Great Gatsby Films Essay (First Draft)

The general consensus of books-turned-movies is they are unsatisfactory and lacking in what
made the book great. In most films that were based on books, many of the details are changed
or left out, usually because those specifics wouldn’t make sense in a film setting. The sets
appear either too simple or unbelievably extravagant, and the characters are, more often than
not, portrayed in ways the audience doesn’t enjoy. The Great Gatsby (2013) is, sadly, no
exception to this rule.

In the novel, Gatsby was portrayed as a fairly gentle and overall nervous man. He came across
as someone who was very wealthy but didn’t exactly understand what that meant. His money
was nothing more than a happenstance and he attempted to maintain some normalcy, while
also owning a giant home and employing a very large staff. Film-Jay-Gatsby was far more
forward, persistent, and open to a bit of gloating. He tended to push his opinions on others,
convinced that everyone around him believed the same. For example, Film-Gatsby kept pushing
Daisy to tell Tom that she never loved him, while Daisy was clearly opposed to saying that to
Tom.

While reading the book, everything felt smaller, hazier, and quieter. The characters and settings
appearing subdued. The film was wildly vibrant, not only in setting, but in characterization.
Everyone was a heightened version of the people described in the book. Daisy bolder- and
somehow more delicate. She was assertive, but remained demure. Gatsby’s unrelenting
presence increased, the only point of view he valued was his own. And Nick was more
prominent to the story than I originally suspected. Novel-Nick seemed to sit back and observe,
while Film-Nick was fully engaged in what was going on around him. Many of the sets seemed
to be exaggerated versions of the settings within the novel. The curtains in Daisy’s house, for
instance. While reading, “A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out
the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding cake of the ceiling,”
(Fitzgerald, pg. 10) the reader might envision a set of curtains. Displayed in the film was an
entire room filled with swirling curtains, surrounding Daisy and Jordan.

Henry C. Gatz, Jay Gatsby’s father, was nowhere to be found, his existence omitted from the
film entirely. I suppose this decision was made because of how differently Gatsby is portrayed in
the film, Film-Gatsby being a man who has no true connection to his family, or anyone for that
matter, and likes to keep it that way. It honestly doesn’t seem correct to bring his father into the
story, as it wouldn’t advance Gatsby’s storyline. In the book, the events following Gatsby’s death
are almost as crucial as the events before, but after Gatsby dies in the film, Nick’s story seems
to faze out. We don’t see a funeral, we don’t meet Jay’s dad, we don’t see Daisy or Tom ever
again. The novel made the reappearance of Tom as important as when he was first introduced.
We get a brief glimpse into what has become of him, and the fact that he hasn’t changed and
still stands by his decision is a vital insight into his character.
The film’s ending shows Nick finishing writing this story about Gatsby, titling it “The Great
Gatsby,” and having us believe he has now written this non-fiction account of Gatsby’s life. I find
this ending cheapens the story a bit, though I’m not sure why. The book felt like it was a story
being narrated by Nick in real time, as the events were taking place, and the film throwing all of
that out the window and telling us Nick has written this book while institutionalized is far too
much information to take in and enjoy. Countless books have been adapted into movies and
many of them are very successful. I think the most successful movies-based-on-books are
those that don’t stray too far from the original story, but even if they do, they stay within the
general tone of the narrative and mindset of the people in it.