Daisy, as in Daisy Buchanan, the infamous character in The Great Gastby created by F. Scott Fitzgerald and recently portrayed by Carey Mullidan in the Baz Luhrmann version of the movie. We watched this movie recently rented from Redbox, despite of my insistence of watching this particular movie in the theater on the big screen, Ri had long categorized this to the non-action-thus-watch-at-home type of movies. I LOVE the dialogues, the plot, the cinematography, the costumes and makeup, the portrayal by Jay Gastby by Leonardo DiCaprio, Daisy Buchanan by Carey Mulligan, and Nick Carraway by Tobey Mcguire, and almost everything about this movie but the music. I thought the music was too modern of an interpretation of the 1920s of New York City, the soundtrack samples a selection of pop music that is much too catered to the taste of 2013 thus rendering not an authentic portrayal of the time period reflected in the story line. But other than that, I absolutely love everything about this movie.

There are so many details that made this movie real by connecting to its audience. I saw a man desperately in love with the one and only woman who is unavailable yet he never ceases in pursuing her. I saw a woman who has a sense of entitlement, a limited empathy, and an inability to make difficult choices, (words stolen from John Green) all of which make this beautiful character unlikable but also easy to relate to. I saw the entire story was told by a bystander who has nothing to gain or loose regrading the outcomes. There is the soft vulnerability displayed by Daisy, torn by the reality of her cheating husband and the love of her life; the comfort of remaining wealthy as Mrs. Buchanan and the desire of pursuing a lifetime of happiness with Gastby.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the story is the grand vision Gastby has as to what his life is suppose to be- the foundation of the American dream, sort to speak. Gastby is said to have a “great gift of hope”. F. Scott Fitzgerald expressed in the book, this vision is the idea that as long as Gastby gains this one thing- Daisy- then he would have achieve everything he’s ever worked for in his life. In his singular vision, his life would be uninhibited in terms of money, power, and the presence of Daisy. Despite of the realities of how he obtain the former two, his vision was unshakable. The sheer strength of believing in something so firmly was remarkable. However, there was also a sense of ‘never enough’ in the story. It is not enough for Gastby to have gained Daisy’s love and affections, she must also declared she’s never loved her husband Tom Buchanan. This notion, too, was a foundation in the American society.

I am haunted by this promo shot Carey Mulligan did with Vouge. The dress, the posture, she embodies the essence of Daisy. I first notice Carey Mulligan when I saw the trailer for Never Let Me Go in 2010. The storyline of Never Let Me Go got my attention, then I watched the movie and cried like a baby. Luckily, I watched it at home with my father, so there was not much embarrassment to it. The plot is very similar to the action movie- The Island– with Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, there are duplicates of clones made from real human so their organs can be harvested. In both movies, the story is being told from the clones’ point of view as suppose to the real human. Though the outcome of these two movies can not divert enough, in The Island, the clones rebel and earn their right to survive just as any other human beings; however, in Never Let Me Go, the clones merely accepted organs donation as their only reason for existing. Since then, I began paying slightly more attention to the performances of this actress, and subsequently fell in love with her all over again by her interpretation of Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gastby.

Now I’m moving on to reading Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, a book about American’s first flapper and the wife of the author F. Scott Fitzgerald written by Therese Anne Fowler. We shall see how the 1920s is expressed in this book!