The Green Light
I guess I'll warn you now that this post will not be the most interesting, and quite honestly my thoughts on the matter don't completely make sense (then again, when do my thoughts ever?).
I was watching The Great Gatsby the other week for about the tenth time, and there is a particular scene that always connects with me, but I find myself never dwelling on it further than in the moment.
It wasn't until a particular song (Maggie Rogers, Alaska) was playing on the radio that the situation and feelings at the time suddenly reminded me of this scene that I had forgotten completely about.
In the beginning of the film (I have unfortunately not read the book), the Green Light at the end of Daisy's dock is a very significant and symbolic object to the story. When we are first introduced to the light, we get our first glimpse of Gatsby who is reaching out to it, yearning for the person who owns that very dock.
I think many of us feel the same as Gatsby had, when we idolize and romanticise a particular object, song or place, because it reminds us of something or someone, which we want.
Perhaps even the smallest whiff of a smell send our emotions into overload and we can think of nothing but that until the smell fades. Or a song, reminiscing of times spent and times desired until the final beat is played and the music fades out.
But this was not the particular part that gets me thinking for a brief but great moment. It is in the film when Gatsby gets his biggest desire, Daisy becomes (sort of) his, he no longer needs to reach out for that green light because the person who owns that dock is not so far away anymore. The green light becomes just another green light.
Just as a song becomes just a song, and the thoughts it pushed and encouraged us to wonder about no longer push or encourage us to wonder about it anymore.
I was talking about these thoughts with someone close to me. I mentioned the significance of a song and the feelings it instantly erupts in us, fades when we achieve what we desired. It becomes no more than a memory of how we used to feel.
He said, "you just need to remind yourself what you were reaching out for in the first place".
And it is true.
Hate to say this, but I have had many songs that meant a lot to me, reminding me of a place or person and yearning for it, thinking about it and getting nostalgic over it. But when I get what I was reaching for, it becomes that song that just 'made me think about that a lot during that particular time'.
You see Alaska by Maggie Rogers had made me cry, feel sad and think beyond about a particular person when it played, knowing it was one of their favourite songs, and feeling that the lyrics in the song represented the situation so much.
But when it played that day, reminding me of the green light, it still felt significant and in some ways, I was still reaching out that song, turning it up, caressing with my heart (lame). Perhaps I wasn't yearning for the person who was perhaps listening to it also, but instead I felt an overwhelming appreciation that I got them back. I don't listen to it in sadness anymore, but in happiness, and feel a strong desire to hug Maggie and hope that she will feel the same way that I do now.
But I guess we know that dreams and wishes for something is real when the songs, places or even lights, are still important and significant and we continue to idolize it nonetheless.
Or maybe I have had too much caffeine today and my head is being silly.
I was watching The Great Gatsby the other week for about the tenth time, and there is a particular scene that always connects with me, but I find myself never dwelling on it further than in the moment.
It wasn't until a particular song (Maggie Rogers, Alaska) was playing on the radio that the situation and feelings at the time suddenly reminded me of this scene that I had forgotten completely about.
In the beginning of the film (I have unfortunately not read the book), the Green Light at the end of Daisy's dock is a very significant and symbolic object to the story. When we are first introduced to the light, we get our first glimpse of Gatsby who is reaching out to it, yearning for the person who owns that very dock.
I think many of us feel the same as Gatsby had, when we idolize and romanticise a particular object, song or place, because it reminds us of something or someone, which we want.
Perhaps even the smallest whiff of a smell send our emotions into overload and we can think of nothing but that until the smell fades. Or a song, reminiscing of times spent and times desired until the final beat is played and the music fades out.
But this was not the particular part that gets me thinking for a brief but great moment. It is in the film when Gatsby gets his biggest desire, Daisy becomes (sort of) his, he no longer needs to reach out for that green light because the person who owns that dock is not so far away anymore. The green light becomes just another green light.
Just as a song becomes just a song, and the thoughts it pushed and encouraged us to wonder about no longer push or encourage us to wonder about it anymore.
I was talking about these thoughts with someone close to me. I mentioned the significance of a song and the feelings it instantly erupts in us, fades when we achieve what we desired. It becomes no more than a memory of how we used to feel.
He said, "you just need to remind yourself what you were reaching out for in the first place".
And it is true.
Hate to say this, but I have had many songs that meant a lot to me, reminding me of a place or person and yearning for it, thinking about it and getting nostalgic over it. But when I get what I was reaching for, it becomes that song that just 'made me think about that a lot during that particular time'.
You see Alaska by Maggie Rogers had made me cry, feel sad and think beyond about a particular person when it played, knowing it was one of their favourite songs, and feeling that the lyrics in the song represented the situation so much.
But when it played that day, reminding me of the green light, it still felt significant and in some ways, I was still reaching out that song, turning it up, caressing with my heart (lame). Perhaps I wasn't yearning for the person who was perhaps listening to it also, but instead I felt an overwhelming appreciation that I got them back. I don't listen to it in sadness anymore, but in happiness, and feel a strong desire to hug Maggie and hope that she will feel the same way that I do now.
But I guess we know that dreams and wishes for something is real when the songs, places or even lights, are still important and significant and we continue to idolize it nonetheless.
Or maybe I have had too much caffeine today and my head is being silly.
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