Jazz Age Jerks: A Review Of "Z" & "The Great Gatsby" Film

We’ve got some dueling divas over at Fox these days. Apparently, when J. Lo performed on “American Idol” this week, she earned a standing ovation from everyone. However, judge Mariah Carey – get ready for it – remained seated, with a plastered-on fake smile. Possibly Miss Carey was just plastered and thus unable to stand, I wonder?

 

But the gossip columnists say no. We’ve got ourselves a feud.

 

J. Lo and Mariah aren’t the only celebrity feuders out there. It was reported recently that Madonna also iced Gwyneth out at a celebrity event, this chilly reception based on their long-standing feud.

 

At least Gwyneth and Madonna were only one-time BFFs and not married to each other. It would be terrible to be on a public stage, feuding with one’s spouse. This is exactly what happened to some of America’s first celebrities, F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda.

 

F. Scott Fitzgerald may be one of America’s most beloved novelists (The Great Gatsby, anyone?) but he kind of phoned it in as a husband. This was also Zelda’s approach as a wife. Apparently, all their champagne swilling and fountain dancing made them the toast of socialite society back in the day, but it didn’t exactly endear them to each other.

 

I just finished Z: A Novel Of Zelda Fitzgerald, the book that imagines what Scott and Zelda’s marriage was really like. According to this novel, it wasn’t good. It’s widely believed that Fitzgerald based his most self involved, snootiest characters (see Daisy Buchanan) on Zelda, his own wife.

 

Z attempts to tell Zelda’s side of the story. I wanted to sympathize with Zelda. A phoning- it-in husband who’s drunk all the time would be annoying. But here’s the thing: Zelda was doing the exact same thing. And she was really jealous of her husband’s success because she also wanted to be a famous artist. So Zelda started feuding with him, with everything a good feud entails: brawls, tears, accusations, recriminations. Basically, the only thing missing was a good yank on a hair weave. But only because in 1920 weaves hadn’t been invented yet.

 

The novel was supposed to make me think Zelda was not spoiled and that her husband had done her a disservice by characterizing her as such. But the book had the opposite effect on me.

Zelda was a twit. So was her husband. They were as silly and superficial as “The Great Gatsby”, the movie Baz Luhrmann just made about their alter egos.

 

There’s no heart to the book or movie. Maybe that’s the point. These people, in this world, at this point in time, also had no heart, and that’s what doomed them.

 

But this approach also dooms the entertainment about them. Because as the audience we’re bored. If the characters can’t be bothered to care about each other, why should we?

 

For true yearning and passion check out “American Idol” instead. The judges may not have these emotions, but the contestants sure do, although the object of their desire seems to be celebrity. And if F. Scott and Zelda have shown us nothing else: fame doesn’t equal fulfillment.