Glitz, Glamour, and the Green Light: Pulling Back the Curtain on The Great Gatsby.

What Ho, Wee Readers, and welcome to another rant… I mean well thought out think piece. If you’ve been here before, you should know how this goes by now – so let’s just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Speaking of ride, you know what book I’ve just finished…The Great Gatsby. I know those two things aren’t related but I had no segway into this part of the post, and I didn’t want to wait around and think of a proper one.

Anyway, getting back on topic ; The Great Gatsby is a book written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, first published in 1925. It is considered, I am told, as one of the great classics of American Literature. And held up in many an English course, as a master of the literary device. I will ruin what should have been the conclusion of my post, by stating here, that it is not a very good book.

Yes, shocking isn’t it – this great “masterpiece” is in actuality a boring, highly convoluted story of the death of a criminal. Full of boring, very shallowly written characters.

But please, let me explain before you raise your pitchforks.

Part the First: Pretty Pros, Do Not a Good Story Make

I’m not denying that in certain ways, the Great Gatsby is a very well written book. It’s pros after all are beautiful, having an almost hypnotic quality to them when listened to in audio form.

However I would ask my Wee readers to look past that, past the gentle rhythm of those phrases, to what they’re actually saying. What is the story of the Great Gatsby? Aplogies for any spoilers ahead.

Our Narrator Nick, moves into a small cottage right beside the mansion of the “mysterious” Jay Gatsby, who throws wild parties every single night. I mean he sounds like the worst kind of neighbor to me, but like I don’t think Nick seems to mind. He’s much too busy congratulating himself over his own “honesty” and “virtue” to really hear the din anyway. These partieas are apparently so wild that you can just turn up and you’ll be let in, no invitation needed. In fact most if not all the guest weren’t invited, only Nick, at his little cabin, recives an invitation.

I’m going to speed past this bit as quickly as I can, as that’s how bored I am now right now. So bear with me. Turns out Gatsby is in love with Nick’s cousin Daisy, who lives across the lake with her rich husband and child, and all the parties he’s thrown have been to catch her attention. Nick agrees to basically set up a date with the two of them, and they begin an affair.

But don’t worry, before you start to think that something morally questionable is going on , let me assure you, Daisy’s husband is a racist arsehole. Of course this is a book published in 1925, about elite American society, so basically all the characters are that. But it’s somehow supposed to be different with him.

He’s also having an affair with a mechanic’s wife, which is viewed as a bad thing he’s doing – which to be fair, it is – but it’s fine when Daisy does it apparently. Anyway a lot of confusing faffing around in each other’s cars later, Daisy accidentally runs over Tom’s mistress but because of some car swapping shinaggings, everyone thinks it’s Gatsby instead. So the mistress’s husband shoots him and most people don’t even bother to show up to his funeral.

And that’s it, stripped of all its pretty prose and liquistic tricks, that is the story of the great Gatsby. A sad, convoluted tale of a criminal’s pointless murder. Okay, I’ve throughly depressed myself, onto the next part.

Part the Second: The Green Light and the Literary Device

But wait, I hear you say – isn’t The Great Gatsby famous for its ingenious use of literary devices? The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, symbolically embodying Jay Gatsby’s undying love, desperation, and inability to fully achieve the American dream? Yes, I will give you that, it’s an ingenious use of a literarily device – for if we’re too busy staring into that startlingly green light, we don’t see anything it’s hiding. We don’t examine whether that love is more a reflection of Gatsby’s yearning for wealth and position than it is any real affection for Daisy. We don’t look at the depths that desperation has led him too, or how skewd this version of the American dream really is.

If we’re looking too hard into the light, into the deeper meaning behind it, and patting ourselves on the back for how clever we are for spotting it, we don’t see that the author has twisted himself up so hard trying to make Gatsby’s death a tragedy, that he’s accidentally made it a contrived aubserdity. Really it’s a work of genius on Fitzgerald’s part, it’s a pity he didn’t use any of that genius to write a better book in the first place.

