21 Things .17

Chasing After the Wind

This week I've been reading Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and though I find his dialogue style rather hard to follow, every once in awhile a bold line or descriptive phrase will arrest me with its poignancy - often I have to reread it a few times to get it, but that satisfying "aha!" moment is worth the attempt!

One of the earlier chapters in the novel describes the characters attending a private screening of a silent film with their friend the lead actress. Their dialogue is crafted in such a way as to capture the frivolous and superficial culture of the Roaring 20's. 
They say everything and yet nothing. 
Yet when the actress offers Dick Divers a screen test he refuses and the dialogue turns serious when he states:

"The strongest guard is placed at the gateway to nothing... Maybe because the condition of emptiness is too shameful to be divulged."

He's speaking of Hollywood and his words are maybe even more applicable today almost a hundred years later.

The American Dream.
Rags to riches, the desire to be "known" by the world, and the anticipated wealth and bright lights are empty pursuits, and yet they remain alluring in a strange and twisted way. 

A more contemporary example would be La La Land, a beautiful movie created in the spirit and colour of old musical classics, but one that leaves the viewer (at least me) unsettled. The characters have chosen their dreams over each other and despite their individual successes, there is that same, unmistakable "condition of emptiness." 

I'm reminded of Ecclesiastes 2:3-4, 10-11
“I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly… I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure… I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself…Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”