Author: Kate Brigmon Page 1 of 2

For my multi-modal project, I decided to create a collage to represent how everyone’s true intentions and goals can be hidden through perception- and I titled it “Is perception reality”. The featured image on this post is the collage I created and I put the background as a city setting to represent the West Egg in New York City, as this was the novels setting.

The black silhouette facing the back of the characters represents Nick, the narrator. I included the silhouette over the other characters to represent that we are viewing the image from his perspective. Nicks’ commentary throughout the novel acts as Fitzgeralds’ social commentary on materialism and opulence during the 1920’s. The characters such as Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby have a certain way they want to be perceived by those around them, while Nick allows us to see their true motives and actions. The collage includes money signs over everyones actual face to expose what they are truly motivated by. Nicks commentary allows us to see the narrative differently than we would’ve if Gatsby himself would have described it in his own words- commentary like “Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn” would not have been included.

Another important element to my collage is the fact that Daisy’s face is over Gatsby’s instead of money. Because unlike Tom, who’s main motive is fame and reputation, Gatsby only desired those in order to get Daisy. His obccession with her led him down a pursuit of wealth and material goods yet left him with nothing. This separates him from characters like Tom, though in the end- it was Tom who ended up with Daisy.

Overall, I think my collage represents that 21st-century Gatsby can be seen in everyone still putting up a facade- specifically to gain wealth. The deception and bending of reality to be perceived still goes on today, and that was I wanted to represent in my project.

For my final blog post, I wanted to do it over my current favorite Taylor Swift song, August. It touches on themes of infidelity, which makes it easy for me to pull parallels from the lyrics and The Great Gatsby narrative. The song August is on the Folklore Album, which was written from different perspectives from a love triangle that involved infidelity. The song August is written from the perspective of a girl named “Augustine”, a character Taylor had created. Agustine was the girl in the love triangle who thought she had fallen in love with a man who was already in a relationship.

The lyrics describe her emotions, as she beleives she is in love, but knows it is doomed to fail. The lyrics stating,

“‘Cause you weren’t mine to lose
You weren’t mine to lose, no

But I can see us lost in the memory
August slipped away into a moment in time
‘Cause it was never mine”

She is describing how he was never hers to lose. Similar to the situation with Gatsby and Daisy- Daisy was never Gatsby’s to lose. He had created a persona to attract her and begin again what they had before he had left for war. Yet, the reality of their affair was that Daisy never truly loved him- nor did she Tom, but Gatsby never really had Daisy. He had her admiration over his possessions, but she was never his at all. If anything, Gatsby belonged to Daisy- not the other way around.

Even before the war, Daisy would have never married Gatsby due to his economic status, so even after she had gotten married before the narrative started. The lyrics still apply. She was never his to lose to Tom, and was never his to come back and claim despite his efforts.

As tragic as this is, the novel itself is a modern tragedy. The storyline is not designed to have a perfect ending, and neither was Taylors song.

The song “August” reminds me of a peaceful rainy day whenever I listen to it, and though the lyrics itself are tragic, I am glad I got an opportunity to compare it to the novel- as it is my current favorite song.

For one of my last blog posts of the semester I wanted to come back to the Reputation album Taylor dropped in 2017. Out of all of her albums, I feel as though the Reputation lyrics relate to the novel The Great Gatsby the most- so it is only fitting I close out my blog with another song from the EP. The song “Call It What You Want” describes one of Taylors’ obsessions, explaining how she does not care about anything else when she is with her love interest, Similar to Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy.

The song has an overarching theme of fixation on a person, and not caring what outsiders might think of her relationship. The lyrics state,

“All the drama queens taking swings
All the jokers dressin’ up as kings
They fade to nothin’ when I look at him”

The quote struck me as something very similar to something Gatsby would say about Daisy, in fact, I went to the novel itself for this blog post to find a similar quotation. Just as Taylor states “They fade to nothin’ when I look at him”, Jay Gatsby says about Daisy “There I was, way off my ambitions, getting deeper in love every minute, and all of a sudden I didn’t care.” 

Both Taylor and Gaysby became so fixated on someone all of the outside factors, drama, and parties going on around them did not matter.