Part the Third: The (2013) Adaptation, and it’s Genius

So if we were to look for a good adaptation of this book, this literary classic what we should really be looking for is not one that keeps strictly to every wobbly plot point of the original. No what we need is one that keeps to the spirit of the book. To the showmanship and illusion of the green light and the elegant pros of Fitzgerald’s masterpiece.

To me, ignorant pion that I am, that film will always be the 2013 adaption, staring Leonardo Decapreo. But wait I hear the snobs in the back of the room cry, isn’t that a bad adaption? Isn’t it too flashy and over stylised, saturated with modern music and a casting more concerned with big names than actually capability? Well, I can’t say you’re wrong on all accounts – though as for Gatsby I’d argue stunt casting or a big name of some kind was the only way to make the character work to a modern audience – that’s not my argument here. No my point is that like the book before it, this film uses it bright colours, it’s stylised editing, it’s banging soundtrack and let’s face it , it’s big named casting to hide that it’s still telling the same kind of bland, convoluted story of a man getting killed because he was in the wrong car at the wrong time, that the book left behind.

I mean it works, arguably even better than the book’s tricks – I really enjoyed this film. The song “Young and Beutiful” makes Gatsby’s and Daisy’s affair seem deep and meaningful, even though honestly it’s anything but on either side.

Though if you’re still determined to watch a more honest interpretation of The Great Gatsby, might I recommend The Family Guy Adaption?

So that’s my take on The Great Gatsby, a strange and convoluted story, ending in a strange and covulted death. Hidden under layers of tricks and bright green lights. But maybe you saw more to it than I did, if so tell me down below in the comments – it’s why I have them in the first place.

If you’ve enjoyed this trashing of an American classic, why not follow the Wee Blog if you haven’t already. And check me out on Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, Pinterest, Tumblr, TikTok, Facebook and Kofi. Also remember to sign up for the Wee Mailing List before April 5th for my first feelings on three great works of literature. Until next time, Wee Readers, keep safe and have a very Bonny day.

The Wee Archive – Attack of the Star Wars Critic

What Ho Wee Readers, and welcome to another addition of The Wee Archive, this time in Star Wars flavour. Remember to sign up to the Wee Mailing List, to receive stuff like this all the sooner.

The Royal Election – or the Stupidest Criticism of the Prequel Trilogy that has or will ever exist in this world.

The Star Wars Prequel Trilogy gets a lot of flak from the wider pop culture lexicon, doesn’t it? For a long while a hatred of the three film fall of Anakin Skywalker was assumed as the default, by people both in and out of the fandom. And while they have received a bit of a boost in popularity since the sequel Trilogy came out and showed us all what an actual bad Star Wars trilogy looks like, it would be difficult to say that that hatred just up and vanished into nothing. Everything from the comedic side character of Jar Jar Binks to the heavier focus on political intrigue, has been criticised and made fun of.

And honestly, I can’t fault that…not because I agree with it, I don’t. But if someone did find the political talk too complicated to understand, or found Jar Jar Binks kind of humour grating, that would certainly spoil a lot of the films for you. Same goes for the acting, the direction or even the CGI. If that bothered someone, then yes that would make the prequel films, bad Star Wars films for that person. I may think that person is wrong, but their logic is sound. If it bothered you, then that criticism is at least partly valid.

But you know what criticism never is?

Queen Amidala was elected, that’s so unrealistic.

I’m seen this thrown around a lot on the internet, both as a ‘legitimate criticism’ and as throwaway line and it always really annoyed me. Especially because when fans of the prequel fire back in its defense, it’s almost always with the same retour; that some countries do elect their monarchy.

Because here’s the truth of the matter…we’re talking about Star Wars here. The franchise that is set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…why are we trying to match them to our one planet society at all? Oh, royalty isn’t supposed to be elected in your world view, random person on the internet…you do realise you’re watching a space opera, right? I mean these are films set in the world where entire planets are treated more like countries – or states if you’re American – and artificial intelligence is somehow so widespread that it’s become boring and mundane. .

