Analysis Of Baz Luhrman's Unfortunate Distortion Of The Great Gatsby

1237 Words3 Pages

Baz Luhrman 's unfortunate distortion of “The Great Gatsby” The Great Gatsby is one of the most iconic novels in American literature. Its characters, themes and perspectives have been encapsulated in the heart of millions of people across the world. With this being said, creating a secondary interpretation to this masterpiece is no easy task. As Baz Luhrmann ventures into the inexorable task of visualizing this masterpiece there are several instances where his own thoughts and interpretations have clouded the essence of Fitzgerald’s classic.The film version of the novel “The Great Gatsby” distorts the actions and events surrounding the three main characters of the novel Gatsby,Daisy and Nick in an effort to make the film more entertaining …show more content…

Nick tells story from perspective of being based in a mental asylum where he is admitted for morbid alcoholism whereas. The novel however is based on Nick returning home in the summer in a perfectly controlled and balanced state. This distortion results in many of the events in the novel being severely disillusioned as Nick is the voice of the novel and hence Baz Luhrman 's. The biggest example of this disillusionment can be the way that Gatsby dies in the film vs the novel. In the novel, Wilson comes to his own conclusion as to who could have killed Gatsby whereas in the film this is severely distorted by making Tom villian. “Tom Buchanan becomes a super villain by the end of the film, painting a murderous image into Wilson’s head and convincing him to do the bad deed.Making Tom into an overt bad guy is convenient to the plot, but changing Tom from an unlikable guy into a ruthless villain seems lazy and too cheap of a behavior for the character. “(Cinema

Show More
Related

  • The Emerfection Of Being Human In The Great Gatsby

    1141 Words  | 3 Pages

    His duplicity continues, as he meets Tom’s mistress, and later arranges Daisy and Gatsby’s meeting, even going as far as to say “don’t bring Tom” (85). These are clear deceptions and violations of trust, which both reveal that Nick is not the honest and forthright man he wants the reader to believe he is; on the contrary, in many ways he is the opposite of honest and forthright. However, Nick’s most clearly professed lie is in protection of Daisy, when Tom insists that Gatsby had killed Myrtle, and Nick remains silent, forgoing telling Tom about the “one unutterable fact,” - that it had not been Gatsby who was driving the car when it had hit Myrtle, but Daisy - in favor of protecting Daisy (178). Once again, Nick mischaracterizes his traits and even fails to recognize his deceptions and violations of trust as being dishonest, failing to evaluate his own traits. By highlighting Nick’s opinions of and interactions with life amongst the rich, F. Scott Fitzgerald crafts Nick into a complex character whose contrasting thoughts and actions create a many leveled, multifaceted character who shows the reader that one’s appraisal of one’s own traits can often be incorrect.

    Read More

  • What Are The Similarities Between The Great Gatsby Book And Movie

    853 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Living Dead in Great Gatsby, In Our Time and The Sun Also Rises

    1227 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the tale of The Great Gatsby the reader is treated to a vivid description of Gatsby's parties and his prolific residence.  It would appear that Gatsby had everything a person could want.  Loads of money and friends and surrounded by the finer things of life.  However, the book takes a turn towards its e...

    Read More

  • Film Analysis: The Great Gatsby

    1638 Words  | 4 Pages

    It is a daunting challenge to adapt an iconic novel into a film. The artistic team behind the process must find a way to stay true to the original, while simultaneously creating a new and creative viewing experience. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby is arguably the greatest American novel of the 20th century. There are numerous film adaptations of the novel, each attempting to translate Fitzgerald’s beautiful poetic prose into cinematic gold. To some, the novel itself lacks a memorable plot, and is exclusively thought of as a novel studied in high school. The readers may not be able to recall the exact story line, but the colourful and descriptive writing is unforgettable. How can a filmmaker translate Fitzgerald’s intangible prose into a meaningful film? How can the filmmaker show this beauty through visuals rather than telling with words? The following paragraphs of this paper will answer these questions, while focussing on adapting The Great Gatsby into a melodrama. This is done by emphasizing the romance and minimizing Nick as the narrator and lead. Furthermore, with the use of camera angles,

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Analysis

    763 Words  | 2 Pages

    Even though he had some thought that the meeting would provoke harmful tensions between Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby, he went along with it anyways, further demonstrating his own innate lack of reservation. Ultimately, Nick is an unreliable narrator who overlooks Gatsby’s lies because of his biased judgment of him. Nick portrays Gatsby as a generous and charismatic figure while in reality, he is a duplicative and obsessed man entangled in illegal business who is determined on an unattainable goal. It is highly ironic that Nick judges others for their lack of morality and honesty; his own character is plagued by lies as he abets Gatsby in many of his schemes.

    Read More

  • The Traits of Jay Gatsby

    1167 Words  | 3 Pages

    When looking at Jay Gatsby, one sees many different personalities and ideals. There is the gracious host, the ruthless bootlegger, the hopeless romantic, and beneath it all, there is James Gatz of North Dakota. The many faces of Gatsby make a reader question whether they truly know Gatsby as a person. Many people question what exactly made Jay Gatsby so “great.” These different personas, when viewed separately, are quite unremarkable in their own ways.

