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On the most basic level, people consume entertainment purely for the sake of amusement.[1]<\/a> There is no pretense, only an honest desire for pleasure. One popular conception of entertainment is that it serves as a form of transportation away from the monotonies of daily existence.[2]<\/a> All of its forms, especially the vivid imagery of musicals and movies, can make your wildest dreams come true. Each offers the chance to imagine an alternate utopian universe where everything and everyone is better. The elements of music and dance are essential in constructing that imagination, as they indicate to us through their performance and cultural context how we should feel.[3]<\/a> The most powerful movies incorporate those elements into the fabric of the production.<\/p>\n The award-winning Australian director and producer Baz Luhrmann excels in blending elements of theater and film to create an especially utopian brand of popular culture. Luhrmann is a progeny of the culture industry: his father was a movie theater owner and his mother was a ballroom dance teacher, and his own career began in theater.[4]<\/a> The first movie he directed was Strictly Ballroom<\/em>, which was first a critically acclaimed play.[5]<\/a> He has directed and produced several other films, including Romeo + Juliet<\/em> and Moulin Rouge<\/em>.[6]<\/a> These three pieces make up a collection known as the Red Curtain Trilogy<\/em>, so named because each movie incorporates theatrical motifs.[7]<\/a> Luhrmann\u2019s rich theater background enabled him to fashion a unique direction and production style.<\/p>\n Luhrmann\u2019s most recent opus, the 2013 film remake of F. Scott Fitzgerald\u2019s popular novel The Great Gatsby<\/em>, deviates from the typical Hollywood blockbuster in its strong emphasis on song and dance. He reconceives the story of enigmatic mogul Jay Gatsby much like a Hollywood musical, with frequent scenes of lively dancing and revelry that fuel the plot development. Luhrmann\u2019s theatric background explains why this nonstandard blockbuster film resembles a musical. Richard Dyer, Professor of Film Studies at King\u2019s College in London, believes that such Hollywood musicals present to their viewers how their own lives could be \u201csomething better.\u201d[8]<\/a> The integration of music and dance into the storyline makes viewers wish that their own lives were equally exciting and fulfilling.<\/p>\n The character Jay Gatsby himself epitomizes what it means to yearn for \u201csomething better.\u201d The young tycoon, born the son of \u201cdirt-poor farmers from North Dakota,\u201d was able to quickly ascend the ranks of society through his ambition and shrewd intellect.[9]<\/a> The level of wealth and fame that he attains seems to signify the fulfillment of the quintessential \u201cAmerican Dream.\u201d Gatsby seems to have it all, yet he is not satisfied. A simple green light that shines from a dock across the bay captivates him; it symbolizes all the things for which Gatsby yearns. From his home across the water, Gatsby often watches it with great intensity, and even reaches for it. Yet he can never quite grasp it: \u201cGatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that\u2019s no matter \u2013 tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… \u2013 so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.\u201d[10]<\/a> Gatsby\u2019s past shortcomings and failures haunt him, yet he continues to believe that he can right them. This attitude of persistency and hopefulness is what endears viewers to Gatsby despite his many flaws. Baz Luhrmann encourages us to wish in the same way he does, and the entire audience shares Gatsby\u2019s longing for the unobtainable.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2013\/05\/17\/article-2324983-19D63DEC000005DC-356_634x350.jpg\")
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