2015/10/01 by Joseph Henry Vogel · 3 citations
Arts and Humanities · #American and British Literature Analysis #American Literature and Culture #Literature, Film, and Journalism Analysis #Jazz #Scholarship #Popularity #Identity (music) #Race (biology) #Politics #History #Gender studies #Sociology #Aesthetics #Literature #Art #Art history #Political science #Law
paper · doi:10.5325/fscotfitzrevi.13.1.0029
openalex publication_date 2015/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Abstract With the release of Baz Luhrmann's bold and controversial adaptation of The Great Gatsby in 2013, F. Scott Fitzgerald's once-neglected story reached an unprecedented level of popularity. The film grossed a remarkable 144 million in the U.S. and 350 million worldwide. Meanwhile, the novel, already a perennial classroom favorite, reached the top of bestseller lists. From these statistics alone, one might conclude that The Great Gatsby resonates more in the Obama era than it ever did in the Jazz Age. Its remarkable popularity, however, raises the question: Why? This essay contends that its currency—both as a film and a novel—has to do with its intersectional exploration of identity. Race and ethnicity in particular have been the focus of a growing body of scholarship on Gatsby over the past two decades. This essay attempts to add to this relatively new body of work by focusing on how The Great Gatsby functions as a multi-media text in the Obama era, and speaks in strikingly familiar—and incisive—terms to the intersectional identity politics of our time..