Analyzing Baz Luhrmann's Film 'The Great Gatsby'

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous novel, The Great Gatsby, set in the glamorous age of the 20s, unfolds a story of the wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love and passion for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, where there are grand parties and conflicting drama that entails a deeper meaning and an intrinsic nature of the abstract. In Baz Luhrmann’s film of The Great Gatsby, he allows the audience to visually grasp these pieces in the story, consequently exemplifying its essence. Nevertheless, he still fails to meet elements from the book in his depiction. Baz Luhrmann’s film does capture the essence of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel and falls short in his portrayal. In Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 film, he portrays the essence of Fitzgerald’s novel in a number of ways. One considerable way Luhrmann captures the story’s essence is through the

Throughout this film, there was an overemphasis on the style and glamorization of Gatsby’s character. The movie excludes some scenes from the book, there is a brief mention of Gatsby’s business in illegal activities. With shots in the background of party guests drinking alcohol (Luhrmann). This makes it difficult for the watchers to distinguish the fact that Gatsby possess illegal alcohol because the scenes are so elaborate with bright colors, busy elements, and fast tempo music overlooking Gatsby as the imperfection of the American dream. In chapterer 7 Tom makes a confession about Gatsby, “I found out what your ‘drug-stores’ were. He and his Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts'' (Fitzgerald 133). As the story unfolds, Gatsby reveals a flawed character, he has sort of cheated his way up to the American dream. Baz Luhrmann falls short in his portrayal giving the audience a glamourized view of Gatsby rather than his form of the flawed American