Recently, I went to see Baz Luhrmann’s highly-anticipated adaptation of The Great Gatsby. I even re-read the book to reacquaint myself with the storyline and characters but the irony of needing 3-D glasses to appreciate the visual splendor was fascinating. And to be honest, a little confusing, do I wear the 3D glasses over my actual glasses? Put the reading glasses in front of the 3D glasses?
(Spoiler Alert)
I was fascinated by not only the decadence and opulence of the Daisy/Tom Buchanan’s old money, Jay Gatsby questionable nouveau riche (new money) but a billboard that appeared in the Valley of Ashes, the dreaded dismal area between West Egg and New York City.
The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are a pair of fading, bespectacled eyes painted on an old advertising billboard over the valley of ashes. I know there is probably another symbolic meaning of those big eyes looking down but those eyes reminded me that as I approached middle-age, the eyes were the first age-related change for me.