Sara Schepmann. Ms. Shea. American Literature. May 5Th,

The Great Gatsby is a novel which critically discusses the ideals of the American Dream and recapturing the past. In the film adaptation, producer Jack Clayton stays very closely to the plot and even quotes the novel verbatim but fails to capture the essence of the themes portrayed in the novel. The text did not translate well into film; some facts are distorted, the depiction of the characters are different, the general ambience of certain settings do not match, and the movie is weighted towards the beginning of the book, with half of the movie based closely on the first two chapters of the book.

There are many differences to be discovered between Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, written in 1925, and the movie directed by Baz Luhrmann in 2013. Clearly, as time drastically changed between the two, it is easy to assume that some aspects of the story have as well. Scott Fitzgerald and Baz Luhrmann both captured the essence of the world in the 1920’s in different ways. These differences can be seen throughout the characters and themes of the story.

“What is better, the book or movie?” a commonly asked question by many individuals who are curious to know one’s opinion on a novel or film he/she is interested in. The book is usually always better than the movie because the book is more detailed, one gets to know the characters better, and it allows one to be more creative and have his/her own interpretation on what is occurring. In this case, The Great Gatsby is a remarkable 1925 novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which was made into various movie adaptions in 1926, 1949, 1974, 2000 and 2013. Each version takes place in drastically different periods, so each type has its own take on the film, also depending on the director’s vision. This goes to show that the cinema has been trying periodically to recreate F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic, but the attempts of the movies have mostly failed. In particular, the 1974 film decreases its effectiveness in representing the message that Fitzgerald was attempting to demonstrate in the book, which contributes to the book being significantly better than the film for various reasons.

Despite Daisy being a dislikeable character, there are some instances in which the reader feels sympathetic towards her. A big factor is the affair that Tom has with Myrtle. Daisy knows that what her husband is doing, but she still stays with him for the fact that they have a daughter together and for financial support. When Nick first sees Daisy's daughter, she says, "I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool-that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." By this she means that if her daughter is in the same position she is in her marriage, she won't know of the affair that her husband might have. The reader feels bad for Daisy because she is not being treated the way a wife is supposed to be treated. That is why she is yearning for love, and Gatsby was there to give it to her. Another time is at the hotel suite scene. She doesn't know who to choose from-Tom or Gatsby. She's torn between two lovers, and both of them have their own reasons for loving her, and why she should choose them. Gatsby has a lot to offer her, and loves her for who she is. He succeeded in life just to be with her. Although Tom is having an affair, he questions her about their love, and that Gatsby cannot take his place.

Movie adaptations are widely produced in our modern cinematic world. Many book lovers criticize movie adaptations, proclaiming that it kills the spirit of the story, misses out on critical key themes, and eliminates the reader's and viewer’s imagination. The Great Gatsby movie, directed by Baz Luhrmann and released on May 1st, 2013, is a film adaptation of the book The Great Gatsby, written in 1922 by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The time lag between the movie and the book made some things unacceptable in our society. These changing societal proprietorship motivated Baz Luhrmann to alter the movie to be more suitable for current viewers. Consequently, there are many differences to be found between the book and the movie adaptation, which ultimately led to Luhrmann's movie being critiqued many times by the book’s fans, saying it was nothing like the actual book. Despite the fact that the movie adaptation of the Great Gatsby book follows the overall plot, it fails to show the racism, sexism, and abuse some of the characters withhold. The movie also fails to show the significance of the American dream, the condemnation of the lifestyle of the very rich, and it also annihilates reader’s imagination.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel about a rich socialite, Jay Gatsby, who tries to win back his love, Daisy Buchannan. Nick Caraway, Daisy’s cousin, is the narrator who brings the reader through the time of the roaring twenties to tell the story of Jay Gatsby. The 1974 film of The Great Gatsby, directed by Jack Clayton, follows the detailed storyline closely by mirroring it, but also adds and takes away some aspects of the story. There are many comparisons that can be made as well as contrasts through the actor, scenery, music, and script choices for the film.

Daisy is in love with money, ease, and material luxury, all things a rich Southern Belle grows up with.  After her marriage to Tom, she is whisked away to the east, the symbol of 'old money' and corruption of America.  Here she becomes more comfortable in she and her husband's abundant assets and allows the corruption of the east to take her over- she becomes reckless and even more materialistic.  She treats her own daughter as nothing more than an object to show off and treats Gatsby, the man who dedicated his life to seeking her out, as if he had never existed.  The combination of the Southern Belle stereotype along with that of the corrupt Rich Easterner creates the perfect portrait of Daisy Buchanan.