This has been something that has really bothered me for years, but I always figured it was something people said when they ran out of anything else to gripe about the prequels. Like, yeah you may think the CGI is obnoxious but apparently so did everybody else on the internet, and it’s really not interesting anymore. So, the would-be critic looks around and spots another little flaw that perhaps hasn’t been talked about quite as much. And there, we have a brand-new thing to whine about. Which would be…well…not fine…but at least I could follow the logic. No one wants their voice to be lost in the crowd. But here’s the thing, it’s the response from the prequel fans, that same response done time and time again, that threw me. Because if you’re arguing against a completely nit-picky critique that doesn’t actually say anything about the film’s quality, why is your response to nit-pick right back. Why does it matter if some people on earth elect their monarchy? Star Wars isn’t set on earth, why engage with that kind critique at all? And then a horrible thought accrued to me, a horrible depressing thought. It’s not about critiquing or defending Star Wars at all. It’s about making ourselves look smarter than the other side.

As I said at the start of this now that I’m looking back quite bitter sounding rant, it was a popular thing to bash the Prequel trilogy. In a sense it made you look like you were smarter than others. Jar Jar Binks was too low brow for these critiques, and the forced love plot point was silly. Okay, I’ve kind known there was a bit of self-congratulating about hating the prequels for a few years now, so no surprise there. But then we have the flip side of the argument, and honestly, I can’t say that fans of the prequels are any less guilty of this intellectual posturing. Yeah, even me when I was much younger – it’s fun to think that the people that whine about the politics in the prequel films, just weren’t smart enough to understand it, but honestly the truth is that it’s just not true. Whether you liked something or not is not a mark of your intelligence, it’s not even really a mark of your morality – it’s just a random fact.

Thus, what can we conclude? Well, maybe there will always be people that hate the prequel trilogy – we may think they’re wrong but that doesn’t automatically make them stupid. And vice versa, just because someone loves the prequels doesn’t make them an idiot or a nostalgia obsessed baby. Thus perhaps, just perhaps, we should stop trying to trip each other up with nit-picks that say nothing about the series we’re watching at all. And finally, if there really is someone out there that found the fact that a space opera had a minor different political system to what is considered normal on earth, so awful that it ruined the film for them…maybe they shouldn’t be watching Star Wars.

If you’ve enjoyed this Wee rant of mine don’t forget to check out the original post , and follow the Wee Blog if you haven’t already. Also check me out on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads, Facebook, and Tumblr. And if you really enjoyed this post why not stop by my Ko-fi page to buy me a wee cup of coffee.

The Nine Glories of the Rings of Power: The Eighth Glory

What Ho, Wee Readers and welcome to the Eighth glory of the Nine Glories of the Rings of Power. Remember to sign up to the Wee Mailing List before the 27th of February, to discover the Ninth Glory of the Rings of Power.

Galadriel and Sauron: BFF

Spoilers ahead…

This was the buddy /secret enemy/ Dark Lord of the world road trip that I never realised I’d been craving all this time.

There’s been some criticism of TRoP’s depiction of Galadriel, namely that she’s not very likeable – which is absolutely true, she’s not likeable at all. She’s cruel, she’s bitter, she’s self righteous, and worst of all she’s also kind of racist. Not in the real world kind of way we discussed in my first post, but closer to a fantasy kind of racism. Namely, to the Galadriel at the beginning of the series, if you’re not an elf you’re pretty much nothing to her.

Heck she only really starts being polite to the man who saved her from the ocean – when she learns he might be the long-lost king of the Southlands and therefore useful to her crusade.

All this sounds like a complaint, but it’s not really. Because all this unpleasantness, all this snobbery, cruelty, and self-absorption just makes it all the sweeter when it finally dawns on her who that “lost” king of men really is.

It was so glorious, I giggled. It’s a good twist, regardless – and really the only way we’d get a closer look at Sauron as a character rather than just an ominous threat – but that look on Galadriel’s face, made it really funny as well.

