Movies Will Never Be As Good As The Book The Great Gatsby is one of the most recognized books of all time.”While The Great Gatsby was initially a commercial disappointment, the novel was later judged by some critics as Fitzgerald 's finest work.” (Fong). It symbolized the American Dream, and yet it was changed to make us viewers more involved in the movie. The movie lost many key elements of the book that made it great, and that’s why the movie won 't be remembered as a great film. At the start of the book Nick starts off by saying “In my younger and more vulnerable years…” (Fitzgerald 1). Nick talks about how he had advantages in his life compared to those who did not. Nick came from a poorer family and made himself seem straight laced by …show more content…
Nick leaves a party that Tom and his mistress Myrtle thew. He leaves the party with Mr. McKee. While in the elevator the operator asks McKee to stop touching the lever and he responds that he did not realize that he was touching it. This leads to Nick standing next to McKee’s bed in his underwear looking at pictures with McKee. “... I was standing beside his bed and he was sitting up between the sheets, clad in his underwear, with a great portfolio in his hands.” (Fitzgerald 38).This is an important scene in the book as it questions Nick’s sexual identity. This puts in question whether or not Nick is telling the story about Gatsby as a friend or something more. His affection toward Gatsby may put in question his and Gatsby’s friendship. Nick says “ Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction-Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn.” (Fitzgerald 2). His sexual preference complicates the story line because he praises Gatsby like he was a lover and not a …show more content…
The book makes Daisy more materialistic and being a shallow woman who does not deserve sympathy because she is a woman. Daisy instead of waiting for Gatsby to return, she married Tom. She is a selfish person because she lets Gatsby take the blame for killing Myrtle. Daisy is said to be an empty vessel by many who read the book. Daisy doesn 't seem to want to spend time with her daughter. She talks about how beautiful she is and then sends her away with the nanny. She doesn 't seem to have the attachment with her daughter that all mothers
After his time in the army during World War I, Nick Caraway refuses to return to the kind of boring life he thinks he would find back home. He consequently migrates East. As he moves near New York City, at the beginning of the novel, he says, “Life was beginning over again with the summer,” (4). This sentiment displays his general attitude toward his new life at West Egg. He considers it full of hope, and this positive feeling does not start to fade until his first interaction with Tom and Daisy Buchanan. After their dinner party he feels “confused and a little disgusted,” (20). He had just found out that Tom was having an affair, and that Daisy had a uniquely complacent attitude about it. He sensed a general falseness about the whole night that he found very unsettling. Soon after, Tom takes Nick to meet Myrtle, Tom’s his mistress. It is then Nick’s responsibility to keep the secret of Tom’s affair, making him complicit. Nick never even considers telling Daisy who Myrtle is, or trying to get Tom to stop his adultery. Later, Nick plays a very large role in starting an affair with Gatsby and Daisy. He allows them to use his house to meet, knowing that Gatsby loves Daisy, and she is a married woman. Nick doesn’t ju...
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,
Nick often does not speak of himself but when he has, he has referred to himself as “one of the few honest people that (he) has ever known,” (Fitzgerald 59) but seems to act the complete opposite of said characteristics. Nick starts of the novel by saying “In consequence I am inclined to reserve all judgments,” but all he seems to do is just that, labeling Jordan liar when he, himself, is also a liar. Nick also tells of how shallow his “friends” are but he himself is shallow as well. Nick cannot be relied upon to practice what he preaches and therefore cannot be relied upon to write the complete truth. Nick’s hypocritical nature demolishes his credibility as a person, and therefore as a narrator.
Among the first indicators of Nick’s unreliability as a narrator is shown through his extreme misunderstanding of his father’s advice. When Nick’s father told him that “Whenever you feel like criticizing any one, just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages you’ve had” (1) he most likely meant not all people have the same opportunities in life. However, Nick perverted his father’s meaning and understood it as “a sense of the fundamental decencies us parceled out unequally at birth” (2). Nick’s interpretation of his father’s advice provides insight into his conceited, somewhat supercilious attitude, as he believes that not all people are born with the same sense of manners and morality.
Although there was an astounding amount of impoverished people in New York during the nineteen twenties, there happened to be a petite community of affluent individuals living extremely lavish lifestyles. Wealthy residents of New York often are void of important values like honesty, sympathy, and compassion. Per contra, most people living in poverty live The advice that Nick’s father gives him affects his understanding of other individuals, judgement of his friends, and To begin with, Fitzgerald introduces the Great Gatsby with a quote from Nick’s father, Mr. Carraway: “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had” (Fitzgerald 1). This quote means that a wealthy man who grew up without having to assume responsibility may not have the same morals as a poor man who grew up working and providing daily for his family. Nick’s father is asking Nick to reserve his judgement of others because the individuals Nick meets as he grows up each were raised in substantially different circumstances and environments.