Her lyrics throughout “Call It What You Want”, along with many of her other songs curate a persona of a reckless lover. Her fixations are further described in the song in the bridge. Not only is the bridge extremely catchy (my favorite part of the song), but it gives her perspective on how infatuated she had become with her love interest, the lyrics stating,

“I want to wear his initial
On a chain ’round my neck, chain ’round my neck
Not because he owns me
But ’cause he really knows me”

The obcession described in her lyrics can also be seen in her song “King of My Heart”, also from the same EP. Though the name of song says enough, the lyrics state,

“And let the King of my heart
Be the wind inside my sails
The anchor in the waves
Oh oh, He is my song”

The obsessive themes from The Great Gatsby are also reflected in Taylors’ Lyrics. The Great Gatsby narrative follows a tragic love story- The parallels to Taylor Swift’s lyrics, which are adorned and related to millions, lead me to believe the obsession Gatsby experienced is more common than one might think.

Taylor released “High Infidelity” on her 3 am edition of the Midnights album in 2022, this song describes cheating and leaving a loveless relationship. The Midnights album is one of my favorites by her, and always one of Taylor’s newest music releases.

The song itself is one of the more meaningful or “sappy” songs on the album, due to the idea of being in a loveless relationship can be rather hopeless and meaningless. The song itself parallels the plot in The Great Gatsby because Daisy Buchannan is in a loveless relationship with Tom. I imagine Taylor’s lyrics in this song would have resonated with her- This is another blog post about a song I imagine would have been on Daisy Buchanan’s playlist if her character had gotten the chance to listen.

The verse that I think resonates with Daisy most states,

“Dragged my feet right down the aisle
At the house lonely, good money
I’d pay if you’d just know me
Seemed like the right thing at the time”

Daisy’s marriage in the novel is based around money and reputation, She was with Tom to maintain the wealthy lifestyle she had grown up with, resonating with the lyric “seemed like the right idea at the time”, while throughout the narrative of The Great Gatsby, we learn she also resonates with the lyric, “at the house lonely, good money”. This is because Tom takes care of Daisy financially, but he constantly cheats on her and she knows about it. The big empty house is something that is so saddening- and truly shows money cannot buy happiness, which is also a major theme of Fitzgerald’s novel.

Another lyric that relates to The Great Gatsby is,

“Your picket fence is sharp as knives”

The term picket fence is often associated with the American Dream. Having a nuclear family, and living in a house with a picket fence- putting a twist on this by saying the fence is “sharp as knives” parallels Fitzgerald, as he also used his narrative to criticize the American Dream.

Fashion has been a way that people can display how they want to be perceived for as long as it has existed. Rather it is used for you to identify with a specific culture, or to express your individuality, people use fashion as a way to affect how others perceive them. A major theme of The Great Gatsby is his experience with false reality while trying to work his way into the elite social class of New York.

Fashion, and fashion trends throughout time are way more important to the socioeconomic ladder than we consider day-to-day. The biggest way to determine a time setting for a film is the clothes the characters are wearing, this also goes for determining the economic class of the characters being introduced. Though it is never mentioned exclusively in The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby had to have been putting effort into the clothing he was wearing to both business meetings and parties to be perceived in the way he had hoped for. Daisy is described in the first chapter wearing all white to represent purity, and in the newer version of the film Gatsby is shown wearing a white suit that portrays him as wealthy.

My film pitch will emphasize fashion and the trends that led to the trends that Jay Gatsby had to embody and use to climb the social ladder and eventually achieve his goal of being enough for Daisy Buchanan.

Taylor released the song “Delicate” on her Reputation album in 2017, the song follows her thought process as she wonders if her reputation will affect a new Romanic relationship. This blog post will differ from the others I have done because I will be making parallels to the music video and the novel, rather than just the lyrics. I was thinking of what song I would choose for this week’s blog post and remembered the music video for “Delicate.” The music video is 1920s-themed and reminds me of what I envision the setting of The Great Gatsby to be.

The cover image of this blog post is a screenshot from the music video, you can see the 1920s theme from the dress Taylor is wearing, and the building it is being filmed. I think that the entire reputation album applies to the novel because the characters are so involved with their reputation in the New York social circle. Characters like Tom and Daisy are good at managing being well perceived, and Gatsby tries his best throughout the novel to change the way he is perceived by telling lies about his family of origin and upbringing. In the video, Taylor is seen leaving the luxurious party to go meet with her lover after receiving a note. Just as Gatsby would see Daisy after his parties, and even realized she did not even like them. I will include another screenshot from the music video to add a visual of the luxurious setting the video takes place.

