Did The Great Gatsby Movie Adaptation Stay True to the Original Version?
Baz Luhrmann’s movies are known for their unorthodox visuals and creatively inserted music into the scene. Recently, he received some negative responses from his movie adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. His movie adaptation was considered unfaithful to the original text or story, despite using most of the same text and action. The Great Gatsby movie adaptation by Baz Luhrmann didn’t capture the essence of the original novel. By attempting to modernize the novel, he didn’t let the characters to connect emotionally with the audience.
The movie didn’t quite touch the viewers as well as the original novel did, it only skimmed through the scenes and focused more on the “party” section that was mentioned in the novel. Luhrmann’s movie adaptation modified the original text in a distinct way, especially through the hyperbolic representation of Jay Gatsby’s parties and the choice of modern soundtrack.
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Although some of the plots in the novel were used in the movie adaptation, but there were a lot that was altered as well. The Great Gatsby story starts off with the narrator, Nick Carraway, who moved from the Midwest to New York to learn about the bond business. He lives on the island of West Egg, which across from East Egg, where his cousin Daisy and her husband, Tom Buchanan live. Nick is neighbors with a mysterious man named Jay Gatsby, who is the main protagonist of the novel and the movie. Gatsby is predominantly known for throwing extravagant parties every weekend at his mansion in West Egg. He is suspected to be a bootlegger and does illegal activities as how he earns money. The story continues as Gatsby goes to extreme measures to try and get Daisy Buchannan back into his life. As Gatsby continues the obsessive pursuit of Daisy, he ended up being tragically killed and died a lonely
F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, “The Great Gatsby”, and Baz Luhrmann’s film, “The Great Gatsby”, both have similarities and contrasts between the two of them. The Great Gatsby is a novel and film taken place in the 1920s filled with wild parties, mysterious people, The American Dream, and most of all, love. There are several things that can be compared between the novel and film; such as the characters and the setting. There are also contrasts between the two as well; which is mainly involving the character Nick.
“The Great Gatsby” was a extremely sophisticated novel; it expressed love, money, and social class. The novel is told by Nick Carraway, Gatsby’s neighbor. Nick had just moved to West Egg, Longs Island to pursue his dream as a bond salesman. Nick goes across the bay to visit his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom Buchanan in East Egg. Nick goes home later that day where he saw Gatsby standing on his dock with his arms out reaching toward the green light. Tom invites Nick to go with him to visit his mistress Mrs. Myrtle Wilson, a mid class woman from New York. When Nick returned from his adventure of meeting Myrtle he chooses to turn his attention to his mysterious neighbor, Gatsby. Gatsby is a very wealthy man that host weekly parties for the
Novels are very unique things to read. They contain so much detail and information it’s almost hard to comprehend. Sometimes these unique novels are translated into movies and while most movies disappoint the reader by not capturing the complete essence of the novel, I felt that The Great Gatsby did not disappoint. Sure, there are some differences between the two but not enough to make the movie a complete disappointment. In this essay, I will begin by comparing the two together, the two being the novel and movie, then I will gradually move in the contrast of this essay.
"The Great Gatsby" is a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald centered on a man 's life in the 1920 's. Although the narrator, Nick Carraway, is a character in the novel, his story revolves around a mysterious man named Jay Gatsby. Gatsby befriends Nick Carraway, in order to reconnect with his former love, Daisy, who happens to be Nick 's cousin. Gatsby is mysterious for the reason that he throws large parties at his elegant mansion and is never seen at the
The Great Gatsby is a book that was written in 1923 by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It has been a critical and financial success since it was released and is on many of must-read lists. Several movies based on the novel have been released over the years but none of them come close to the popularity of one released in 2013. According to one source, The Great Gatsby is a thinly veiled version of Fitzgerald’s own life. He wrote books as a way to make money and gain fame so that the woman he loved would marry him. He threw extravagant parties to impress her just as Gatsby did to impress Daisy. His version of the story, however, ended on a much happier note than his book. As with any various form of adaptation, there are several differences between the
Is the book always better than the movie? While many may disagree, in these circumstances, yes, yes it is. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is an “elegiacal romantic novel” that takes place in the roaring twenties, where spirits run high and life is an illusion of wealth (Canby). The 1974 Hollywood film version of The Great Gatsby fails to depict this complex elegance and superficiality of the twenties. While it is difficult to include every detail of the novel in the movie, it is important to depict the overall tone and message of the story. Devoted readers look forward to film adaptations of their favorite novels, but The Great Gatsby film fell short of their high expectations.
The Great Gatsby is a book about Jay Gatsby’s quest for Daisy Buchanan. During the book, Jay tries numerous times at his best to grasp his dream of being with Daisy. The narrator of the book Nick Carraway finds himself in a pool of corruption and material wealth. Near the end, Nick finally realizes that what he is involved in isn’t the lifestyle that he thought it was previously, and he tries to correct his mistake.
The Great Gatsby, Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, was first published in 1925. It is a tale of love, loss, and betrayal set in New York in the mid 1920’s. It follows Nick Carraway, the narrator, who moves to Long Island where he spends time with his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and meets his mysterious neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Nick can be viewed as the voice of reason in this novel. He is a static character that readers can rely on to tell the truth, as he sees it. But not only the readers rely on him. Daisy, Gatsby, Tom, and Jordan all confide in him and trust that he will do the right thing. Nick Carraway is the backbone of the book and its main characters.
