The Great Gatsby Comparison

Literature has been made into films for decades now, ever since the invention of movie technology in the 1900’s. There are many challenges when it comes to taking a piece of literature and transforming the ideas the author conveyed of the characters into a motion picture. In 2013, Baz Luhrmann directed the film The Great Gatsby originally written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925. Directing a movie almost 90 years after the author published the story brings upon many challenges, including capturing the same spark of the original characters, setting, and plot in a completely different time period, and because of this there are many differences and similarities between the characterizations of Gatsby, Nick, and Daisy when comparing the book and

the film.
To begin, there are many similarities and differences between Jay Gatsby in the novel by F.

Scott Fitzgerald and the movie directed by Baz Luhrmann. Fitzgerald and Luhrmann both depicted Gatsby as being a mysterious, wealthy man that everyone knows of but knows nothing about, and is rumored greatly. For example, when Nick goes to his first party of Gatsby’s he hears of outlandish rumors pertaining Gatsby like “.. he was a German spy during the war” and “[I will] bet he killed a man once” (Fitzgerald 48), and this same mystery surrounding Jay Gatsby was well depicted in the movie. Though there are also many differences between the characterization of Jay Gatsby when comparing the novel to the movie. Fitzgerald’s scene at the hotel on the hot day and Luhrmann's scene completely characterize Gatsby in different ways. Fitzgerald let the readers know that Gatsby was getting mad when Tom was criticizing his past and his affairs in the drug business by Nick describing that “[he looked like he had killed a man]” (Fitzgerald 142). Luhrmann took a different approach at this, and had Gatsby lash out at Tom, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, making a fist, and screaming in his face “shut up” (The Great Gatsby). These two very different scenes characterize Gatsby in two contrasting ways, someone that can hold in his anger, and someone that violently takes it out, which was not an element of Gatsby we ever saw in the novel. To conclude, there are many similarities and differences between Jay Gatsby’s character in the movie and

book.
As well as Gatsby, there are similarities and differences between Nick Carraway when comparing the book to the movie. In the novel, Nick claims that he is “... inclined to reserve all judgement” (Fitzgerald 5), but we soon realize that Nick does not reserve all judgement. This is shown when Nick judges Jordan Baker as being dishonest “She was incurably dishonest [and] she [was not] able to endure being at a disadvantage” (Fitzgerald 63). Luhrmann added in this element throughout the storyline and characterization of Nick in the film, and he does not reserve his judgement, equivalent to his character in the story. As well as similarities, there are many differences between the novel and film as well. The movie starts off with Nick in a sanitarium, discussing Gatsby with a clinician, as he is now morbidly alcoholic (The Great Gatsby). This element of Nick was never included in Fitzgerald's novel, Nick even states “I have been drunk just twice in my life” (Fitzgerald 33). Luhrmann adding in this element of Nick's character completely changes the audience's view upon Nick, and it is no longer the well put together view the readers have about Nick when reading the book. Another element not even touched upon in Fitzgerald’s novel, was the task of Nick writing The Great Gatsby in the film. In the movie while Nick was in the sanitarium talking to his clinician about Gatsby, he expresses that he no longer wants to talk about his issues, so his clinician puts forth the idea of him writing out his feelings and thoughts (The Great Gatsby). The movie is ended by Nick placing the typed up writing of his thoughts, and scratching out the original title, replacing it with The Great Gatsby (The Great Gatsby), all while the book ends with Nick saying “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald 189). This was a very stylistic touch completed by Luhrmann that completely altered the storyline, and did not correlate back to the novel at all. To conclude, there are similarities and differences when comparing the characterization of Nick Carraway in the book and the film.
As well as there being similarities and differences between the characterization of Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway in the book compared to the film, there are also similarities and differences when comparing Daisy Buchanan's character. In both the book and the 2013 movie, Daisy Buchanan is caught up with materialistic belongings. This is shown by the scene in the book where Gatsby shows Daisy his room and his shirts and she starts sobbing saying “[They are] such beautiful shirts, it makes me sad because [I have] never seen such-such beautiful shirts before” (Fitzgerald 98), and this scene in the movie has little to no differences at all. As well as similarities, there are also differences that stand out between the book and the film about the characterization of Daisy Buchanan. In the novel, Fitzgerald characterizes her as being the typical rich woman putting on a show to the public about her life, and Gatsby even says “ her voice is full of money” (Fitzgerald 127). Fitzgerald does not want us to feel any sympathy for her when she commits her heartless acts like not coming to Gatsby’s funeral. Though in the movie, Luhrmann characterizes Daisy as almost being a damsel-in-distress, not having a voice that rings with money that completely characterizes Daisy in the novel, completely changing the audience's view of her character. To summarize, there are similarities and differences in the characterization compared to the book and film of Daisy Buchanan.
In summation, Baz Luhrmann was faced with many challenges directing The Great Gatsby like keeping the same characterization and spark of the characters author F. Scott Fitzgerald made so apparent in his writing, and because of this when comparing the book to the film there are many similarities and differences. Being faced with these challenges caused Luhrmann to have to make very stylistic and executive decisions upon changing the audience's view of the characters. For example Luhrmann decided to have Nick Carraway inside a sanitarium after Gatsby's death being a former alcoholic, and was the one to have written the book itself, which are not elements of Nick’s character we see in the novel. As a result of the similarities and differences between the film directed by Baz Luhrmann and the novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it can be concluded that the novel is more effective than the film because the novel completely characterizes Gatsby, Nick, and Daisy to be the 1920’s characters they are supposed to portray.