They're all so beautiful. Why don't I have 3 heads?

Yesterday, we finally went to see The Great Gatsby in theaters. It's been ages since our last date night and although I'm usually very flexible with our date plans, I told Pj that we must go see it before it's not in theaters anymore. I've been a fan of Baz Luhrmann since I first saw Romeo and Juliet when I was a pre-teen.

 For our date, I wore my new dress, a gift from Daffny. I love nylon dresses in the summer. They're so light and comfortable and are great for a grab and go type of dress. They hardly ever wrinkle! I had a hell of a time choosing a hat for our outing. This dress has so many pretty colors in it that I tried a few and found myself quoting Amadeus. "Why don't I have 3 heads?!" (a great movie, by the way, do see it if you haven't already! The costumes are fab!!) I finally settled on my hot pink turban, which was something I bought truly believing that I'd never find a dress to match it.

The Great Gatsby was absolutely divine, in my opinion. I know it received some less than stellar reviews, particularly in the vintage community where people were shocked by the modern music, brash, tacky colors and not at all period costuming. But seriously- it's not a walk through a history museum and it wasn't meant to be!

 The Great Gatsby is an artist's interpretation of an almost 100 year old story. As I watched it, particularly the scenes with Myrtle and the loud, sweaty speakeasy, I thought that if he did this all as period correct as possible, I don't think it would have really shown the modern world what the 20's was like. This film wasn't made for people who love the era. It was made to tell a beautifully sad story and to show to a modern world (where a celeb's lady bits peeking out of her skirt is hardly newsworthy) how the jazz and booze and wild women of the 20s was truly a shock to people of the time. Not everyone who lived in the 1920s was a boozing, short skirt wearing crazy flapper. My great grandma was a young girl during the era and she had nothing positive to say about those kind of girls.

To the modern world,1920s jazz is charming and old fashioned but the modern music in the film surrounding by dancing scantily clad women was as jarring to us as jazz was to many of them.

Myrtle's horrid outfit in her first appearance wasn't typically 1920s at all but it made us all shudder, just as someone in the 20s would have if she appeared as a historically accurate floozy. 

Much like his version of Romeo and Juliet, I hope this film has young people reading and enjoying the classic novel.

So anyway, end rant there. If you've never seen another Baz Luhrmann film, do check them out if you're a fool for a good love story like myself.  His others include Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet, Australia and Moulin Rouge.

 Pj had never read the book or seen any other versions of the film and when the credits started rolling, no one in the theater made a peep. I was all teary eyed and Pj sat there like he didn't know what hit him. He said "Why didn't you tell me?!"  I said "Sorry, Sweetie! I didn't want to ruin the ending!!"