The movie created by David Merrick as well as the novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, both entitled The Great Gatsby, ate truly two fine pieces of art. The movie version shows the viewer what is happening in the story without internal comments from the narrator and the viewer can understand exactly what is happening without any intellectual thought involved. The novel, however, challenges the reader to look deep inside the writing in order to grasp the true effect of the novel and what kind of meaning is being portrayed. The novel also challenges the reader’s creativity and imagination. It lets the reader explore the character’s personalities in their own special way and the reader can relate these personalities to real life. The novel also allows the reader more freedom that the move, in the way that it lets the reader shape their own opinions of the different characters. As a person watches the movie version, all the characters are laid out for them and every detail of the character is seen, yet in the novel the character is described fully and it is up to the reader’s imagination to picture what the character looks like as well as the emotions conveyed by this character in the novel. The novel version of The Great Gatsby is a definite piece of art and clearly challenges the reader both intellectually and imaginatively to understand the words that describe the character accurately. Therefore the novel
Although there was glamour in the party scene, it was highly impersonal. The characters in the movie seemed as if they were trying to hard to mimic the ones in the book. The characters in the movie didn't really bring their characters personalities to life. Though there is an exception to this, Leonardo DiCaprio did portray Jay Gatsby properly. The only problem with his character in the movie was that when he died no one shows respect come to the funeral, but in the book, his fathers comes and gives Nick some insight to the real James Gatz. The book was thoroughly quoted, but in times the quotes were cut and replaced with other translations of the actual line. That removed a lot of depth from certain quotes and
“The Great Gatsby “, film adaptation directed by Baz Luhrmann in 2013 is almost as great as the novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925. The Great Gatsby is a literary classic which is set in the 1920’s in the fictional town of West Egg. The tale is based on Nick Carraway, who is a Midwestern war veteran in the summer of 1922, who finds himself obsessed with the past lifestyle of his mysterious, fabulously and wealthy neighbour Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. This film adaptation compared to the novel is a very interesting one. It is also easily understood and keeps the viewers’ attention right through the movie. In this movie the sceneries, in most instances, are very similar to the description stated in the novel. The actors and actresses in this film are well cast in most cases. The costuming was well designed and suited the description of the time period given which was in the 1920s. A very important aspect that must not be ignored is the narration in the film which adds to the effectiveness of the movie.
In conclusion the Great Gatsby 2013 film adaptation is a piece of work that will be remembered for its stunning visuals not a gripping storyline. However this forgettable story is somewhat salvaged by the characterization of Jay Gatsby who shines through as someone to watch the movie just to see. The movie is quite split when it comes to the historical accuracy. Topics like Fashion and modes of transportation are not accurately represented while topics like race relations and the setting of New York City in the roaring 20s are excellently and accurately portrayed. In my opinion this movie with its masterful visual direction and the deep character Gatsby is a movie worth seeing. Who knows you could have a totally different opinion.
Movies can enhance the experience of a story, but they aren’t always completely accurate to the book. The movie, The Great Gatsby, by Baz Luhrmann, is a good representation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel; however, there are quite a few differences between the two. Some differences include; the portrayal of the characters, the importance of symbolism, and events that were either added or taken out of the movie.
For example, Leonardo Dicaprio’s character of Gatsby was focused on emotions. I enjoyed that Redford was very calm and cool about everything and the way he approached the character but, Dicaprio made such an open and outgoing character which made the movie more entertaining. DiCaprio captured Gatsby’s intensity and charm and brought out the crazy mood swings and took his character and the audience to a more emotional place. Both Robert Redford and Leonardo DiCaprio had their own way of approaching the character and really selling Gatsby but Leonardo DiCaprios was better. Another reason I prefer the 2013 version of the 74’ is because of the bond and friendship Nick Carraway played by Tobey Maguire and Gatsby had MaGuire was able to bring a true and strong meaning to their friendship that made his and Gatsby’s bond feel organic and real and you were able to see that clearly unlike with Waterston where you just saw the friendship and didn’t feel any emotion. But I felt much more of a connection with his character than I did with the ’74 version. If you have read the book and seen the original film, then you understood where Nick was coming from in the scene where he was furious with Gatsby, after he believe he killed Myrtle only to find out that Gatsby wasn’t the one driving the car that killed Mrytle, MaGuire, did a fantastic job in showing his emotions and how what happened to Myrtle and the person that killed Myrtle affected him. I loved that Nick was a lot more real in this movie. He didn’t hold back and he gave the audience a reaction that anyone in life would have had if they were in his situation. Nick had the major issue of being dragged into situations because of people he knows. I thought Maguire did a great job of showing ...
A seemingly easy read, The Great Gatsby has won over critics around the world, and rightfully so, has become one of today's greatest classics due to its complex literary content. The narrator of the novel, Nick Carraway, grew up in the Midwestern United States and went to school at Yale University. Returning home after traveling a great deal, he is discontent and decides to move to the East in 1922, renting a house in Long Island's West Egg section. Jay Gatsby is a wealthy neighbor living next door in a lavish mansion where he holds many extravagant weekend parties. His name is mentioned while Nick is visiting a relative, Daisy. As it turns out, Jay Gatsby had met Daisy five years before while in the military. Meanwhile Gatsby spent all of his effort after the war to buy his mansion through shady business dealings in order to be nearer to Daisy in the hope that she would leave her rich husband, Tom, for him. Daisy is impressed by Gatsby's wealth and the two begin spending much time together, raising the suspicions of Tom who had also has his own affair with a gas station owner's wife, Myrtle Wilson.