The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Post #1)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button site, with trailers!

I am quite excited for this film. It is based on a short story by F Scott Fitzgerald and was originally published in 1922.

I have a book full of many of his short stories called 'Before Gatsby' (a rich find on one of my etsy shop excursions!) and it contains this story. Which I have not read, yet. I just discovered that the book is full of wonderful photos of the covers of the magazines his work appeared in. I cannot figure out what she is doing to her neck though.

I am very intrigued by this story and the movie. I love the time period, of course. But it also reflects Scott's and Zelda's obsession with staying young, etc.

More posts to come! The movie opens Christmas Day and has a fantastic cast.

*ETA* As I watched the trailer, I thought 'hmm, looks very 'Young Indiana Jones' to me. The War (I'm assuming WWI, it looks like the trenches), the ballet (one of the best episodes of YI!), and the motorcycle (which is prominent in both Young Indy/Verdun AND in the latest IJ movie). I was searching for info on BB and found this article about David Fincher. His childhood neighbor was George Lucas and he worked for Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic on 'Return of the Jedi'.

Coincidentally, his movie Se7en has come up at least twice in discussion here in the past week and is one of my favorite movies for style. I loved the way the notebooks and photographs were done. Zodiac had some of those artistic elements.

Lucas seems to be slightly obsessed with Hemingway as well, who was close to Fitzgerald. They had an interesting Enneagram 4 type 'push pull' relationship.

On White Bear Lake...

He saw these rail road tracks, this cemetery, a few of these houses, and the way the fading sun hits the lake and lights it with an almost living electricity. As I have been trying to understand war, and researching the writers of the Lost Generation (those who were trying to make their way after WWI), I have found out that F Scott Fitzgerald was not only born in St Paul but spent a good deal of time in White Bear Lake. WBL is not too far from here, a lively tourist attraction, almost quaint and definitely sweet. I like to go for drives by the lake, and walk through town and shop.

I wonder what he would recognize and what he would be surprised to see. I wonder if he saw it, if he would even care. I read the Great Gatsby one summer, 1992 or 1993. The images from the book are still in my memory. It did not surprise me to learn of the time he spent here. Even though it is set in Long Island, it makes me think of Minneapolis and St Paul, and the wide plains that would have separated the towns back then.

I picked up a book about his homes and haunts the other day. It was written in 1978, 30 years ago. Even at that time, a number of places had been torn down for Interstates and highways. I plan on a bit of an excursion one day, when I can spare the change for gas for getting lost and going in circles. Perhaps a Sunday walking tour on Summit Ave, with its grand houses and lasting legacies.

I just want to sneak a small peek back in time.