When Daisy is first introduced in the story and movie, she is dressed in all white symbolizing purity and innocence. She, Nick Caraway, Jordan Baker, and her husband Tom Buchanan sit down to have dinner. Her husband mistress calls time and time again. She finally gets up to say something to him but it solves nothing. She sits back down being fully aware of her husband infidelity and does nothing. I wondered why she didn’t do anything about it or leave him. The simple answer was the wealth. Even though Daisy loved Gatsby when she first married Tom, she is staying for the same reason she got married in the first place. She enjoys the lavish life and if she leaves she loses it all. This was typical of women in the 1920s though. Daisy character is questioned many times in this story. First she has a daughter that she barely mentions. Even in the movie the girl only appears once. In the story Daisy says when she woke after giving birth she immediately asks the nurse if she had a boy or girl and the nurse told her it was a girl. She then goes to say “I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope shell be a fool- that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world a beautiful fool.” (Fitzgerald 17) This suggest that she feel like women have no place in the world. This also reflects how Fitzgerald own personal reflection of women. In an article titled Feeling "Half Feminine": Modernism and the Politics of Emotion in The Great Gatsby, Frances Kerr wrote that “"In 1935 Fitzgerald told his secretary Laura Guthrie, "Women are so weak, really-emotionally unstable and their nerves, when strained, break.” (Kerr 406) I think that this is why he made Daisy, who is the main female character in the book, look at herself as having no place in this world and as a fool. The next time Daisy character is really questioned is at the end of the book when she hit Myrtle Wilson and let Gatsby take the blame for it. She didn’t know he was going to get

Daisy Buchanan is the most disappointing and confusing character in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald beautifully constructs Daisy’s character. At first sight, Daisy is an innocent and angel like young woman worthy of the admiration, love, and devotion of Jay Gatsby, but though out and in the end Daisy reveals her true colors as another unhappy, selfish, and shallow East Egg individual by choosing security over true love. And as Nick Carraway gets to know his cousin, Daisy, he realizes that her beauty and supposed cluelessness is a mask to hide the fact that she is leading an unhappy life with Tom Buchanan who isn't who she’s truly in love with. From the beginning, Daisy is portrayed as innocent and angel like being surrounded

Daisy, like her husband, is a girl of material and class at heart, and Gatsby being her escape from a hierarchist world. Daisy has just grown up knowing wealth, so in her greedy pursuit of happiness and the “American Dream” Myrtle Wilson died, Gatsby's heart and life were compromised, without claiming responsibility on her part. Daisy was “by far the most popular of all the young girls in Louisville...” (116) Jordan says, describing early affections between Daisy and Gatsby. She goes on to say, “...all day long the telephone rang in her house and excited young officers from Camp Taylor demanded the privilege of monopolizing her that night.” (116) . Daisy was a fancied girl who has Gatsby tied around her finger, Jordan explains that he was looking at Daisy “...in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at some time...” (117). Daisy, abusing Gatsby’s love for her uses it to create security and protection, greedily and selfishly allowing him to take the fault. While Daisy’s beautiful, alluring traits turn her into an innocent, naive flower, she plays the ultimate villain.

The Great Gatsby is, and always will be, one of the great American classics. I remember being "forced" to read it my Freshman year in High School and finding that I actually liked the short book but found it hard to find any relevance to my contemporary lifestyle. When the book was made into a film in 2013, I, like many other curious Scott Fitzgerald fans, rushed to the theatres to see first hand if the movie would do the book any justice. It did not take long for me to become disappointed with Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of the book.

Daisy Buchanan has a similar lifestyle to Tom, she’s wealthy ‘voice is full of money’ and always wore ‘white’ symbolising her purity and wealth. However as a woman of a higher class, there not much she can do in her ‘shallow life’, as she has the money but doesn’t know how to plan events ‘what do people plan?’. This shows that she is not content with her knowledge and understanding of life therefore even with money she isn’t ‘happy’. This leads her to ‘have an affair’ with an ex-lover whom she so adored before she married Tom ‘I did love him once – But I loved you too’. In the novel, Daisy only every seeks true love when she’s with Gatsby but ‘a rich girls don’t marry poor boys’, so due to this social difference between them, she knows the only place she will ever have security is with Tom. Tom describes their affair as a ‘presumptuous little flirtation’ because to Daisy, she knew she was never going to marry Gatsby but to Gatsby it was just never

In the book The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Daisy Buchanan is a perplexing character. She is charming and pretty, yet her personality is almost robotic. Daisy has no sincere emotions; she only knows social graces and self-preservation. A materialistic society makes Daisy a jaded person who lacks any real depth.

The 2013 drama/romance movie, The Great Gatsby, is the second movie adaption made based off the novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925. Co-written and directed by Baz Luhrmann, this film received both glory and criticism upon its release. The Great Gatsby is well known for its “Gatsby era” as well as the love encircled between money and power. Without the glitz and glam of this story in conjunction with the forever love Jay Gatsby, a millionaire known for his magnificent parties, holds for Daisy Buchanan, The Great Gatsby would not be as acclaimed of a story. Baz Luhrmann makes sure to emphasize these characteristics throughout the film through his use of symbolism, irony, and imagery.

Daisy Buchanan is a old money wealthy wife of Tom Buchanan, living a rich and successful life, but unhappy with her marriage. She was fully aware of Tom’s affair, and decided to have her own with her old lover, Mr. Gatsby. She’s known to be all about money, careless, indecisive, daunting, and beautiful. At the time where she met her true love, Gatsby, 5 years ago, she had ended her journey of many of guys coming into her life. She just wanted money and fame like the rest of the snobs. “Her voice is full of money.” he said suddenly”(pg.120) Even Daisy’s lover is aware that she only cares about money. Even as she tries to get away from Tom, she is forced back with him as she accidently kills Myrtle, with Gatsby, in Gatsby’s car. Daisy will never be happy with her marriage, and probably never happy with the life she lives, especially after murdering someone in involuntary manslaughter.