Baz Luhrmann The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is widely recognized as one of the greatest novels in American literature. Its characters, themes and perspectives have been encapsulated in the heart of millions of people across the world. With this being said, creating a secondary interpretation to this masterpiece is no easy task. As Baz Luhrmann ventures into the inexorable task of visualizing this masterpiece there are several instances where his own thoughts and biases have clouded the essence of Fitzgerald’s classic. The film version of the novel “The Great Gatsby” distorts the actions and events surrounding the three main characters of the novel Gatsby, Daisy and Nick in an effort to make the film more entertaining and easier to understand. Although this histrionic

To further depict this assertion, let 's dissect Gatsby’s visit to the Buchanan household in the novel as compared to the film. In the film Gatsby visits Daisy’s house and there is no mention of her daughter whatsoever. However, in the novel Daisy brings her daughter out for a brief introduction and after her daughter tells her that she got dressed before lunch, Daisy responds by saying, “That’s because your mother wanted to show you off… you dream, you. You absolute little dream.”(Fitzgerald 106). Seconds after the nurse comes out and takes away Daisy’s child. Nick Caraway then says, “With a reluctant backward glance the well disciplined child held to her nurse’s hand and was pulled out the door,”(Fitzgerald 106). This event in the novel is critical in portraying Daisy’s inadequacy as a mother and her shallowness as an individual. Daisy treats her daughter like an object only to be brought out when it 's convenient to her liking. She parades her daughter to her guests and then sends her off showing her disregard for her child. Daisy’s life “revolves around Daisy” and her daughters significance is limited to promoting her mother’s self obsessed image.(Cliff 's Notes). Daisy 's daughter is crucial in symbolizing her inadequacy as a mother as well as furthering the notion that she is undeserving of Gatsby’s affection. Furthermore, her daughter is paramount in displaying the disregard that Daisy has for the emotions and feelings of others which evidently alludes to her

In Conclusion, The film “The Great Gatsby” symbolizes a distortion of the actions and events surrounding the three main characters of the novel; Daisy, Nick and Tom. Although Baz Luhrman 's dramatized approach to "The Great Gatsby” is more entertaining and hence more marketable it takes away from the originality of the novel and underscores the complexity of its characters and themes. It is this complexity that has made “The Great Gatsby” a masterpiece and the movie 's failure to properly depict these complexities is one of the reasons why I found Baz Luhrman 's interpretation disappointing. To the ordinary audience, the movie 's aesthetic grandeur may be enticing, however for a person who genuinely enjoyed Fitzgerald’s work the absence of abstract