The Great Gatsby Turns 100: A Century of the American Dream, Reimagined
A TikTok edit of the 2013 film.
Background
This year marks the 100th anniversary of The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s shimmering, haunting portrayal of excess, longing, and the American Dream gone sideways.
First published in 1925 to modest reviews and disappointing sales, the novel has since grown into a towering staple of American literature — dissected in classrooms, adapted on screens and stages, and immortalized in the cultural imagination as a mirror of who we are and what we chase.
Set in the feverish summer of 1922, The Great Gatsby tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a mysterious millionaire who throws lavish parties in hopes of reclaiming a lost love. But beneath its flapper glamour and jazz-soaked decadence, the novel is a sharp critique of the hollowness at the heart of American ambition. It’s a book that asks whether reinvention is ever truly possible — and whether the pursuit of success is doomed to leave us empty.
A still shot from The Great Gatsby, 2013
Consistent Relevance
Over the last century, Gatsby has never faded. It’s taught in nearly every high school in the United States, quoted by everyone from pop stars to politicians, and endlessly reinterpreted through the decades.
Hollywood has taken repeated stabs at its glittering sadness, from the 1974 Robert Redford version to Baz Luhrmann’s explosive 2013 spectacle starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Broadway, too, has brought Gatsby’s world to life, most recently in a musical adaptation that reimagines the story with jazz, dance, and modern edge.
What keeps the novel alive after 100 years isn’t just its lyricism or symbolism — it’s how eerily relevant it remains. In an age of influencers, speculative wealth, and widening inequality, Gatsby’s relentless performance of success feels as urgent now as it did in the Roaring Twenties. His desperate reach for something just out of grasp, framed by the blinking green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, is as much a modern story as a historical one.
A still shot from The Great Gatsby, 2013
The Future
As The Great Gatsby turns 100, its themes still resonate: love warped by illusion, wealth as both mask and prison, and the promise of a better life always just beyond reach.
While the “American Dream” as a concept is frequently debated, the film stands as an embodiment of it. It may wax and wane depending on the current state of politics or who is running American companies and whether they are working towards fulfilling the American Dream or stripping it away.
The American Dream is always there, even when the United States is at its lowest point, and it probably will never fully go away. It is up to Americans, including those in Hollywood, and those in government to inspire and legislate it into reality.
A century later, we’re still throwing parties — and still wondering if the dream was ever real at all.