The video shows taylor dancing around a wealthy setting in the 1920’s, I imagine this was set in New York, because she mentions the city in her lyrics, stating,

“Dive bar on the East Side, where you at?
Phone lights up my nightstand in the black”

and again when she states,

“Third floor on the West Side, me and you
Handsome, you’re a mansion with a view”

Referencing the East and West sides of New York City also parallels the East and West eggs mentioned in the novel’s setting, making it more apparent the music video is based in New York City, and allowing it to convey a Great Gatsby theme. Overall, I love this song and music video, and now I definitely will not be able to watch it without thinking of TGG.

Taylor released her song “Happiness” in 2020 on her Evermore album. Before researching for this blog post, I had never heard the song. As a huge Taylor fan, this is a rare occurrence- but I was more than eager to listen to the song when I was researching the lyrics for this blog post. I can now say I have found one of my new favorite songs, does Taylor ever disappoint? The song contains several references to The Great Gatsby and is one of the more depressing songs on the album despite the title. The song explains how moments of happiness can still be found at the turbulent end of a relationship and remains in memories, this can relate to Jay Gatsby and Daisy. Speaking for myself I definitely would’ve cried to this song if I had found it post-breakup, so it’s probably for the best I am just now starting to listen to it.

The great Gatsby refernce that stood out to me the most in the song is the reference to a girl being a fool, the lyrics stating,

“I hope she’ll be a beautiful fool
Who takes my spot next to you”

In this lyric, Taylor is explaining that she hopes the next girl who is with her partner is naive, this directly parallels a Daisy quote from the novel. The quote is Daisy talking about her future daughter, “she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”

Taylor also uses the term “green light” in her lyrics. The term is also used in The Great Gatsby to describe Gatsby’s belief in their ability to achieve his dreams and to allude to the idea of the American Dream. Taylor uses it in her lyrics to express her partner’s yearning for forgiveness just as Gatsby desperately wished to have Daisy back as his lover.

“All you want from me now
Is the green light of forgiveness
You haven’t met the new me yet
And I think she’ll give you that”

The song repeats the verse “you haven’t met the new me yet” in the chorus. I personally interpret this as her also finding happiness in the relationship even after she has grown out of it, which is a beautiful thing. She refers to his new partner as a “fool”, to also infer she was also once a fool to love him, but is a new version of herself now.

Unlike Taylor, gatsby was never able to find the version of himself who was no longer in love with Daisy, that being said the song still has multiple parallels to the novel and has made its way into my current playlist.

Taylor’s song “Don’t Blame Me” was released in 2017 on her Reputation album. The song is one of my favorites on the album, having the catchphrase of the song being “Don’t blame me your love made me crazy.” This lyric is not only catchy but can parallel the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy in The Great Gatsby. The song describes Taylor’s experience with being “addicted to love”, and describes the things this addiction led her to do. Like Taylor, Gatsby was addicted to being with Daisy, and this addiction led to the narrative that played out in the novel.

The song not only can be parralled to The Great Gatsby, but actually directly references the novel in the first verse, stating,

“Echoes (echoes) of your name inside my mind
Halo, hiding my obsession
I once was poison ivy, but now I’m your daisy”

The specific line “I once was poison ivy but now I’m your daisy” describes how she used to be harmful or toxic, like poison ivy. However, she has changed and evolved into something more innocent like a daisy. Daisy’s in literature represents purity and innocence, even Daisy’s name in the novel represents a sense of innocence her character is trying to portray. The Irony of the novel is that even though Daisy comes off as innocent and pure, as her name implies, she is actually more similar to poison ivy. Her nature is toxic, and we see this as she leads Gatsby on throughout the narrative.

The lyrics also describe how Taylor fell into a deep obcession with her love interest, such as,

“Don’t blame me, love made me crazy
If it doesn’t, you ain’t doin’ it right
Lord, save me, my drug is my baby
I’ll be usin’ for the rest of my life (yeah, ooh)”

“For you, I would cross the line
I would waste my time
I would lose my mind
They say, “She’s gone too far this time””

She uses drug use as a metaphor to describe her addiction to her love interest. Gatsby also had a drug-like addiction to Daisy and any attention she could give him. daisy, on the other hand, had a similar obsession with her social status and image. Gatsby felt the need to climb the New York social ladder to be able to catch her eye again, this led to an endless chase for her validation, whenever her main focus was herself.

