ESCUELA MUNICIPAL DE BELLAS ARTES

INT. ANGEL O. PEDRAZZOLI.

SUBJECT: E.C.O - TEACHER: TREGNAGHI, GISELA.

STUDENTS NAME: GISELA GATTI

PRCATICAL WORK: COMPARATIVE ESSAY. THE

GREAT GATSBY BOOK AND MOVIE.

DATE: 24/10/2016
 A well-made final product.

The Great Gatsby novel, written in 1925 by F. Scott Fitzgerald, has been a gorgeous literary
masterpiece that accurately reflected the superficiality and glittering of the roaring twenties
decade. Some years after its appearance, many film makers inspired in the novel have
recreated the story in movie formats. The most recent film made, which was directed by Baz
Luhrmann, has maintained the heart and soul of the literary work. However, slight
modifications have been made to the original story for the sake of entertainment.

First of all, the frame given to the narrator of the story in the movie differs from the one in
the book. Whereas in the novel, the narrator Nick Carraway starts speaking directly to the
readers, in the movie something different happens. The director situates the narrator in a
psychiatrists office. Due to he is recovering from morbid alcoholism, the professional
suggests him to start writing his thoughts and memories as part of the treatment. That is how
the narrator introduces the story in the movie. Why does the director use this frame?
Evidently, Luhrmann thought in a more dramatic context to initiate the film so as to hook the
audience from the beginning. He is an experienced film maker who perfectly knows that the
movie success depends on how engaged the viewers are.

A second modification the director has made in the movie has to do with the romance between
Nick and Jordan. The original source gives evidence of Nick having an intimate relationship
with Jordan Baker, a well-known golfer girl from Louisville. Fitzgerald writes, I put my
arm around Jordans golden shoulder and her towards me and ask her to dinner. In the movie
the relationship between Nick and Jordan is cut out. Even more, one of the scenes shows
Jordan during a party with a male companion. Cleverly, the director decides to remove this
side love story so as not to make the audience to lose the focus of the central romance between
the main characters Gatsby and Daisy. Luhrmann knows that it is necessary to give the
viewers a clear development of the most important events in the movie for the people to get
a better understanding at the end of it.

Finally, a third change made by the director relates to a setting created during a lunch
meeting. While in the book it is described that Gatsby and Nick lunch in, a well-fanned 42nd
street cellar, in the movie a different setting is shown. Gatsby and Nick enter into a
barbershop which has a hidden entrance to a speakeasy which was a characteristic place in
the US during the 1920s where people could buy alcohol illegally. There, the characters meet
many corrupt men, even the police commissioner is portrayed drinking, doing businesses,
and having fun. In just one scene, by making use of the characters behaviour and the place
representation, the director can accurately represent the state of contradiction present in those
years. He shows how the corruption an illegal business naturally coexist with the prohibition
laws implemented during those years.

All in all, Luhrmann in The Great Gatsby movie, fruitfully accomplished his goals. He has
known how to create a commercial product, ready to entertain from the beginning up to the
end without distorting the original Fitzgeralds story. The subtle changes he has implemented
definitely make the story more watchable and easy-followed. Still, the central events of the
novel remain in the movie which means the director has done a successful adaptation.

Sources:

Fitzgerald, Scott F. (1993). The Great Gatsby. Herthfordshire, England. Wordsworth

Editions Limited.
Luhrmann, Baz. (Director and producer). (2013).The Great Gatsby (Motion Picture).
Village Roadshow Pictures studio.