Big Living

Living large is a big theme in The Great Gatsby and Chicago. The characters in both the book and the movie seek an extravagant, self-indulging lifestyle. The characters of the book and the movie each pursue this self-indulging lifestyle differently, though. Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, and Jordan all try to live an expensive, high-end lifestyle with extravagant parties and enormous houses and spending money left and right. Fitzgerald develops their big-living lifestyle through setting, by making their houses large and grand with many expensive things at their disposal and rich parties at lavish places all night long. In Chicago, the director creates this theme by creating characters that are hungry for attention. Whenever a character isn’t getting a lot of attention, the lighting is low and dim; but when a character is getting a lot of attention, they're in the spotlight, with bright light and glamorous clothes and interesting people all around them. Roxie seeks a life full of fame, fortune, and a big spotlight in the newspapers and the public eye.  When she makes the front page of the newspapers, she gets everything she wants and she gets her moment of fame, with lots of gifts and letters from her audience. She (temporarily) lives a famous and glamorous life, and that’s how the director creates a “big living” theme in Chicago.

Selfishness

Selfishness is one of the most dominant themes in The Great Gatsby and Chicago. In The Great Gatsby, Daisy and Tom are very selfish people. Fitzgerald shows this theme through the characters' actions. Daisy wants a secure and steady income, which she gets through Tom; and she wants a lot of attention, which she gets from Gatsby. She doesn’t care about either of the men; she only cares about what they give her. When it all starts falling apart in the apartment in New York, she has two choices: money or love. She chooses money and run back to Tom. Tom is very selfish because he wants both the rich, gorgeous trophy wife and the feisty, sensuous woman on the side. In the scene in the New York apartment, when he loses both his wife and his woman, he tries to maintain a hold on his wife and goes on about how he can’t understand why people don’t care about families these days…even though he leaves his family often to go meet his woman. In Chicago, Roxie is very selfish because all she cares about is herself and she doesn’t care about any of the other girls or her own husband. All she wants is fame and fortune and she tramples over everyone who cares about her, all just to get her fleeting moment of fame. The director develops Roxie's selfish character through attitude and dialogue, and Roxie will say things that reveal she only cares about herself. She only needs her husband, Amos, when he’ s convenient to have around; and when she doesn’t need him anymore she throws him to the side even though after all she’s done he would have taken her back and he still loves her. In the end when she has been decided “not guilty” and all the newspapermen leave for the next big story, Amos stands waiting with open arms to take Roxie back home, but she rejects him cruelly and without feeling. She is a selfish woman who only keeps number one in mind, and nobody else is important to her unless they can do something for her.

Cheating

The Great Gatsby and Chicago are full of cheaters. Characters cheat left and right in both of the stories; they just all do it in different ways. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald creates the “cheating” theme through his character’s actions and attitudes. Jordan cheats in golf, and she doesn’t feel guilty about it at all. Daisy cheats Gatsby of love when she cheaps him out and reveals that she never actually loved him. Tom cheats on Daisy with Myrtle and isn’t sorry until he loses both of them; then he’s spitting out excuses and apologies just to retain his claim on Daisy. Gatsby cheats in the way he makes his money; we don’t know exactly what he does, but we know it’s not exactly legal, either. In Chicago, the director creates this theme of cheating through the dishonest and bad choices that the characters make. Roxie cheats Velma of her claim to fame and cheats Amos of their marriage and their loyalty to each other, the man Roxie slept with cheats her of her dreams by saying he’ll get her on Broadway but then not going through with his promise, and “Mama” Morton cheats the system by giving the prisoners anything they want as long as she gets enough cash from them for it. There are even more examples to use for the theme of cheating in The Great Gatsby and Chicago, because cheating is rampant throughout each story. Cheating is definitely a big theme in both the book and the movie.