Saturday, March 8, 2014
Jay Gatsby v. Charles FosterKane
Most of us read The Great Gatsby in one of our English classes. Both Gatsby and Citizen Kane, produced about twenty years apart, focus on a man who some might say is the epitome of success. What similarities and differences do you see? Are these works celebrations or critiques of these men, or somewhere in between? Or something else?
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There is no doubt that The Great Gatsby and Citizen Kane are parallel. The similarities between Jay and Kane are that they both are at the top of the hierarchy in terms of success. Jay received wealth through scams and such while Kane gained fame and success through his work as a newspaperman. Though the scamming and the newspaper go hand-n-hand, Kane does sleazy things and exaggerates to get what he wants. When his second wife walks out on him she picks his flaw of having everyone loving him and the way he can achieve that is having power. While Jay on the other hand never wanted the fame but he just wants the love of his life back. The image of both men is the same but the motives behind the man are different. Kane’s eagerness for everybody to love him sets him up for disaster, asking people for their full and devoted attention to him. Jay and Kane are similar in that way, Jay asks Daisy to tell him that she never loved anyone but him. Even if that wasn’t true, Jay and Kane have the desired to be loved indefinitely. The two men’s climb to the top and then their eventual downfall shows that the men are at their weakest when they are denied something that means so much to them. The Great Gatsby and Citizen Kane are staples of successful men and the epic downfall of them.
ReplyDeleteJay Gatsby and Charles Foster Kane are both powerful men, who for the most part are not happy during the majority of, The Great Gatsby and Citizen Kane. The saying, money does not buy happiness is very relevant in both of these films; considering that both men have plenty of man however neither are happy. Gatsby and Kane are different in the sense that Kane is not running after a girl like Gatsby is with Daisy. Kane is very similar to the new film character and real person, Jordan Belfort from The Wolf of Wall Street. What reminded me of Belfort in the film Citizen Kane was mainly the arguing he did with his wife. Belfort constantly fought with his life and sometimes it turned violent. Moreover in my opinion, Citizen Kane and The Great Gatsby are two works that critique their main character. Neither film ends in happiness; therefore they are not celebrating the lives of these men. They are rather showing telling the story of their lives. The men are different in the sense that Jay Gatsby’s entire live revolved around the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan; while Kane’s life revolved around his newspaper. I agree with Eddie’s point about fame when it comes to Kane and Gatsby. Even though Gatsby had nice cars, a nice house and extravagant parties, it was never about being popular to him. Everything he did was for Daisy and that is the definition of true love. Lastly, in the end both men are weak because all they have is money and nobody to love or share their life with.
ReplyDeleteThere is definitely a lot of similarities amongst Jay Gatsby and Charles Kane. The first thing is that both of these characters has a tremendous amount of wealth. They both earn their money through scamming society, Gatsby makes millions off of bootlegging liquor while Charles owns a newspaper that exaggerates stories to his own benefit. The difference between the two is that Gatsby loves Daisy, the reason why he flaunts his wealth is to rekindle their flame while Charles marries Susan just so that she can show him love and affection. Charles thinks that he can show love towards Susan by simply buying her extravagant gifts while Susan wants Charles to actually care for her feelings. Both "The Great Gatsby" and "Citizen Kane" is a critique on how to not go after woman because both men end up dying sad and lonely. I agree with Eddie that these are two works that show audiences how one's success can be a great down fall for someone. Gatsby throws these expensive parties to make it appear as if he has friends and to flaunt his money but in reality he is a very lonely man looking for love. Kane is so successful and rich that he thinks he is above everyone and that everyone should pay attention to him while deep down he is lonely too just like Gatsby and is desperate for attention.
ReplyDeleteI think the two characters are very similar, and I think the main similarity revolves around both of them having this insatiable need for the chase. Now Gatsby, in the beginning of the novel, appears only to want Daisy. While in the beginning of the movie, Kane presents himself as a man who's sole aspiration is to bring about justice and equality for the oppressed lower classes of America. But both men are hiding something: they don't just want what they say they want, in reality they aspire to much, much more. Their being revolves around a desire to acquire more; to acquire more money, more love, more power. Once Gatsby finally won over Daisy, the allure of convincing her to fall in love with him disappears. And once Kane was at the cusp of political power, he slowly begins to acknowledge, or at least other characters in the film do, that his want to help people in need is less about helping others and more about a need to be loved. These two men jump from conquest to conquest, far more satisfied in the chase than in the end goal, with thirsts for more that can never be quenched.
ReplyDeleteI think both of these works are critiques on this type of man, the disingenuous dreamer. The problems they face, so greatly dramatized, pale in complexion to the far more serious problems that average Americans faced at the time. While the middle and lower classes struggled through the Great Depression, both Kane and Gatsby are overcome with seemingly trivial concerns. The fact that they even have time to obsess over the things that they do is a testament to how disconnected they are from reality.
