"When the stocks were booming and the morals were crashing," was the phrase used by more than one review setting the 1920s context of last Friday's release 'The Great Gatsby'. I would have watched it anyway for Leonardo but the reference to stocks and the boom only made me rush for it, as the two don't stay together for long these days.
While the movie was a visual extravaganza in 3D, it also raises complicated questions which would not have easy answers, especially when you are trying to climb the social ladder. The 1920s America was very much like the 2013 India: Young, aspirational, fed up of struggle and itching to break free of "old-age" morality.
Jay Gatsby, played by Leonardo, himself throws weekend parties in his immense seaside villa, where everyone who is anyone in New York comes uninvited. While everyone could almost guess that Gatsby is corrupt, they play along, believing his stories about his rich Middle-Western parents, conveniently dead, leaving behind a huge fortune and his exploits in the war, "single-handedly" defeating the German army.
While the movie goes into Gatsby's love and dreams, our interest here is limited to his friendship with a dubious character. It has our own Amitabh Bachchan playing the role of Meyer Wolfshiem, an underworld character who is having a grand gala party inside a barbar shop. Among the attendees are the New York police commissioner, a senator and sundry movie stars.
Gatsby introduces the narrator, Nick Carraway, to Wolfshiem, saying he was the man responsible for fixing the 1919 World Series (seven Chicago White Sox players were accused of fixing the series for gamblers who had made bets on the games' outcomes). Gatsby experts say Fitzgerald, the author of the book on which the movie is based, included a Wolfshiem character in his book, for the fixing of the World Series reflected the idea that money could buy any American absolutely anything, even love and happiness. Sreesanth and his friends probably thought so.
The 1920s America fell in love with jazz music and dancing girls, just like the 2013 India has with Jumping Japaak and cheer girls. The colour of money has become irrelevant as long as it can buy you some good times.
Gatsby also plays with the ill-gotten money on the Wall Street. It has emerged in the recent Cobrapost expose that a lot of laundered money goes into the stock markets through insurance policies and wealth management products. Nobody seems to care as long as everyone is having a good time.
But all this comes to an end, not only for Gatsby, but for the American economy as a whole. While Gatsby's story ends before, a bit of googling shows the stock market came crashing in 1929.
The economy goes into the Great Depression of the 1930s, leaving a lasting impact on the lives of Americans. Frugality and conservatism were back but not before millions lost their life's savings, jobs and much more.
In Sreesanth's story, which is almost like Gatsby's, there are valuable lessons, both individually and for the Street as a whole. Check whose party you are in' as the colour of the money is important, especially when "the stocks are booming and morals are crashing".
