Film Adaptation Of 'The Great Gatsby'

Originally starting off as a book in the 1920’s and now having multiple film adaptations, The Great Gatsby is nowadays familiar as both a classic novel by F.Scott.Fitzgerald and a somewhat recent movie directed by Baz Luhrmann. Yet despite the success of both, they have more than a handful of differences, with over a seventy plus year gap between the making of the two. Key distinctions include things like the setting and scene development, but the most easily identifiable contrast, lies within the characters themselves. Luhrmann’s interpretation and creation of the characters differs from Fitzgerald’s original story in more ways than one, especially with significant roles such as Jordan Baker, Nick Carraway, and Tom Buchanan, among several

Yes, the movie is written from the memories Nick has from the time, but the picture that is painted does not hint at Nick’s flaws as much as the book does. Nick also loses a good chunk of his narration and while it is still found in the movie, it is the dialogue between characters that drives the story. An important difference to note about Nick is from when and where he is narrating the Great Gatsby. While in the book it is a few years after the incidents but provides no other specific detail, the movie says otherwise. In the film, Nick is seen at the beginning at a psychiatric clinic for rehabilitation due to him being “morbidly alcoholic”. This is different than what we see in the novel as Nick was never known to be a drinker and wasn’t mentioned as one even at the end of the novel. In the film’s case, this may shows the significance of the events and the extension to which they affected Nick. Even in the movie, Nick doesn’t seem to have as much control as he did in the novel. The party is depicted as much more wild with Nick ending up at home in his boxers the next day. On top of that Nick appears to be more awkward in the film and is pushed around by people like Tom and surprisingly even a little by Catherine. He gives less of a strong impression causing the

Tom in this case was extremely convenient to set up as the villain of the story since the conversation with George was preceded shortly after the dispute with Gatsby. This does change the cause of Gatsby’s death as beforehand it was part of Gatsby’s own undoing with his ambitions and dreams but in the movie, it is explicitly Tom who is at fault. But with Tom’s already ill-mannered ways, it was bound to be him. In reality Gatsby was more a schemer than Tom is but because the audience is watching in hopes that Daisy and Gatsby might be together, Gatsby is seen as just a hopeful romantic. In the end, Luhrmann decided to make this change for its simplicity and the fact that it resonates well with how most stories are told where the is good and