The Great Gatsby And A Little Party Never Killed Nobody

Released in 2013, Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book The Great Gatsby raised a great deal of controversy over his music choice. The music choice may surprise many people who watch the movie, The Great Gatsby, but Luhrmann used modern songs to accurately convey the themes represented in the 1920s. Luhrmann’s song choice does two things. One it helps the younger generation visualize the Roaring Twenties clearly. Another is it made the movie seem more enjoyable to the present generation. Moreover, songs like “$100 Bill” by Jay-Z and “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody” by Fergie meticulously characterize the themes and morals of the 1920s.

For one thing, it helps captivate today’s younger generation with music that they listen

to and like. With songs they like by people they know, they think about the song more. They just do not shut it out because they do not like it. This is the 21st century teens and young adults do not want to pay money to go see a movie that has a lot of 1920s jazz and pop in it. Secondly, the box office would lose a whole lot of ticket sales just because the music is “dreadful” by today’s standards. Also, the songs were picked and/or wrote to go along with the themes of the 1920s, which fittingly do not seem too different to today’s standards. Since the songs fit the attitudes and atmosphere of the 1920s so well, this music choice can only add to the themes of the 1920s.
The two songs I want to focus on the most are “$100 Bill” by Jay-Z and “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody” by Fergie.

“$100 Bill” kicks off when in the movie when Gatsby tells Nick about his “little business on the side” (82). Jay-Z goes on to say “Stock Markets just Crash” and “History don’t repeat itself, it rhymes, 1929.” Jay-Z is referring to Mark Twain’s quote that history does not repeat, it rhymes. He uses this logic to connect the recent recession to the stock market crash of 1929. Furthermore, he raps the line, “Jay Gatsby, I park things Yellow cars, yellow gold” he is saying he is Gatsby. Jay-Z is saying he is as powerful and prominent as Jay Gatsby is. Also the line, “Move coke through Maryland,” hints at Jay-Z affiliations in drug trafficking and relates to Gatsby’s own illegal operation, bootlegging. “$100 Bill” lines up with Gatsby’s own life, it is a perfect modern example of his

life.
Next, Fergie’s “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody” also relates to the themes of the twenties.

It is an upbeat, lively song; you hear it and want to dance. This is the atmosphere of the Roaring Twenties; everybody was partying and having a good time. Conveniently, it is also the atmosphere of Gatsby’s parties. Fergie keeps singing, “A little part never killed nobody, so we gon’ dance until we drop,” which is more or less the motto of the people attending Gatsby’s parties. They did not care about morals, they threw them out the window. All they cared about was partying and getting so drunk they passed out. They just wanted to have a good time and didn’t care about the consequences. The twenties were all about partying, getting liquor at speakeasies, and having a good time. Nobody was worried about what could happen, they were just worried about themselves. “They were careless people…they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made”(Fitzgerald

179).
Even though Baz Luhrmann went against the grain, the outcome was extraordinary. He blended a classic novel from the twenties with new, modern, music. He knew what it would take to make it work and work it did. The modern music represents how the morals were looser and everyone wanted to have fun it the Roaring Twenties.