Month: April 2025

1925: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby captured an image of the United States in an age of industrial, capitalistic, and political boom. The Roaring ’20s economy depicted in the novel highlighted a new American Dream, no longer rooted in imperialistic growth, individual values, or a shared vision across the nation, but one that revolved around individual pleasures and the accumulation of wealth. Fitzgerald created a story that exhibited the nation’s religious and ideological transformation—where previous Dreams and idols were replaced in the name of progress and profit.

The novel does not exist in a vacuum; it was written during a period when capitalism had shown its face as the ultimate culture shaper, forming a new American identity. The separation of church and state had created a spiritual vacuum, unfamiliar to any major world government, eventually filled by a devotion to capitalism. The characters in the story—Jay Gatsby, Tom Buchanan, and Daisy Buchanan—all represent worshipers and martyrs of the capitalistic faith, sacrificing themselves for wealth, prestige, and status. Fitzgerald wrote this to be a broader commentary on American cultural foundations, acknowledging not only current issues but their historical catalysts.

The excesses of Gatsby’s decadent parties are emblematic of the United States’ history, beginning at the intersection of economic ambition and spiritual yearning. Fitzgerald saw through the dazzling imagery of wealth within his own time and created the novel to contribute to the ongoing concern over the morality and cost of progress within the country.

In the century since the novel’s debut, the warning Fitzgerald issued has only been made more clear for Americans. The book remains not only a reflection of an era but of the entire span of American history. It is a testament to the damage of the United States’ decision to pursue wealth over progress and the moral values derived from religious beliefs and moral convictions missing in capitalism. 

Having recently amended my thesis for the upcoming research paper, below I will explain my claim and what I plan to do in the essay.

Title: God, Gold, and Gatsby: American Capitalistic Worship

This idea is based upon a synthesis of my previous interests in advertising, cultural analysis, political identity, and religion—and the research shall explore the intersection between capitalism, religion, government, and the American Dream as represented in The Great Gatsby. I initially wanted to write about the effect of advertising within characters/society in the novel but zoomed in my lens to specify the issue to American religious systems. What’s most fascinating is how Fitzgerald seems to predict how the separation between church and state would progress based on his assumptions of wealth as an object of worship in American culture.

I chose this topic because I am fascinated by how religion has shifted in recent decades—less focused on spirituality and more on material success, political power, and self-branding. This could be compared/seen in governmental strategies used by politicians such as Donald Trump or Paula White—spreading messages like the prosperity gospel or agendas within Project 2025. We see echoes of this in Gatsby’s relentless pursuit of status, and in the rituals of wealth he employs to gain access to elite society. My interests in advertising and cultural trends of the 1920s will help guide this paper, comparing those dynamics to our modern political, cultural, and spiritual realities.

Some questions I would focus my paper on include: How has the concept of commercialism evolved since the Gatsby era, and how has it influenced American governance, identity, and values? Why do Americans seem to worship wealth more than other cultures—is it a result of our economic systems, secularism in government, or national myths about self-made success? How does the desire to “fit in” or project status function almost like a religious ritual? Has capitalism created a faith system around “faking it until you make it”? What are the enduring differences between old and new money—and does it still matter? Do Americans pursue the American Dream with the same intensity and belief as they once pursued religious salvation?

I will collect this research by analyzing annotations and facts from articles and books, organizing them by key themes and arguments. I look forward to examining historical documents such as the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, The Wealth of Nations, and other ideological and economic texts to provide historical context and grounding for my claims.

Title: Advertising Gatsby: Commercialism, Capitalist Facades, and the Illusion of the American Dream

This idea is based upon a synthesis of my first essay, a blog post, and a cultural exploration—and the research shall explore the intersection between advertising, identity, and the American dream as represented most notably by Jay Gatsby in Fitzgerald’s novel. Gatsby is not merely a character—but a self-fashioned product, commercialized to the public through displays such as lavish parties, flashy clothes, and the illusion of wealth. As an advertising student, I enjoyed viewing the connection between Gatsby and how his falsified identity mirrors marketing tactics. He does this by building a brand image for himself, selling dreams and fantasies, and sustaining a facade of genuine generational wealth. The 1920s also represents a fascinating era of commercialism with the boom of expanding capitalism and advertising, so I would like to connect Gatsby’s character to how commercial ideals shape self-perception and societal values. 

This topic is more relevant than ever to today’s popular culture, as we are well-acquainted with the strategies and effects of product advertising. I wanted to show this topic to readers and delve into the psychological effects of associated identity with commercial products such as fashion or lifestyles such as houses, trips, etc. The project will examine how Gatsby fits into an American consumption culture, examining our inherent and continuing obsessions with appearances and wealth. 

Some questions that I would focus my paper on include: How did advertising, fashion, and commercialism influence Gatsby’s identity and status? In what ways does Gatsby serve as an advertisement for the American Dream, and how does this lead to his downfall? How has the role of commercialism evolved since the 1920s, and how might Gatsby’s persona translate into modern capitalist standards? What are the consequences of “faking it until you make it”? How did perceptions of old money vs. new money shape social hierarchies—did this influence commercial culture and do they still?

Currently, the media scene is plagued with remakes, sequels, franchise series, and unnecessary adaptations and continuations of beloved classic movies, TV shows, and books. Disney is the main perpetrator for these remakes, creating remakes of classics such as Aladdin, Cinderella, Mulan, Lady and the Tramp, The Jungle Book, 101 Dalmatians, The Lion King, Sleeping Beauty, Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, The Little Mermaid, and Pinocchio. Most of their iconic films. These adaptations have been met with varying reviews, with some fans enjoying them and some not understanding the need for a remake.

Snow White, the most recent of these films, is dubbed as one of Disney’s greatest commercial failures. The movie gathered a 1.6/10 rating on IMDb, earning less than half its original $250 million budget. It has been criticized for many factors including the casting of the main actresses, Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, for their polarizing political statements on topics sensitive to viewers such as the war between Israel and Gaza. Additionally, there were many creative liberties in the treatment of themes regarding the race of characters, feminism, and power, love, disabilities such as dwarfism, and rebellion. These points of contention have swayed viewers and critics to dub the film as being too ‘woke,’ a title that many of Disney’s remakes have gotten.

But how has this culture of remakes affected our perceptions of classic literature such as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby? Seemingly not as dramatic or public as is for Disney, but newer adaptations to the classic novel have been following similar revisions. The 2022 adaption, Beautiful Little Fools, by Jillian Cantor accompanied by similar novels such as The Chosen and The Beautifulby Nghi Vo and Nick by Michael Farris Smith join the conversation about rewriting a classic for the sake of accommodating contemporary diverse audiences, aiming at a different target than Fitzgerald. These novels involve contemporary issues such as struggles with racism, sexuality, abortions, and feminism, rewriting Gatsby for the modern reader.

Though most of these novels seem well-received and worlds more original than a Disney live-action movie could be, they seem to me to be ill-intentioned. Why touch a beloved classic that needs no revisions? It is a classic for a reason and if authors see the need for a specific modern topic, why not create their own characters and worlds for that issue. Understandably, Fitzgerald had biases and personal opinions in the world and characters in The Great Gatsby. He lived a much different life in a much different world than most of his modern readers. I believe in viewing similar works of literature as products of their times. The lapses in contemporary political correctness were not thought or cared for in his original, so why do we care to correct or expand upon them 100 years later? To me, it seems silly. And I’m not sure if these modern adaptations have genuine, good-hearted approaches to rewriting the novel, but seem to follow similar trends to the major media conglomerates such as Disney—aiming to expand upon previously successful and beloved classics to enlarge their profits and viewership.