Below is a link to Zelda Fitzgerald's 1925 short story "Our Own Movie Queen," which is suggested further reading. The citation information is as follows: Fitzgerald, Zelda. "Our Own Movie Queen," in Red Velvet Seat: Women's Writing on the First Fifty Years of Cinema." London: Verso, 2006 (607-623).
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Below is the 1922 poem "The Harlem Dancer" by Claude McKay (1890-1948). The citation information is as follows: McKay, Claude. "The Harlem Dancer." Double-take: A Revisionist Harlem Renaissance Anthology, 2001 (272). If you are interested in writing about (or learning more about) the Jazz Age and its depiction in Fitzgerald's novel or in Luhrmann's film, then you will probably also want to read the poetry of Langston Hughes, and especially his poem "Trumpet Player."
Applauding youths laughed with young prostitutes
And watched her perfect, half-clothed body sway;
Her voice was like the sound of blended flutes
Blown by black players upon a picnic day.
She sang and danced on gracefully and calm,
The light gauze hanging loose about her form;
To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm
Grown lovelier for passing through a storm.
Upon her swarthy neck black, shiny curls
Profusely fell; and, tossing coins in praise,
The wine-flushed, bold-eyed boys, and even the girls,
Devoured her with their eager, passionate gaze;
But, looking at her falsely-smiling face
I knew her self was not in that strange place.
Applauding youths laughed with young prostitutes
And watched her perfect, half-clothed body sway;
Her voice was like the sound of blended flutes
Blown by black players upon a picnic day.
She sang and danced on gracefully and calm,
The light gauze hanging loose about her form;
To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm
Grown lovelier for passing through a storm.
Upon her swarthy neck black, shiny curls
Profusely fell; and, tossing coins in praise,
The wine-flushed, bold-eyed boys, and even the girls,
Devoured her with their eager, passionate gaze;
But, looking at her falsely-smiling face
I knew her self was not in that strange place.
Below is a documentary about the cabaret performer and film star Josephine Baker that will provide context on her career, on Baz Luhrmann's use of 1920s music and performance styles in The Great Gatsby, and on The Jazz Age more generally.
The first film adaptation of The Great Gatsby (1926). Sadly, only this small amount of the film survives.