Recently I read an interesting article on BBC's Point of View about how the Great Gatsby book and films illustrate the way society is based on make-believe or "extreme unreality". Here I will try to retell you the story.
The Great Gatsby is a story about an attractive millionaire from the Jazz Age and the era of the corrupted American dream. It is also a story about tragic love and a culture built on fraud and crime.
It was set in the Roaring Twenties, an interlude between historical periods of make-believe. A reality check after the First World War. It is precisely why the film, in cinemas at the moment, resonates with many members of the contemporary society.
Everyone knew Jay Gatsby was a fake. A fraud. A self-invented personality. Yet, the personality that he invented was a perfect fit with the social reality of his time. The lavish parties and other non-criminal glittering possibilities he offered were what made him so attractive. His goal - to make social reality seem unreal.
Thus Gatsby was a special kind of fake. One that people believed in despite being aware of his falseness. They were drawn to him in the hopes of forgetting how their wealth had been made (i.e. through fraud).
That is because during the time the lines between the fortunes of the elite and those of organised crime were almost indistinguishable. The elite knew this could not go on forever and could not face the fact that the boom based on fraud would end soon.
It can be said that societies function like dreams. The reality generated from such dreams turns out to be an unsustainable illusion, just like Gatsby himself.
It is his invincible attachment to illusion that explains our current fascination with Fitzgerald's character. We relate to the story from personal experience - the boom of the early 2000s which crashed in 2008 will be remembered as the result of a society based on make-believe and easy money.
Despite this, contemporary society has not given up entirely on make-believe. Many are left today craving for a revival of the fake reality, the world that came from our dreams. Like the Great Gatsby we hope for a future without limits and boundaries although we know it can only remain a fantasy. Will we ever find the world of illusion we are looking for?
A more in-depth analysis can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22722999