On Not Watching The Great Gatsby

I really enjoying seeing movie versions of books from the list. Well, I like seeing movies of the ones I've read. It's interesting to see how somebody else interprets the story and characters, and to see how it gets condensed down to two hours.

It works with mixed results; movies like The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Revolutionary Road were able to capture the idea and theme of the movie, without missing a beat. Then there are movies like Catch-22, which wasn't a bad movie, but it was unable to duplicate the genius that was the book.

But good or bad, or not as good, I've always been keen to see the movie version. A month ago, Baz Luhrmann released the newest film version of The Great Gatsby. Not only is it one of my favorite books, but I'm also a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays Jay Gatsby.

It would stand to reason that I would have be excited and anxious to see this movie. But for reasons I'm not entirely sure of, I'm not. Not only have I not already seen it, I haven't really had any urge to do so.

In trying to determine why this is the case, I'm at a bit of a loss. The trailers I saw several months ago didn't really excite me, as I felt they seemed to portray Gatsby as more of a love story, instead of a tragic tale of flawed characters. I know that showcasing the glitz and glamour of Gatsby's parties might appeal to John Q. Moviegoer, but just didn't appeal to me, as it wasn't at all how I envisioned the story.

I normally wouldn't put so much stock into a trailer, as they rarely do the movie any justice, but that's really the only exposure I've had to this movie, so I'm led to believe it is the source of my disinterest.

I suppose this is a bit like judging a book by its cover, but that's where I am. Sure, I'll watch this some day, when I lounging on the couch and it comes on TV, but until then, I'll stick with the book, and have that be my only exposure to this classic tale.

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