Through this character, Fitzgerald conveys a skeptical and logical, yet romantic and hopeful tone. This is shown by Nick’s cynical, but tender personality. “‘You can’t repeat the past.’ ‘Can’t repeat the past?’ he cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!’” (110; Ch. 6).This quote shows Nick’s logical look on life and how he believes these hopeless romantic ways of Gatsby’s will not always work . “You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.” (154; Ch. 8). Contrary to the previous quote, this quote shows Nicks admiration for Gatsby. This quote also may suggest that Nick wishes for something better; he longs for a love like Gatsby’s.This possible romantic side of Nick is also shown by his relationship with Jordan, “.... I put my arm around Jordan’s golden shoulder and drew her toward me and asked her to dinner.”(79;Ch. 4). Nick’s assessment and criticism toward Jordan, Tom, and Daisy also show his skeptical and logical outlook on others around him.This tone shows Nick’s struggle between being like the emotionless and careless people around him (like Tom) or to be his own hopeful and romantic man (following
At the beginning of the book Nick sees Gatsby as a mysterious shady man. In the beginning of the chapter Nick somewhat resents Gatsby. In Nick’s opinion Gatsby was the representation of “…everything for which I have unaffected scorn.” (Fitzgerald 2). Nick sees Gatsby as what he hates the most in life, rich folk. Since the start of the novel it was obvious that had “Disapproved of him from beginning to end.” (Fitzgerald 154). As time passes, Nick realizes his neighbor has quite a mysterious past. Some think he’s a bootlegger, and a different person wa...
To begin with, after the party from the city returns to Tom’s home, Jordan invites him inside, but he responds, “‘No, thanks…’ I’d be damned if I’s go in; I’d had enough of all of them for one day, and suddenly that included Jordan too” (142). By refusing to enter Tom’s house, he symbolically declines the acceptance of the upper class; something he, Gatsby, and Myrtle all avidly desired and worked towards up to this point. Rather than value those material characteristics that had appealed to him before, he chooses his moral principles instead. His relationship with Jordan perfectly symbolizes his primary choice . Later on, after Gatsby’s death, Nick “found himself on Gatsby’s side, and alone…it grew upon me that I was responsible [for Gatsby’s funeral], because… [Gatsby deserved] that intense personal interest to which every one has some vague right at the end” (164). Once again, Nick favors his personal beliefs over following societal expectations. He stands by the mysterious figure of Gatsby, who possessed “an extraordinary gift for hope”(2) that Nick admired, while everyone else keeps a safe distance and watches, as onlookers in a zoo does to the animals. By admitting his part in the events that took place, primarily Gatsby’s downfall, Nick shows he is not the same careless person as Tom and Daisy who leave their mistakes for others to fix . Whether Nick’s belief that everyone should have a living person stand by h im/her after death is a universal truth or not, he follows his heart rather than the crowd. Finally, before he leaves to the Midwest, Nick “wanted to leave things in order and not just trust that obliging and indifferent sea to sweep my refuse away” (177). Particularly, Nick wanted to end his relationship with Jordan, supporting his original belief that a person should only have one
One of the aspects I enjoyed about Fitzgerald’s novel is that Nick is a very intriguing character to discover. He has a rich back-story. He was a mid-western man who graduated from Yale. Later, he served in the army during the First World War, and this caused him to be restless, which led him to discover the bond business. He earned some money
In my opinion, The Great Gatsby is a masterpiece. Trully brilliant, this book shows aspects of class, sorrow and love. During the reading, I noticed the highlights class issues exceptionally well, showing the strange way Fitzderald made them evolve and the way opinions are formed of the rich and poor. I adore this novel for its pure and sheer excellence in portraying the cogs of an uncertain society.
In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays a world filled with rich societal happenings and love affairs. His main character, Gatsby, is flamboyant, pompous, and only cares about impressing the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan. Nick is Fitzgerald's narrator for the story, and is a curious choice as a narrator because he is of a different class and almost a different world than Gatsby and most of the other characters in the book. Nick relates the plot to the reader as a member of Gatsby's circle, yet he expresses repeatedly his dislike for the man. Nick cannot relate to Gatsby because of their fundamental personality differences. Moreover, he disapproves of Gatsby's desire to impress Daisy at all costs. However, Nick continues to follow Gatsby because by doing so he can ensure his relationship with Jordan, a celebrity socialite, and because, in a perverse way, Nick can use Gatsby to bolster his own self-esteem.
“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.
Nick is our narrator and the voice of reason in a time and place where parties are the goals and having a good time is all that matters. Parties at Gatsby’s mansion are the rule not the exception and all who attend pay homage to their false prophet Gatsby. He is their leader the charming man living in a mansion and driving and awesome care. Too bad he has no sense of real worth. Yet nick seems to be loyal to him the whole time “They're a rotten crowd, “I shouted across the lawn. “You're worth the whole damn bunch put together.”I’ve always been glad I said that. It was the only compliment I ever gave him, because I disapproved of him from beginning to end. First he nodded politely, and then his face broke into that radiant and understanding smile, as if we’d been in ecstatic cahoots on that fact all the time” (Pg 162). Nick appears on the sidelines more than in the mix with all the drinkers and boasters and unfaithful spouses. “I forgot to ask you something,...
At the end of the book, it is revealed that all of Tom, Daisy, and Nick are extremely careless. Nick’s carelessness detriments his reliability as a narrator. Because of Nick’s deep and familiar connection with Gatsby, Gatsby is “the exception” and Nick cannot be a reliable narrator towards him. Nick really admires and appreciates Gatsby as a friend, although it seems that Gatsby may not feel nth same way ads Nick. Gatsby may have befriended Nick solely because of his connection with Daisy. Nicks obsession with Gatsby and Gatsby’s obsession with
The story The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott and directed by Baz Lurhmann, is a story narrated in the first person by the character Nick Carraway , about a man called Jay Gatsby , and his love/obsession for a girl called Daisy Fay Buchanan , who is married to a man called Tom Buchanan . In this story, the director uses film techniques like characterization, setting, cinematography, soundtrack, and visual elements to portray particular ideas and themes in the story - but these techniques are over-the-top, inefficient, and sometimes completely unnecessary. Some of the themes of The Great Gatsby that will be discussed here are wealth, hope, and infatuation.