If you didn’t know, the 1920’s is a time when the Jazz age was at its peak. Not only that, society was slowly transforming after WWI ended. On the positive note it was the time of transition but it was also the time when party, drugs, and women were part of the display of hedonism during this era. I personally researched the roaring twenties because my paper was using the era and also featuring the famous American author at the time who is famous for the Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald . From his life, I was able to peek at life in the roaring twenties and society at the time. Perhaps you also have seen the movie, Great Gatsby who also display hedonism at the time and the mysterious man called Mr Gatsby but this movie, Babylon gives us a peak into a life at the film industry where almost any girl would want to be on the screen and have a chance to be an actress. Babylon show a unique perspective from the roaring twenties and giving it a closer inspection to the carefree living during that transformative time. This is the story about dreams, decadence, and of course a display of hedonism back in the 1920’s.

Babylon centered around a character named Manny (Diego Calva) who is an immigrant hustler working to fix things at Don Wallach_{I actually forgot the name but it was something like Don Wallach}. He first crossed the border when he was 13. He soon found himself meeting with Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), an alcoholic actor and an ambitious girl Nellie (Margot Robbie)who aspires to work in the film industry. When Nellie and Many were doing cocaine, Manny told him that he wanted to work in the film industry too as that was something he aspired to be and they could escape reality. Shortly after, Manny got closer to Jack Conrad who took him to the film set called Kinoscope studio. Even Nellie got a small role in the set and did her best and she eventually found herself to be famous. Meanwhile Manny was still hustling and was nowhere to be seen. The movie fast forward to 1928 when the new technology was used. In the past, the movie was silent but now, Nelly has to remember lines and the movie now has sound and is no more a silent one. The set also got inside a room and became more interesting with more equipment. Then, during a party Manny met once again with Nelly while Conrad got a new fiance. During the party Nelly challenged his dad to fight a rattlesnake. But her father was too drunk to fight it and eventually passed out. Nelly then fought the rattlesnake and got bitten but Fay, the lesbian singer lady, saved her and Nelly woke up from the horror and almost passed away. After that, Manny was working at the cinema while Nelly and Conrad found their decline.

One night Nelly knocked on Manny’s door to ask for help. She was in dire of money due to her habitual gambling. When Manny said that “ you’re Nelly, you have money” but apparently there was nothing left as the money was managed by her incompetent father and that she has no more assets to pay her 85000 debt. Manny was frustrated but shortly after tried to find a way to help Nelly. But things got complicated when the money was actually a prop money in which Manny got it from an aspiring actor who was unnamed. Will they eventually reach their dream and what would happen to the relationship between Nelly and Manny?

“He sees the city with different eyes now and knows that it wasn’t the city alone that spoiled the people with wild night lives, but the people themselves did.”.

The quote above is an argument to a story titled Babyblon revisited written by F. Scott. Fitzgerald. Under that title, he was attempting to show the decline at that era too. And many of his works are having the same tone. When I compare this movie with many of Fitzgerlad works, it really was like that. In the story, it wasn’t the industry that alone spoiled people but also the people themselves. Much like Babylon, the narrative was built with dreams, hope but eventually falling apart due to the characters' problems. It showed that the excess they had made them forget about who they were. But the industry itself can't also be excluded from the conversation. One intriguing part was the case of Sydney Palmer who eventually escape the industry as he faced with racism. He let go of everything including the money, the house, and his new found wealth and circles. Eventually, going back to where he was, playing smaller gigs. If you are really familiar with Fitzgerald's work, this movie is an illustration of many things that he wrote. I remember getting the question and criticism from my lecture that Fitzgerald was a racist man and I was sort of forced to see him that way. But I refused to see him and his work in that light. Questions like “ why there’s no black character in his novels?”, “ why is he portraying a certain race in a negative light?” were frequent and I suppose this movie received similar criticism. But despite all those, much like I love Fitzgerald movies, I enjoy watching them. The dialogues in the movie were amazing, especially the conversation between Conrad and Elinor about the analogy of a cockroach and Conrad’s decline.

“You’re just a cockroach” Conrad said to Elinor
“Why do you think the cockroach survived? You thought the house needed you but doesn’t. It doesn’t need you anymore. The roaches know this crawl in the dark, laying low and making it through. See but you held the spotlight. And those who are in the dark just watched and survived”

That was the conversation that I transcribed from the movie. It’s not the complete sentence but it was something along those lines. However I also recognize that there are some narratives that are forced, for instance the relationship between Manny and Nelly which makes Manny a total simp.

I think that Manny could have gotten anything he wanted in life as he was the real hustler and was brilliant. Yet he fell into the girl with all the red flags and simply led him to his own decline. It was a bittersweet movie and in my defense, the forced narrative about Manny and Nelly relationship was a life itself, where sometimes you can’t have control over things and how it could be.