If you’ve enjoyed this little gem from a Tolkien obsessed fan girl, and would like to see the rest of them why not follow the Wee blog if you haven’t already. And check me out on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Mastodon, Tumblr, TikTok, Facebook and Kofi. And don’t forget to sign up to the Wee Mailing List to get the final post of this blog series on February 27^th. Until next time Wee Readers, keep safe and have a very bonny day.

The Nine Glories of the Rings of Power: The Seventh Glory

What Ho, Wee Readers and welcome to the Seventh glory of the Nine Glories of the Rings of Power. Remember to sign up to the Wee Mailing List before the 27th of February, to discover the Ninth Glory of the Rings of Power.

The Music

Do I really have to say anything here, I know you’ve already clicked on the videos above. You heard the awesomeness that is that music.

It’s self apparent. So let’s just give a hand for Bear McCreary, who joins Howard Shore in the illustrious halls of people who kicked ass making the music of our Middle-Earth experience come to life.

The Nine Glories of The Rings of Power: The Sixth Glory

What Ho, Wee Readers and welcome to the Sixth glory of the Nine Glories of the Rings of Power. Remember to sign up to the Wee Mailing List before the 27th of February, to discover the Ninth Glory of the Rings of Power.

Númenor

Many times the name of Númenor has been spoken in reference within the works and the adaptions of the great professor’s work. In the third age, the men of Númenor were held up as the pinnacle of what men could be.

Then the Silmarillion happened and we all find out that while that might have been true enough to begin with, boy did they do a face plant at the end. Like the men of Atlantis, who they are very clearly based on, their greatness was their undoing. For it made them over proud, and they sought to challenge the Valar, so that they might break the curse of men and live forever.

As the Silmarillion was for the literature of Tolkien, so the Rings of Power is for the on-screen adaptions. While the greatness of Númenor blood was never as prolific on screen as it was on the page, it’s also notable that they often avoided the subtler criticism of it, that Tolkien added through his appendices.

Not so anymore. While Númenor has not quite yet reached challenge the gods stupidity, it’s clear they’re on their way there. They’re small, petty, and have an over inflated sense of their own importance to the world. And yet there is nobility there, something of the great people they used to be. It’s nuanced, it’s layered, it’s a heck of a lot of fun.

This is going to sound terrible even in context, but I can’t wait to see them get themselves sunk.

The Nine Glories of the Rings of Power: The Fifth Glory

What Ho, Wee Readers and welcome to the fifth glory of the Nine Glories of the Rings of Power. Remember to sign up to the Wee Mailing List before the 27th of February, to discover the Ninth Glory of the Rings of Power.

Harfoots

Hobbits, undoubtedly my favourite part of any Tolkien based project, are a peculiar race as fantasy races go. Unlike Elves or Dwarves, they are not particularly fantastical at all. This is by design of course, as being the viewpoint characters for the two most well-known works in Tolkien’s legidome – they needed to be more recognisable (culturally speaking) to the original intended audience.

Which was, probably, late 20th century middle-class English people.

Which, very clearly, are the people that Bilbo and Frodo Baggins most resemble, both in speech and manarisims.

And yet…even from the first, there had always been hints that the history of the hobbit people, was very different from the sheltered, middle-class English veneer we get in the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit.

We hear talk of the different tribes, Fallowhide, Stoor and…Harfoot. We even hear talk of their wandering days before the Shire. But because Tolkien’s got a ring quest to start, the narrative can’t spend too long delving into this rich backstory.

Surely the only way we could properly explore this fascinating part of hobbit history, is with an entirely new tale.

Enter The Rings of Power…

Like their descendants the Harfoots love laughter, family, good cheer, and food, lots and lots of food. But they live in a very different world – unlike Bilbo, they don’t really have a land they can venture away from. All they have is the path – the set route through the lands they travel through – and those that wander away from the path, get left behind.

