*Ding. Ding. Ding.* I practically sprint to seventh period
AP English in anticipation for today’s activity: a pre-screening of “The Great
Gatsby” movie in class. Despite the fact that this movie does not debut in theaters
for another two weeks and despite every movie-pirating law made ever, Ms.
Serensky illegally downloads the film for her class’s enjoyment. My excitement
makes me blind to even the biggest curse of all: a snowstorm brewing outside on
what should be a delightful May afternoon. No matter, though, because I
remember that for the next 50 straight minutes, Leonardo DiCaprio, starring as the protagonist of the movie, Jay Gatsby, will entertain me. Ms.
Serensky dims the lights, pulls the curtains, and signals for her creative
writing students to enter. They begin serving us, top-of-the-food-chain AP
English students, refreshments consisting of popcorn with movie theater butter
and our beverage of choice. Now we are
ready to begin. Leo nails the role of Gatsby effortlessly, leaving the entire
class drooling (Ms. Serensky included) until the final scene. He somehow manages
to reflect the always-dapper Gatsby while talking, walking, party-hosting,
flirting, and even dying. The class remains quiet as the credits roll, remembering
how Ms. Serensky did not allow us to see the last scene of the Netflix-famous
version of “The Great Gatsby,” we watched earlier in the year. Our eyes were no longer uncorrupted by the sight of Jay Gatsby dying. We all cringe as we recall his stoic
facial features bracing for the impact of the bullet that would end his
extremely handsome life. What a crying shame. Literally. We all look up in
shock as Ms. Serensky hysterically cries over the death of her beloved “Leo.”
Instead of respecting her time of mourning, however, we all watch on as she
continues to wail and whimper, “But he was my beautiful little fool!” The final
bell disrupts her grieving session, indicating our time to leave. We all look
at each other, relieved to be escaping our usually overly-intimidating teacher
in such a vulnerable place. As we gathered our belongings and headed towards
the door in the typical herd-like fashion, much to our dismay, she was able to
squeak out a few final words through her sobs: “Write an essay comparing and contrasting the
book and movie,” and suddenly, it felt like a normal day in AP English.
