With rap music, 3D and more booze than a liquor superstore Baz Luhrmann may have been trying to revive Gen Y’s interest in The Great Gatsby but instead he captured the imagination of Canberra’s Silent Generation.
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Des and Noreen Bird, both 71, have never read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic story about love, opulent parties and excess in 1920s America but the couple headed along to a preview screening at Palace Electric cinema this week and were charmed by the blockbuster.
“I loved it, it was just a lovely night of glitzy fun,” Mrs Bird said.
The couple said they only decided to see the film after seeing the New Acton cinema was hosting a special themed night and saw it as an excuse to get dressed up on what would have been an otherwise dreary weeknight.
“The ladies were encouraged to wear their pearls and their finery while the men were in suits, it was a lovely night, it really set the tone for the movie,” she said.
Mrs Bird, who is a grandmother to five, said the emotional roller-coaster which defines Daisy and Jay’s relationship was her favourite aspect of the 142-minute movie.
“It took my husband a little while to understand what was happening but he ended up enjoying it too.”
The film, which opens around the country on Thursday, has enjoyed huge box office success and received rave reviews by Australian critics.
Sales of the classic novel have been on a steady increase in Canberra, especially to young readers, according to staff at Manuka’s Paperchain Bookstore.
“It’s a classic so it’s always selling but with the new movie poster cover there has been more interest in it lately,” buyer Gerald Jones said.
Like he did with Romeo and Juliet back in the 1990s, Luhrmann has successfully revived and repackaged a classic literary tale for the masses – regardless of their generation.
Juliet Monbeck, an English teacher in the US, recently told The New York Times she was shocked that her students were able to deconstruct and analyse the storyline with impressive thoughtfulness thanks to the movie.
“While I, literature person that I am, find his [Luhrmann’s] approach heavy-handed and sometimes an insult to my intelligence, for the kids, it is an epiphany. Finally, the kids love Gatsby’s unrealistic and obsessive dedication to Daisy – remember these are the same kids that thought the 200-year-old watching the 17-year-old sleep in Twilight was romantic and not creepy pedophilia – as well as his belief that one can go back and recapture the past,” Juliet Monbeck said.
