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The Great Gatsby and Propaganda at the British Library

The week's cultural highlights, including Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan, and a new exhibition on propaganda at the British Library.

Baz Luhrmann's long-awaited The Great Gatsby with Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan hits the 3D screens promising a great party. F Scott Fitzgerald's book has had a troubled history in film... will Luhrmann be the one to make it work?

Propaganda: Power and Persuasion at the British Library is a major and thought-provoking new exhibition that brings together wartime material alongside public health messages, banknotes and social media. Does it make a convincing argument about the definition of propaganda?

Up the Women (大象传媒4) and Psychobitches (Sky Arts) are two new comedy shows highlighting women performers and writers; both star Rebecca Front. The number of women featuring in comedy has been the subject of scrutiny in recent years. How funny are these series?

The Round House by Louise Erdrich was the winner of the US National Book Award 2012. It's the story of Joe who lives on a North Dakota reservation. His mother is brutally raped and the book considers the aftermath of that attack, highlighting the difficulties of prosecuting the perpetrator as tribal and federal law fail to bring him to justice.

And Ibsen's play Public Enemy - more usually translated as An Enemy of the People - arrives at the Young Vic in a heavily cut, updated version with a striking set and performances. Does its story of an individual and the masses work for our times?

The novelist Louise Doughty and writers Ekow Eshun and Hadley Freeman join Tom Sutcliffe to review.

Producer: Sarah Johnson.

Available now

45 minutes

Chapters

  • The Great Gatsby

    Duration: 08:27

  • An Enemy of the People at the Young Vic

    Duration: 08:24

  • The Round House by Louise Erdrich

    Duration: 07:36

  • Propaganda: Power and Persuasion at the British Library

    Duration: 06:30

  • Up the Women (大象传媒4) and Psychobitches (Sky Arts)

    Duration: 09:10

Public Enemy

continues at the Young Vic, London, until 8 June 2013.

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is in cinemas nationwide, certificate 12A.

The Round House

The Round house by Louise Erdrich is published by Constable.

Propaganda: Power and Persuasion

continues at the British Library until 17 September 2013.

Up the Women

Up the Women begins on 大象传媒4 on Thursday May 30th at 8.30pm .听

Psychobitches

Psychobitches begins on Sky Arts on Thursday May 30th 听at 9.00pm.

Credit

Role Contributor
Producer Fiona Couper

Broadcast

  • Sat 18 May 2013 19:15

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