The Great Gatsby and Weekend at Bernies

While I have not read The Great Gatsby since my junior year of high school, I have seen Weekend at Bernie's a number of times over the years. Though it is quite silly, I like the movie a lot. At the same time I want to make it clear I am not trying to trivialize what many scholars would call the pinnacle of 20th-Century American literature by comparing it to a cheesy-eighties movie. However, I hope this blog will show that the creators of Weekend at Bernies may have been trying to do more than create a cult classic. Starting with the simple, I am hoping to draw the reader through a wild ride of self realization by questioning life and fully analyzing the parallel themes of The Great Gatsby and Weekend at Bernie's.

SETTING

Of all the similarities, none are more obvious than setting. Both take place in New York City and Long Island. Bernie lives in an enormous house at "the top of the dune" on the fictitious Hampton Island. Jay Gatsby had an enormous mansion on the beach in the fictitious Long Island town of East Egg (or was it West Egg?).

SOCIAL COMMENTARYr

Nick Carraway, the narrator in The Great Gatsby, begins his journey into a life of wealth and privilege that he had never known before in much the same way that Larry Wilson and Richard Parker (side note: notice the close anagram between their names and Nick Carraway, although probably not deliberate) do, by going to a party. In both works, there is a wide array of interesting people at the parties, who, despite feeling quite welcome at the shindig, seem to know nothing about their respective hosts.

Our reluctant protagonists in Weekend at Bernie's, embodiments of stereotypical young, poor, single, professional, Manhattanites are invited to their boss's, Bernie's, lavish Hampton Island mansion. When they get there they discover Bernie's body sitting upright in a chair. Before they can react and make a rational decision, a travelling horde of drunken reviler's storm into Bernie's house ready for another night of Hampton Island partying. Not knowing, perhaps not even caring, that he is dead most of the 'guests' make small talk with Bernie. At the end of the night, the two main characters are still the only people that know that Bernie is dead, including Bernie's girlfriend who even went as far as having sex with the deceased Bernie. My own presumption is that all of the guests were too wrapped up in themselves to notice Bernie was dead, a direct commentary on the same hedonistic themes of The Great Gatsby. Pursuit of wealth and materialism are astutely criticised in both works.

THEMES

I cannot recall many of the themes from class discussions about The Great Gatsby, and unless you are ridiculously stoned finding a reoccurring theme in Weekend at Bernie's is impossible, but please bear with me.

I seem to recall the American Dream being a topic of discussion with regard to The Great Gatsby. When they first enter Bernie's mansion, Larry (who lives in a roach-infested apartment) and Richard (who still lives with his parents) are taken back by the incredible decorating and sheer size of the place. Original artwork, a piano and a cooler stocked with expensive champagne are only some of what they notice. Richard then says to Larry, "Larry, with hard work, you could live in a place like this." Larry's response is, "my father worked hard and all they gave him was more work." Gatsby was the embodiment of the American Dream. He was wealthy and that wealth was self made. Nick Carraway was an up and coming bond trader, much the same way Larry and Richard were underlings at Bernie's company. It is hinted at that Gatsby made his money from illegal bootlegging (as it was at the time of prohibition). Bernie was clearly involved in something illegal, which led to his death. This is made clear in the scene where he is at a restaraunt with some 'mob types', including the red-dressed temptress whom Bernie was having an affair with. Are you starting to see the resemblance.

Birth and death are hugely important in both of the works. Bernie dies close to the beginning of the movie, but is reborn as Larry and Richard need to fake Bernie being alive to have a good weekend on Long Island and fool the killers. Jay Gatsby's vision of Daisy Buchanan, the girl of his dreams, slowly dies and is replaced by a much bleaker reality of Daisy Buchanan. At the end of the novel Jay Gatsby literally and figuratively dies. The unusual choice of naming the town "Egg" in the novel, suggests an allusion to birth, as the egg is a symbol of birth and new life. Okay, now, maybe I am stretching.

In conclusion: Long Island, materialism, hedonism, pursuit of wealth and the American Dream, life and death... the similarities are endless.