It’s a much harder, more brutal life. And what I find particularly fascinating about it, is how we can see the foundation for many of the foibles of the Third Age hobbits begin here. They are untrusting of outsiders because in their past, a stranger – particularly a tall stranger – might mean death. And they don’t want their children going on mad adventures, because in the past that would absolutely mean you never saw them again.

There are some that complain that the Harfoots are a bit too mean, in comparison with their later cousins (they do have a tendency to abandon those that don’t follow the rules) – but to that I’d like to argue, what hobbits have you been reading about? Because the hobbits I grew up with, would declare someone dead just so they can sell off his stuff.

TheNine Glories of the Rings of Power: The Fourth Glory

What Ho, Wee Readers and welcome to the fourth glory of the Nine Glories of the Rings of Power. Remember to sign up to the Wee Mailing List before the 27th of February, to discover the Ninth Glory of the Rings of Power.

The Stranger

In the past few posts I’ve started out fairly negatively in regards to previous depictions of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth. It’s hard to see how I could have done anything else in my first post, but I will concede that for the others it’s a fault of my own writing.

Thus for this post I’d thought I’d begin a bit differently – do you know who I love? Ian Mckellen as Gandalf. He’s so warm to the Hobbits, brave to the soldiers he’s leading into battle, and damn right scary to the people that oppose him.

So you have to understand that when I say I love the Stranger, and the way his actor portrays him – it’s not because I think he’s a superior depiction of the grey pilgrim. Rather that I enjoy the depiction of a different Gandalf, in a different part of his life.

It asks interesting questions of his character, not just as a wise sage for the more inherently flawed heroes of the story – but as someone who is quite lost himself. Gandalf is basically an angel like being in the guise of an old man. What would a being like that be like when he first came to mortal lands? He’d probably would be quite unsettling to anyone who found him. His powers might be dangerous and unpredictable, and he might thusly need a lot of emotional support. Ultimately what all these questions lead to is a depiction of a familiar character that is – what Rings of power succeeds at over all – very different and very, very interesting.

Plus, the idea that Gandalf is attached to the hobbits because it was their ancestors who helped him at his most vulnerable, just makes me feel all warm and nice inside.

The Nine Glories Of the Rings of Power: The Third Glory

What Ho, Wee Readers and Welcome to the Third Post in The Nine Glories of the Rings of Power blog series. I hope you enjoy reading it, as much as I enjoyed writing it – and remember to sign up for the Wee Mailing List, if you haven’t already, to catch the final post in this blog series on February 27th.

Adar and his Many Children

Orcs, one of the enemies of the free people of Middle Earth. Orcs, one of the horrors that the Lord Morgoth released onto the world. Orcs, they were elves once you know? Tortured by the dark lord until they became something else, something twisted. Wow, what a tragedy – what a story to tell, so we ever going to really explore it?

Yeah Orcs are one of those things that have a really fascinating backstory. But because most of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth work was either set in the Third Age (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) ; or from the perspective of characters with no real motivation to see them as anything but the minions of the dark Lord (The Silmarillion, The Lost Tales, and so on) – they’ve always kind of stayed in their little minion box.

Heck the Peter Jackson films were so uninterested in exploring that side of them, they literally killed them all at the end. Which by the way, didn’t happen in the books. Yeah, this isn’t just me picking at a small flaw in one of my favourite author’s works. Tolkien himself, eventually grew uncomfortable with the depiction of orcs in his stories. As it went against his Catholic belief, that anyone could be redeemed. Or at least so I’ve heard – but correct me if I’m wrong.

Enter the Rings of Power.

While the show certainly doesn’t lean away from the villainy of the orcs – they are still the antagonists, and basically assholes through and through. Yet nuance is added both by the revaluation of the identity of their mysterious leader “Ada” as one of the first elves that was “ruined” by Morgoth; and the reveal of the Orc’s underlying motivation.

Namely, to find a home for themselves. What they’re doing is still evil – killing, burning, awakening a dormant Volcano to blanket the sky in ash – but it’s not in the service of a Dark Lord. Nor is it evil for evil’s sake, as so often has been the case with other Tolkien adaptations.

