THE GREAT GATSBY (1974) at 50 (Ep. 50)

It’s been 50 years since the release of the 1974 film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, THE GREAT GATSBY. Highlighting the 50th anniversary of the 1974 version of THE GREAT GATSBY is another opportunity to talk with author and professor of English Emily Bernard about this 1920s novel adapted for film and the themes that continue to resonate with our own times. Our conversation with Emily about the film adaptation of Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel PASSING in episode 2 of the podcast, remains one of our most popular listens.

Directed by Jack Clayton, and featuring Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby, Mia Farrow as Daisy Buchanan, and Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway, the film is a window into the roaring 1920s or the "Jazz Age," as Fitzgerald is credited for coining the phrase. The story is also a mirror on American social constructs for wealth, class, and illusion, as well as the destructive power to recapture the past.

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Notes: "Negro" is used in its proper historical context in this conversation.

*Spoiler alert* for persons who've never seen any film or television adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's book "The Great Gatsby," or read the book.

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Download the Transcript for Episode 50

PLEASE NOTE: TRANSCRIPTS ARE GENERATED USING A COMBINATION OF SPEECH RECOGNITION SOFTWARE AND HUMAN TRANSCRIBERS, AND MAY CONTAIN ERRORS.

0:08 - Opening

1:22 - Intro to THE GREAT GATSBY novel and film 

6:11 - Intro to Emily Bernard, Professor, Scholar, Writer

16:12 - Wealth, power, identity, and narcissism in Fitzgerald's Novel

23:05 - Place and Identity in "The Great Gatsby"

24:48 - New York as symbol in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Jazz Age"

31:12 - Race, identity, and adaptation

36:00 - American Class distinctions and the "American Dream"

41:14 - Daisy Buchanan, "the great white beauty"

47:55 - Break

48:00 - George Wilson, "true victim" in "The Great Gatsby"

57:07 - Race and performance in literature

58:01 - Class and "passing" in "The Great Gatsby"

1:02:25 - Authenticity and celebrity: Do we know what it means to be "natural?"

1:08:02 - Blackness, identity and cultural appropriation in 1920s America

1:11:59 - Race, power and privilege in literature and film

1:16:09 - Lothrop Stoddard, WEB DuBois, and legacy of racial  eugenics

1:20:21 - Gatsby's end (spoiler alert)

1:28:04 - "The Great Gatsby" film adaptations

1:30: 22 - Closing

1:31:51 - Disclaimer

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