The Great Gatsby and Citizen Kane are very similar in the sense that neither is a critique of the man himself, but rather the American Dream in general. Annie argues that both of these films critique the main character because their lives aren’t being celebrated; however, I think of both of these men as tragic characters. The American Dream has always seemed to be to have freedom and make as much money as possible, and in theory this is supposed to satisfy all of a human’s needs. These two films seem to argue that money is simply not enough, as both Jay Gatsby and Charles Kane have something they desire that eludes them no matter how much money or fame they have. This is where the two differ, though, as while Jay Gatsby is compassionate and cannot be happy because of his love for Daisy, Charles Kane is an unhappy, distant, love-less man who never embraced his life of wealth or notoriety. Instead, he missed the youth and innocence of his childhood. Jay has the ability to love, and that is ultimately his downfall, while Kane does not have this same ability to love and instead treats all the humans around him as objects to be manipulated. What they do have in common, however, is that their success financially is by no means an indicator of the pleasure they take out of life. These films and characters speak to the true nature of the American Dream: While money can buy a lot, it can’t buy love or happiness.
ReplyDeleteIn both “Citizen Kane” and “The Great Gatsby”, the lead characters are rich men who seem to have it all. In the eyes of those around them, they are very successful and live in beautiful mansions. What drove both of these men to become who they were are different. Gatsby did everything in his power to try to win back the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan. He threw every party so that she would notice him. Kane on the other hand saw himself as a powerful man and would go out of his way to get what he wanted. These lifestyles were handed to these men by inheriting money, critiquing how to become successful. Kane was read a long list of places he could go into, but chose the newspaper business and built the paper up. He did not have to work his way up from a reporter to become the publisher, but instead walked in and changed it completely. Gatsby puts on a charade of a successful man, because everything in his house was intentionally put there to look like he was a wealthy man. Both Gatsby and Kane put on a show to the outside world that everything is great, but in reality there are secrets that are tearing them up on the inside.
ReplyDeleteBoth Jay Gatsby and Charles Kane share an extraordinary amount of similarities, exploiting their wealth and power over others. Although both may seem like they have everything and anything they have ever wanted, they are missing one thing, true love. Both try to buy their love by giving Susan and Daisy an overwhelming amount of gifts and buying anything that the girls ask for. Both girls eventually end up leaving them because neither men know how to really show their love other than buying presents. In the end of both films, Both men end up dying alone and unloved. I believe that these films celebrate the hard working and successful American but shows the great defects of being as powerful as them.
ReplyDeleteCharles Foster Kane shares many similarities to Jay Gatsby in both physical appearance and emotional background. Both Kane and Gatsby are wildly rich men in pivotal moments in America’s history. Both acquired their vast holdings through immoral business practices, Gatsby through bootlegging and Kane through yellow journalism. The motive for obtaining their wealth is similar too. Both Kane and Gatsby just wanted to be loved. They aimed to win love by spending their money, but this was not enough. The main difference between the two of them was that Gatsby was capable of giving love, but Kane could not. Gatsby wanted Daisy’s love, but Kane really just needed a mother, someone who would love him unconditionally. His whole relationship with Susan was just based off of the fact that she could sing to him. Kane simply needed to feed off of Susan’s love but was unable to reciprocate. The Great Gatsby and Citizen Kane are both stories of how people can have everything in the world, but really have nothing. Despite their vast wealth, they were never really happy because they were never loved. They surrounded themselves with happy partygoers or statues so they wouldn’t feel alone. Most importantly, they were never able to have everything they wanted. When Gatsby won back Daisy he was murdered. When Kane had a family and a “singer” he lost both. They spend their whole lives chasing the one thing that they cannot buy and when they get it they lose everything else. Gatsby and Kane were just lonely and needed to be loved.
ReplyDeleteBoth Charles Kane and Jay Gatsby paved the way for the "rise and fall from power" story that we see in movies and works today such as "Wolf of Wall Street" and "American Psycho". Kane and Gatsby both want nothing more than to be rich and famous, and they achieve that goal through dishonesty. In the end that dishonesty is their downfall, the fact that they never truly earned what they accomplished leads to difficulty at times of adversity. A primary difference, however, was Kane's desire to want more, while Gatsby only made his fortune to win the heart of a woman. What drives Kane is his ambition, what drives Gatsby is his devotion. Both works support the idea that the best things in life truly are free, and Kane had his moment of recollection with Rosebud, Gatsby with Daisy. Unfortunately for the two of them, they realized too late what truly mattered to them.