Instead we have an actual societal motivation for the evil the orcs do. It’s nuanced, it’s somewhat sympathetic and most of all…it’s interesting!

The Nine Glories of the Rings of Power: The Second Glory

What Ho, Wee Readers and welcome to the second glory of the Nine Glories of the Rings of Power. Remember to sign up to the Wee Mailing List before the 27th of February, to discover the Ninth Glory of the Rings of Power.

Elrond and Durin, the Bromance

This friendship between a prince of dwarves and a lord of elves is exciting both from an individual story beat ( the Stone of a simple friendship can start the avalanche that is the creation of the Rings of Power); and from a wider cultural impact in regards to Tolkien mythology.

Namely, this is the most narrative attention a dwarf/elf friendship has gotten in a while. Possibly ever, since while friendships like Legolas and Gimli were always there – neither Legolas or Gimli were the stars of their own storylines. They were side players, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, someone has to be, but it did mean that this presumably momentous friendship really didn’t get the attention it deserved. For goodness’s sake the most extraordinary part of their friendship – Legolas bringing Gimli to the Undying lands – is shoved into an Appendix at the end.

I’m not saying that’s a problem narratively speaking – it was just a little disappointing for me personally.

Compare that to say the friendship of Elrond and Durin which due to the nature of its medium – and the multiple story threads of the Rings of Power – has a lot more room to be explored. In particular I enjoyed the drama of their differing views of time – with 20 years being nothing to an immortal elf, but quite a lot in the life of a mortal, even a mortal as long lived as a dwarf.

Plus I just kind of like Durin as a character, what can I say…I just find him neat.

The Nine Glories of the Rings of Power: The First Glory

What Ho Wee Readers and welcome to the first blog post of the Nine Glories of the Rings of Power Blog Series. Since my Christmas Folklore & History Series was such a success I decided I’d quite like to continue the trend. And since I’d already been planning on doing a post on the awesomeness that was the Rings of Power, this seemed like the perfect topic.

But enough talk…let’s get started. Eeeeh I’m so excited!

A Less White World

It seems right to start with the Glory that has provoked the most ire amongst the more Troll-like in the Tolkien Fandom: the diverse casting.

Look I’ve always loved the Peter Jackson Films – heck I’ll even stand and defend the Hobbit Trilogy till the day grows old, but we’re kidding ourselves if we don’t admit that they’re a little monochrome in their casting. It’s not just the Lord of the Rings, god knows Hollywood has a white preference in general – but just because it’s a common problem, doesn’t make it in anyway an excusable one.

Enter The Rings of Power.

Honestly their correction was so simple it almost seems stupid that it’s not been done the whole time. Step back before you’re blown away by this…they cast actors who weren’t white in some of the roles.

Oh my god, the land of Middle-Earth is starting to look like a real living place rather than a white washed version of history. And before you start I know this isn’t the first Middle-Earth property to include people of colour on the screen – but it’s the first to give them speaking parts and storylines of their own. So I think that counts for something. Plus the trolls of our fandom made such a fuss over something that, in some cases, was completely accurate to the source material – so I feel like it’s worth mentioning.

Yes that’s right, in the case of the Harfoots, they were not described by Tolkien as being the white hobbits these “Tolkien Purists” fantasy about, but rather hobbits with brown skin. Can you imagine that…non-white hobbits exist in Middle-Earth and nothing exploded 😁

(Pauses and looks up at the picture of own brain exploding with excitement).

Okay, poor choice of words.

And yet still, my point remains.

If anything the Rings of Power arguably doesn’t go far enough – most of the main characters are still white. And large sections of the Harfoots – including Nori, the one we’re supposed to be rooting for – are white, despite that being very inaccurate to the book. So, you must be thinking, if it doesn’t go far enough, why are you still calling it a glory? Well, that’s the state of our world isn’t it – any step forward is better than none.

Could it go further, absolutely and maybe we’ll see more of that next season – but as it is, it’s still done more than the other adaptations. After all, as the great man once said, the longest journey is the one you never start at all.