and it was totally unconsciously.
The roots of his psychological problems, in fact, are hided in his childhood, where he has always dreamed of a better life. He dreamed of a life at the top, where he would stand out among the aristocratic circles. Daisy wanted new experiences. She gave him the hope that they could be together. Then, they had an accident, in which they killed a woman. The young man took the blame. Gatsby’s efforts to realize the desire for Daisy lead to the fact that psychological defense mechanisms come in action, which prevents the realization. He was even more confused at the end of the film. He is experiencing a mental disorder now. He does not know what to do, but in his mind he has only Daisy. He was just waiting for news from her, and nothing more troubled him.
According to psychoanalytic theory, the existing conflicts between what a person is aware of and his unconscious can lead to mental disorders such as neurosis, depression, fear, and much more. Jay Gatsby is a person, who made the American dream come true. He became rich, very rich, and therefore independent, strong and famous (Tyson 2). But, alas, all this is just a brilliant facade. Even there, in the eternal holiday Gatsby does not leave a feeling of unaccountable anxiety and impending disaster. Jack Clayton’s film perfectly expresses the tragedy of the character, where lie on the surface there are luxury and fun, and under them, very near, there are despair and death. The image of the protagonist is vague and dual. He is a romantic, who believes in love, moreover, for the sake of his love, as a valiant knight he entered into battle with life and won it – got the honor and glory, and at the present language, wealth. On the other hand, he is a businessman, involved in illegal activities, closely familiar with the underworld.
What all these actions are for? – All are just for the sake of Daisy. His unconscious attraction was to disappear after the war, because he was poor and could not approach her. After years of illegal activities, he may still approach her, and thus accomplished the goal. The only love of Gatsby was Daisy, a brilliant beauty, the flesh of the rich world. However, it is not just a beautiful dummy. She is a plant that grows only on the gold fertilizer. Wealth is so firmly ingrained in her life that made her kind of a person of another sort. In fact, she is a big baby, not taught for responsibility for her actions, mercy and love. She lives from entertainment to entertainment. Against the background of the other characters of the book, Jay Gatsby is really great, great in his faithfulness, the power of his love, generosity, self-sacrifice. However, his greatness binds his own unconscious desire, which makes him not live the way he had. As he is destined, a tragic end is the natural result of his irrational actions throughout the film.
How dangerous are illusions, which the people find comfort in the hope. These are unconscious and fatal illusions. Green light dreams beckons somewhere, but behind it, there is an emptiness. Jay Gatsby was deceived. He put all his fortune at stake, and the rate was the possession of the woman he loved. She was an ordinary man of flesh and blood, not the best. And something happened that should have happened - Gatsby lost everything without getting anything. This irrationality of action was due to unconscious desire, all as Freud. Daisy went without even a farewell call, and then there was absurd tragic death. His magnificent house was abandoned, and the name of Gatsby was forgotten faster than remembered.
And so, having considered the film "The Great Gatsby", shot in 1974, we have seen that it is perfectly suitable for the theory of psychoanalysis, developed by Sigmund Freud. The film touches the fundamental postulates of the theory. Firstly, it is a person's behavior, his experience and knowledge, for the most part determined by his unconscious irrational impulses. Jay Gatsby really followed his dream, absolutely unconsciously chasing Daisy without being aware of what he was doing. Secondly, the human attempt to realize these impulses led to the fact that the psychological defense mechanisms came into action to prevent awareness. Really trying to understand, for which he takes responsibility for the accident, Gatsby got even more confused, and he continues to act in the same way, trying to push all other thoughts besides his attraction to Daisy.
In addition to the described by Freud, the personality structure, the on human mental development is also determined by the events of his childhood. This is what we see from the story that Nick, Gatsby’s friend tells us. All strings are from childhood, even before the appearance of Daisy, he was drawn to the high society, rich people, for whom he was no match. And when Daisy appeared, all these dreams and desires only intensified. Thirdly, the existing conflicts between what a person is aware of and his unconscious, which lead to mental disorders such as neurosis, depression, fear, and many others. Indeed, in the course of the film, we see how Gatsby suffers from preoccupation and worry, he kept some jerky and hesitant. He tries to show that everything is under control, but that is clearly not the case. Inside, he struggles with the knowledge and unconsciousness. This is evident in his actions and behavior.
Jack Clayton perfectly conveyed Scott Fitzgerald’s product onto the screen, but only on formal grounds. Here, there are clearly raised social tensions, crime line and much more. But, as I see it, we really have not been fully showed the internal struggle of Gatsby, especially his fight with the awareness and the unconscious. More precisely, the audience repeatedly was shown how Gatsby mourns, but the director has not tried to "dive" into the sadness and try together with the viewer to comprehend it. In my opinion, this is a very significant lack of film. In other words, we have received informational awareness about the literary work, but the same dramaturgical and psychological line of the film does not quite live up to a serious level.
References
Ebert, Roger. "The Great Gatsby Movie Review (1974) | Roger Ebert". Rogerebert.com. N.p., 1974. Web. 30 Apr. 2016.
Freud, Sigmund and Joan Riviere. A General Introduction To Psycho-Analysis. New York: Liveright Pub. Corp., 1935. Print.
"The Great Gatsby (1974)". IMDb. Web. 30 Apr. 2016.
Tyson, Lois. Psychological Politics Of The American Dream. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1994. Print.