ReplyDeleteThere are a plethora of parallels to draw between Jay Gatsby of The Great Gatsby and Charles Foster Kane of Citizen Kane. They both share the humble beginnings of a nobody, only to rise from rags to riches through powers that are not their own; Gatsby with his rich seafaring friend and Kane with his mother’s gold mine. They spend their final days in a pleasure palace often filled with people they don’t know, while otherwise it serves as their own personal solitary confinement. But the biggest parallel to draw comes in their greatest personal desires. Both Gatsby and Kane just want to be loved. While Gatsby specifically desires Daisy’s love, Kane wants to be loved in general. It is apparent throughout the novel that Gatsby is pining only for Daisy’s love; however, the big reveal for Kane’s desire comes only in his second wife leaving him. Kane’s friend Leland comments on this saying, “You don't care about anything except you. You just want to persuade people that you love 'em so much that they ought to love you back. Only you want love on your own terms. Something to be played your way, according to your rules.” Herein lies the only real difference between Gatsby and Kane. Kane uses his own love to manipulate others’ feelings towards him, while Gatsby is truly in love with Daisy. This highlights the key characteristic difference of Kane and Gatsby. Kane loves because he desperately wants others to love him; Gatsby loves because he thinks he is the best thing for Daisy. Where Gatsby is trying to help, Kane is being selfish.
ReplyDeleteThere is a clear similarity between the "The Great Gatsby" and "Citizen Kane". In both films the clear parallel is money and power. Jay Gatsby and Charles Kane have more money than they can fathom; however, both characters are not and never will be happy. They use their money to run these high power businesses with the expectation to remain at the top of society’s hierarchy. The difference between the two films is that, Jay Gatsby is using his riches to prove to a girl that he is worthy, he wants to show her that she can have a more luxurious life with him, rather than her husband. He wants his success to be enough for the girl; however he doesn't need the money if he has her. Charles Kane on the other hand is obsessed with attention. He uses his successes to gain the attention from those around him. Kane's egotistical mindset leads him to caring only for himself and not for those around him. Both men believe that money is the solution to get what they want. They get so carried away with having the money and power of those around them that they lose themselves. Gatsby in my opinion is the better man because although he does illegal acts to achieve success, his motive is greater than self -infatuation. In both instances nevertheless, the two men are unsuccessful in the pursuance's. Proving the clear message in both films is that, no matter how much money you have; there's not enough in the world that substitutes for self-happiness.
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ReplyDeleteIt is clearly evident that The Great Gatsby and Citizen Kane are very similar. The parallels between Gatsby and Kane are that both men are at the top, in terms of success. Gatsby ultimately received his wealth from the old fisherman, as well as numerous scams, while Kane obtained fame and fortune through his ambitions of wanting to become a politician, as well as a newspaper company owner. Both men’s lives were showcased in a way which showed the extravagant houses they lived in, as well as the luxurious items they had purchased. However Kane differs from Gatsby, because all Kane wanted was for everyone to love him and his wealth. In contrast, Gatsby did not care for fame and fortune, because he only wanted his true love back in his life, who was Daisy. Through this, the image of Gatsby and Kane are the same, but their motives ultimately set these two men apart. Kane’s want for everyone to love him ultimately leads to his downfall because again he yearns for people’s attention. Also, Gatsby asks Daisy to tell him that the only person she ever loved was him because he wants the love of his life back. Though this, one can see how both men want to be loved unconditionally. Through this, Gatsby’s and Kane’s rise to the top and their tragic downfalls strictly show how when the men are at their weakest point, this is when they are denied something which they have been longing for.
The protagonists of both "The Great Gatsby" and "Citizen Kane" are very similar. They are alike in the ways that they are both rich, they are both lonely, and they both have a desire for something. Gatsby lived alone without a significant other which made him lonely. Kane also did not have a significant other, however this is not the reason for his loneliness, though it is obvious that he wants people he cares about in his life through his excessive statue collecting. His loneliness derived from his desire to be happy. He could not be happy until he gained his rosebud, just as Gatsby could not be happy until he got to be with Daisy. One difference, however, between these two major characters is that Jay Gatsby wanted to be wealthy and made it so, whereas Charles Foster Kane did not want wealth and his mother made him become rich. Though there is a difference in how they gained their money, they both eventually realize that their wealth creates only a facade of happiness and that they need something else to obtain true happiness. These stories are definitely not celebrations of these men for their obvious demise, however they are also not entirely critiques either. There is an empathy felt for these two characters because they both need something for them to be happy, but they never get it and die unhappy men. One might look at one short part of each film and immediately judge Gatsby and Kane as selfish lice, however they need to view the whole picture to make an accurate judgment.
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