Analysis of The Great Gatsby Movie and Book In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby to share his opinion of the American dream; similarly, Baz Luhrmann--along with his cast and crew--created their own adaptation of the book. Comparatively, the book is better than the movie. The movie lacks in the portrayal of certain characters, but exemplifies the settings, and themes of the original source material. The main pitfall in the movie’s translation of the book causes a couple characters to fall flat, such as Tom, Nick, and Gatsby. Tom is a “great, big, hulking physical specimen”--so much that “not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes can hide his muscles”-- as well as a “gruff husky tenor” voice that he uses to boast and command in Fitzgerald portrayal. …show more content…
Conversely, Joel Edgerton’s portrayal of Tom lacks the muscles and coldness of Fitzgerald’s Tom; in certain scenes, it appears that Gatsby is physically bigger than Tom, as well as Tom being friendly in the beginning with Nick. Edgerton does exemplify a trait undeveloped: his ability to control others. In the fight with Gatsby, Tom know just how to press Gatsby’s buttons as he provokes Gatsby enough that Gatsby attacks and screams at Tom to “Shut up”; following that, Tom was the one that convinced Willson to kill Gatsby for killing Myrtle. Continuously, Tobey Maguire portrayed Nick well with his small voice and timber, but Maguire did not provide the stronger emotional reactions of a someone that is sympathetic to others--such as the situation with Daisy’s child and Tom cheating; also, Maguire’s Nick was way too wild: He got drunk at the party--unlike Fitzgerald’s Nick who has “been drunk just twice in my life, and the second time was that afternoon” at Myrtle apartment in Chapter II--moveover, Nick was portrayed as an alcoholic--one so bad that he had to go to a doctor to
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.
Throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Tom's arrogant and domineering nature can be seen in nearly every interaction he has from the moment he is introduced to the last time he is seen by the story's narrator, Nick Caraway. Despite being a flat and static character, Tom is an oppressive, manipulative, and powerful force that plays an important role in The Great Gatsby.
The plot and the setting of book and movie are very similar. There was a lot of thins borrowed from the book, but there was a lot changed as well. The movie followed the plot of book very closely and portrayed the setting of the book very well. A lot of the dialogue was borrowed and spoken directly as it was in 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.
These characters live in the age of the “Hollow Men,” and are portrayed as empty and absent-minded people. In fact, Nick voices his grievances with this at the end of the story; after Nick meets Tom Buchanan a couple months following Gatsby’s death, he takes time to reflect, pondering, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness” (179). Shaking Tom’s hand, he states that he feels like he “were talking to a child” (179). Nick feels a personal disdain for the carelessness of the characters in the book. Gatsby, however, acts with real thoughtfulness, as he exhibits his authenticity multiple times in the novel. Reflecting on Gatsby’s life, Nick proclaims that Gatsby’s heart “was in a constant, turbulent riot” (99). He then tells that “the most grotesque and fantastic conceits haunted [Gatsby] in his bed at night” (99). These examples help validate that Gatsby, unlike the other characters, was genuine enough to feel passionate and convey emotion. While the readers dislike Tom and Daisy’s emptiness, they favor Gatsby’s compassionate and sincere personality, as they can relate to his
Tom ensures the reader that Mr. Gatsby isn’t actually all he is cut out to be. Gatsby may have money but he does not have the rights to prove that he is a good
“‘Gatsby?’ demanded Daisy. ‘What Gatsby?’”(11). F. Scott Fitzgerald created “The Great Gatsby” with great craft. The reader understands the story through Nick’s eyes. Nick encounters many parties, family gatherings, and a funeral. The scenes are so in depth that the reader feels as if they are reliving the events in Nick’s life. The reader can take out characteristics, thoughts of the society, and themes in each scene that emphasizes the the themes of the book as a whole. Tom’s Character and the way society thinks of Tom leads to the theme of once a cheater, always a cheater. Gatsby’s characteristics and the way society portrays him demonstrates the theme of gossip altering Gatsby’s true qualities.
There are several differences and similarities between the classic novel, The Great Gatsby, and the recent remake of the movie version. In fact, the movie version is close to identical to the book; it even uses exact quotes from the book in the movie. Overall, the most recent movie, with Leonardo DiCaprio is a great representation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s exemplary novel.
“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.
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.
Sitting in high school having to read classic books knowing that you hate to read, but you had to read. Yeah, that was me in high school. I hated to read in high school until I got this one English teacher my Junior year that I fell in love with. She made reading so much better than what I had dreaded all the years. Senior year comes around and at the end of it she introduced us to The Great Gatsby. At first, I didn’t think I would like it, but I fell in love with the book and movie at the end of it all. The Great Gatsby is really about a love affair between a husband and wife. The wife ends up running over the woman her husband was cheating on with. Gatsby at the end got shot because the man thought he had killed his wife. The Great Gatsby is very good in so many ways. The book turned movie has both similarities and differences throughout. But, most of all it shows the romantic side of everyone through the book and movie.
I: All throughout grade school and even high school, my teachers, parents, and even friends told me not to take the easy way out when it comes to books. Always read the book before the movie. I usually took the easy way out, watched the movie, and then skim the book. After doing this project I see what everyone was talking about. The book is much better than the movie, it gives you more of a sense of what is going on, a greater sense of when the story takes place, and it gives the characters more definition.
Romance, love, and destiny. Connections are formed like bridges built of various things; love, trust, money, fate. Some bridges are stronger than others and some bridges connect people who perhaps shouldn’t be connected. The movie “The Great Gatsby” better expresses the romantic relationships and connections between characters. Between Tom and Daisy, whose relationship may have more to do with survival than love, with Myrtle and Tom, the bridge between them connecting two souls searching for something more in life. And then there are bridges like the one between Jordan and Nick, filled with lies and a bridge not often travelled, and if you’re lucky you come across a bridge like Gatsby and Daisy's, which is made of love but filled with obstacles. These bridges play a key part in the story and the movie most definitely does a better job at expressing these connections between characters.
Many similarities and differences can be found in The Great Gatsby: both the movie and the novel. One of the major differences between the two works is the initial meeting between Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway.
The tale of the Jay Gatsby is not only written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the novel, The Great Gatsby, but also directed and produced into a movie by Baz Luhrmann. Although thematically similar and entertaining, Luhrmann’s adaptation can hardly compare to the intricate and enchanting words written by Fitzgerald. Many differences fall alongside the similarities when comparing the novel and the 2013 movie of, The Great Gatsby, including characteristics of the narrator, relationships and Gatsby’s death.