The Reason I Hate Daisy Buchanan: A Hopeless Romantic’s Review of Great Gatsby. 

I can admit that I was one of those people that didn’t read Great Gatsby in high school, and I still haven’t read it to this day (and I love reading, I look at it as a personal challenge daily.) However, I of course went to see the 2013 adaptation of the movie for one reason, and honestly it’s the only reason you really need to see any movie…

ONLY REASON NEEDED TO SEE ANY MOVIE

1. Leonardo DiCaprio AKA Leo Daddio AKA Leo Baby AKA Zaddy AKA Love of my life.

*Disclaimer: Please just don’t ever say anything bad about Leonardo DiCaprio because that is grounds for an icy cold shoulder from yours truly. 

Sorry, Back to the Point

Anyways, after seeing the movie just one time, I fell head over heels for the story of Great Gatsby. I absolutely loved the setting of the “roaring 20’s”, where everyone was fancy and wanted to party until the sun came up. I loved the grand party scenes that were in almost every other scene. Not to mention the manner that the movie was filmed in general , was something I had never seen before and I found it to be incredibly beautiful. My only problem with the movie was Daisy Buchanan.

Being the hopeless romantic that I am, I had serious problems with Daisy Buchanan. I felt so betrayed by her, because the movie paints Daisy as lovable and aloof. In fact, my absolute favorite quote is from Daisy when she tells her cousin that the best thing a girl can be in this world is a beautiful fool. I have never resonated with a quote so much in my entire life. It made so much sense and to anyone who has loved or been hurt by love, it resonates with deeply.

          “I hope she’ll be a fool — that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”

-F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

So, Why the Hateration then, you ask?

As, I previously stated I’m quite the hopeless romantic…so all romance movies need to end happily ever after to get the a stamp of approval from me. Gatsby throwing all of these extravagant parties, and bettering his (monetary) status, just to draw the attention of his true love was so endearing to me. He knew that their love was transcendent and destined, all he had to do was be “rich.” As the movie goes on I start to become hopeful that everything is going to turn out just as planned, until the scene where Gatsby loses his cool and the subsequent car accident that essentially set Gatsby and Daisy’s love into flames.

Sure, I can agree with most that Gatsby’s demand to completely
“erase the past” and persistence might scare most women. But, I just didn’t understand how Daisy could just walk away from a man that loved her from the moment he laid eyes on her and never wanted anything more, but to be with her. Especially when your husband openly cheats on you and you’ve become fed up with it. If I were Daisy, I would have up and left with Gatsby the moment I realized he was still alive, regardless if he was rich or not. Not only, did she choose her egregious husband over Gatsby, but Gatsby died for a mistake that she made. (Has anyone else noticed that this is a common theme for Leonardo DiCaprio? Titanic, Romeo and Juliet, almost in Inception…I’m just saying Leo is a real ride or die.)

In the most basic of terms I can put it, I felt some type of way towards Daisy Buchanan at the end of Great Gatsby. I have never felt a more infectious dislike, towards a fictional character in my life. She just left Gatsby to fiend for his self, and to add insult to injury she didn’t even attend his funeral. Like even if we put to the side that you ever loved him, as a good human being she could’ve attended, seeing how she is the reason he was even murdered in the first place.

Honestly, I could go on and on about why Daisy Buchanan is a deplorable person and how she completely destroyed any hope for love that I had, prior to watching this movie three years ago.  However, even with my extreme dislike for Daisy, the 2013 adaptation of Great Gatsby is one of my absolute favorite movies. I’ve seen it so many times now that I actually take great pleasure in yelling obscenities at the screen whenever Daisy comes on, or speaks, or does anything remotely wrong. If you haven’t seen it, you should definitely take some time to watch it and if not for any other reason, remember Leonardo DiCaprio.