Gatsby? What Gatsby?

By: Emily

Graphic by Emily

 The Great Gatsby. Ever since literary great F. Scott Fitzgerald penned the masterpiece, it has become synonymous with the 1920's. The Great Gatsby tells the tale of a generation of rich socialites that engage in constant excessive and drunken merriment, never taking the repercussions for their actions. Our introspective and wallflower-like narrator, Nick Carroway, is a recent Yale graduate who lives next door to the enigma that is Jay Gatsby. Daisy Buchanan, Nick's naive and selfish cousin, is married to a colleague of Nick's named Tom. Before Daisy and Tom were married, Daisy and Gatsby were in love. Without giving too much away, let's just say things didn't work out, but Gatsby is back. The lavish parties Gatsby throws are not for his own enjoyment, but in the hopes of seeing Daisy and winning her heart once again. I would not be the first person to call the novel a masterpiece, but, even with its luxurious and exaggerated visuals, the recent film adaptation by Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann comes up less-than-stellar.

When I first heard about a "contemporary" adaptation of The Great Gatsby, I thought there was a chance that it could be very innovative and unique. The trailer made me very excited for this film. Unfortunately, like Gatsby's parties, the excess of show was to no avail. What we are left with is a watered down version of one of the greatest novels ever written, replacing story with kitschy visuals. The film came off looking purposefully amateur, with too much slow/fast motion and obvious use of green screen.

Indeed, the film definitely captured the vitality and excess of the times, with Daisy's breath-takingly gorgeous diamond encrusted gowns and the constant flow of sequins and glitter that rained from the ceiling of Gatsby's three story mansion. Leo gave another perfect performance capturing Gatsby's strengths and weaknesses at the same time that will probably once again go unnoticed by the Academy. Similarly, Carey Mulligan proves she can do no wrong, making you both love and hate Daisy. The relationship between these two was portrayed with a vulnerable sensitivity that I was not expecting from a Baz Luhrmann film.

While I appreciate Baz's visual style and dramatic acting choices, it just did not work for this film. For a story so set in the 1920's, there was almost nothing that would vaguely remind someone of these times due to Jay-Z's blasting and only slightly jazzy version of Beyonce's "Crazy in Love" as well as the contemporary pace of the film. If anything, it was as if the writers of the film thought a modern day audience would not get the material and made it more accessible to them. Now while I am fine with making something more accessible for more people, the writers (Luhrmann included) went so far as to change certain elements of the plot, which is not okay. The results would make Fitzgerald roll in his grave.

We all know that the book is always better than the movie, and this is just another prime example of that.