Taylor released the song “Mirrorball” on her folklore album. The folklore album is very easy to compare to the narrative from The Great Gatsby due to the album being inspired by a love triangle. Every song on the album is written from different points of view of each perspective of the love affair. Though, for this blog post I want to do something a little different. The main part of the song I want to focus on is simply the title, I want to show parallels between what the title of the song means and how it applies to the protagonist of the novel, Jay Gatsby.

A mirrorball in a literal sense is a ball covered in small reflective surfaces, because of this no matter what side you look at it from, you will always see your reflection. Specifically, I want to describe what a mirrorball character is. A mirrorball character is the type of person who changes things about themselves to fit into specific social groups. Taylor wrote this song to describe how she would reflect people’s truest versions of themselves back to them because she was feeling imposter syndrome in the social circle she was in.

The last verse of the song is,

“I’m still a believer but I don’t know why
I’ve never been a natural
All I do is try, try, try
I’m still on that trapeze
I’m still trying everything
To keep you looking at me

Because I’m a mirrorball
I’m a mirrorball
I’ll show you every version of yourself
Tonight”

Gatsby, like the first lyric, was always a believer. He was a believer in the American Dream and his hopes of being with Daisy again. His desperate attempts to achieve his goals did have him walking on a trapeze like Taylor describes. The person he is reflecting on is Daisy, he throws luxurious parties in a desperate attempt to be with her again. Yet, he stops this once he realizes she is not fond of them. He simply reflects whatever she desires of him.

Because of this, Gatsby is a mirrorball character. He is always reflecting someone else’s desires to achieve a status in a specific social group. To get more specific, he is always reflecting on whatever Daisy desires of him. yes, he desired to climb the New York social ladder, but he only wanted to do that for Daisy. His persona was a reflection of her values.

The song parralles this in the opening lyric,

“I want you to know
I’m a mirrorball
I’ll show you every version of yourself tonight”

The song I chose to write about in Today’s blog post is “The Luck One”, this song was released on her album RED in 2012. The album was written to describe Taylor’s unhealthy romantic relationships she had been in during the time the album was written. The songs focus on the confusion, jealousy, and frustration that comes with intense love. This albulm is very close to my heart because I became my first ever concert was the RED tour- it was a night I’ll never forget and hearing “The Lucky One” live makes this blog post hold a special place in my heart.

The lyrics in the song describe the struggles of fame, and the fear of young women being replaced by someone younger and prettier. I imagine if Daisy Buchanan heard the song she would resinate with every lyric. Her character would be considered “famous” in her wealthy New York social circle, and delt with beiung subjected to her repuatation beibg discussed by everyone in it.

One of the verses in the song goes,

“Now it’s big black cars and Riviera views
And your lover in the foyer doesn’t even know you
And your secrets end up splashed on the news front page”

Daisy had everything, the “big black cars and Riviera views” but she had married her husband Tom for money. Their marriage was full of infidelity and they had to move towns often due to their secrets being uncovered. Taylor includes this verse to emphasize that just because she lived a lavish lifestyle doesnt mesn her life was perfect. daisy experienced the same struggles.

The verse that inspired this blog post, and is also one of my all time favorites goes,

“And they tell you that you’re lucky, but you’re so confused
‘Cause you don’t feel pretty, you just feel used
And all the young things line up to take your place”

This lyric resonates with me because as a young woman, I have seen my friends, and myself included feel used by my men. Girls will get praised for how pretty they are while neglecting that they are smart, funny, or anything else. Daisy Buchanan was praised for her beauty and wealth. Yet, in chapter 1 she talks about how she wishes her daughter will be naive. Daisy knows how to climb the social ladder; she knows her place as a woman in their society to the unsettling fact circle and just acts oblivious.

The last verse I want to include in this blog post is the bridge of the song,

“It was a few years later, I showed up here
And they still tell the legend of how you disappeared
How you took the money and your dignity and got the hell out
They say you bought a bunch of land somewhere
Chose the Rose Garden over Madison Square
And it took some time, but I understand it now”

At the end of the novel, Daisy and Tom Buchanan once again left a city they could no longer keep their spotless reputation in. The lyric “and they still tell the legend of how you disappeared” is perfect to parralle with TGG because Nick wrote a novekl about the events that went on while they lived there. overall, I love this song, and I think Daisy Buchanan would have loved it too.