Everyday Life and "The Great Gatsby"

            What if my parish had a discussion group for the movies? I can see a problem right away. Last night the women in the choir got together for a potluck supper to bid one of our sopranos goodbye. She’s moving to Oregon. We sat around and Julie and Joan talked about the movies. Julie is thinking of seeing “Mud.” Joan said she didn’t like Matthew McConaughey; what did I think of him? “I didn’t use to like him either,” I said, “but then he was in ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ and he was terrific.” “Wasn’t that a Grisham book?” said Joan. She works at Barnes and Noble and spends most of her salary on books. I didn’t know the answer, but I did get sucked into the problem: moviegoers frequently identify movies by their featured actors.

            I picture the group meeting weekly to discuss a current movie. A facilitator would assign it, members would see it individually, then they would meet, three to five days later. If it were my group they would bring their Bibles, just in case. The first meeting would include a discussion of the suspension of disbelief, and the instruction to put the actors back where they belong. Actors are just one of many elements that coalesce to make a movie.

            The idea behind the discussion group would be a theological one, namely, the interaction between church and culture. Movies and television dramas are, for many people, a major part of everyday life. What do those who belong to a faith community take with them to a movie, not only from their faith but also from other life experiences? What does the movie say or do to them in return?

            I went to “The Great Gatsby” yesterday. I don’t know about other people, but I surrender to a movie from the first moment, even if it’s only a sound or a title on the screen. I am receptive but still critical, still capable of being disappointed. Then I get swept up and my critical sense retreats to the back row. Early in “The Great Gatsby” there is a panning shot across a body of water at night, which ends with a shot of the blinking green light at the end of Daisy Buchanan’s dock. Well, darn if they didn’t mess up the shot of the water, overdoing the light on the ripples in the current. It looked airbrushed. As the movie proceeded, I understood that all the cinematography was overdone, in line with the theme of excess in Gatsby’s life.

            I wonder what the imaginary members of my discussion group would make of the movie’s frequent return to a shot of an immense billboard? The billboard depicts the vague image of a man wearing a very clear set of eyeglasses. The voice of the narrator, who is Nick Carraway, says the billboard is like the eyes of God watching everything that happens. It reminded me of a similar theme in “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” which had brought Ps. 139 to my mind: “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” (vs. 7). I’d say to the group, How did that billboard shot strike you? Are you aware of the presence of God in your life? If you are, what is that like? How would you draw it in a picture?

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