    Read More

  • Compare and Contrast The Great Gatsby

    1328 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Gatsby is one of the most known novel and movie in the United States. Fitzgerald is the creator of the novel The Great Gatsby; many want to recreate his vision in their own works. Being in a rewrite of the novel or transforming literature in cinema. Luhrmann is the most current director that tried to transform this novel into cinema. However, this is something many directors have tried to do but have not succeeded. Luhrmann has made a good triumph creating this movie. Both Fitzgerald’s and Luhrmann’s approach to The Great Gatsby either by using diction, symbolism, transitions from one scene to another, and color symbolism usage in both the text and the movies; illustrate how Daisy and Gatsby still have an attraction for one another, and how they might want to rekindle their love.

    Read More

  • Narrative Viewpoint in the Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald

    2661 Words  | 6 Pages

    Indeed one of the unique features of this novel is the mystery surrounding it’s main character ‘Gatsby-the man who gives his name to this book’ This sense of inscrutability which is omnipresent with Gatsby is cleverly achieved through the narrative techniques which Fitzgerald employs. The most obvious, and also most effective of which is the narration from Nick’s perspective. Throughout this novel it is Nick’s views of Gatsby which we read, not Fitzgerald’s and not anyone else’s. Only Nick’s. And even Nick seems to be some what in the dark as to Gatsby’s character, he often switches tact throughout the novel on his impression of Gatsby. This seems to insinuate that he has been ponderous over Gatsby for some time. The reader gains the impression that Nick has made calculating decisions throughout the novel, in terms of what he allows us to know about Gatsby. He is after all writing in retrospect. The very fact that Nick still has an ambiguous attitude towards Gatsby even after his death, endorses the readers opinion of Gatsby as a character who can not be categorised. He is uniqu...

    Read More

  • 1920's in The Great Gatsby

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    Written during and regarding the 1920s, ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald is both a representation of this distinctive social and historical context, and a construction of the composer’s experience of this era. Beliefs and practises of the present also play a crucial role in shaping the text, in particular changing the way in which literary techniques are interpreted. The present-day responder is powerfully influenced by their personal experiences, some of which essentially strengthen Fitzgerald’s themes, while others compete, establishing contemporary interpretations of the novel.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Essay: The Great Gatsby is Not So Great

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is an absurd story, whether considered as romance, melodrama, or plain record of New York high life.  The occasional insights into character stand out as very green oases on an arid desert of waste paper.  Throughout the first half of the book the author shadows his leading character in mystery, but when in the latter part he unfolds his life story it is difficult to find the brains, the cleverness, and the glamour that one might expect of a main character.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Indirect Characterization In The Great Gatsby

    719 Words  | 2 Pages

    Though the story is told from Nick’s point of view, the reader gets many perspectives of Gatsby from different characters. One can see from characters like Jordan Baker -Nick’s girlfriend through the majority of the novel, or Tom- the husband of Nick’s cousin Daisy; that Gatsby is not as good as everyone where to think. Based on how these characters act and feel about Mr. Gatsby it is evident that they dislike him to some extent, showing a bit more of a flawed human side of him. Tom is quoted saying “I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn't far wrong.” about Gatsby depicting Tom’s harsh feelings towards him and showing the reader Tom’s negative feelings about Gatsby. Because the story is told from Nick’s point of view, Gatsby is still painted as this mysterious man because Nick is a bit curious of him and does not know Gatsby in the beginning. ‘"They're a rotten crowd," I shouted across the lawn. "You're worth the whole damn bunch put together."’ Nick says to Gatsby, showing that he thinks he is worth more than Daisy, Tom, or the other characters. With this quote one can infer that Nick holds Gatsby on a bit of a high platform than the other characters, giving the reader Nick’s indirect characterization of

    Read More

  • Narratology in The Great Gatsby

    1298 Words  | 3 Pages

    F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby demonstrates what Marie-Laure Ryan, H. Porter Abbott and David Herman state about what narratology should be. These theorists emphasize the importance of conflict, human experience, gaps and consciousness, among many other elements, in order for a story to be considered a narrative. The Great Gatsby shows these elements throughout the book in an essential way. This makes the reader become intrigued and desperate to know what will happen next. The Great Gatsby is unpredictable throughout the use of gaps, consciousness and conflict.

    Read More

  • Why I Despise The Great Gatsby

    1701 Words  | 4 Pages

    Does The Great Gatsby merit the praise that it has received for many decades? “Why I despise The Great Gatsby” is an essay by Kathryn Schulz at New York Magazine in which Schulz states that she has read it five times without obtaining any pleasure from it. Long viewed as Fitzgerald’s masterpiece and placed at or near the uppermost section of the English literary list, The Great Gatsby has been used as a teaching source in high schools and universities across the United States. The novel is narrated by Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner who moved to Long Island, next door to an elegant mansion owned by a mysterious and affluent Jay Gatsby. The story follows Gatsby and Nick’s unusual friendship and Gatsby’s pursuit of a married woman named Daisy.

    Read More

  • Film Analysis: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    1469 Words  | 3 Pages

    “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.

    Read More

  • The Complex Themes Hidden in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    1703 Words  | 4 Pages

    Although after reading “The great Gatsby” one may get a feeling of hopelessness, it one of those novels that leaves you inspired even long after reading it. It’s a masterpiece not only because of the thrillingly brilliant plot or memorable characters but also because of the life lessons that it teacher to the reader. It is not just a typical ...

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Baz Luhrman's Unfortunate Distortion Of The Great Gatsby

Open Document