Kathryn Murrell believes that Baz Luhrmann's films are designed to tell a story through the pain and the power of loss. This is a belief holds great credibility as we can identify this as a common element in the red curtain trilogy as well as the Great Gatsby. Specifically in Romeo + Juliet and and The Moulin Rouge seen through the theme of one's lost relationship with a love interest. Each text has main characters whose idealistic views and carelessness are the ultimate cause of their own downfall. The American Dream has it’s very prevalent flaws exposed and challenged by the Great Gatsby. The primary flaw being that this dream is not a sustainable one and the blind following of it can cause people to lose touch with reality. Fitzgerald criticizes the American Dream as he shows how those who have supposedly achieved this dream are quickly consumed …show more content…
The Great Gatsby only achieved the height of it’s popularity after the roaring the 1920’s despite it then being a contemporary novel. This is because of the great wall street crash of 1929. People could only really examine themselves and their lust for a wealthy lavish lifestyle after they had lost any hope of achieving it. Luhrmann recognized what the power loss had on society. Which is why his adaptation of the the novel in a post 2008 wall street crash economy is so relevant today. Everyone can resonate with loss be it monetary or sentimental value, audiences who experienced 2008 are much like the audiences of the 1920’s because of the loss they both endured. Like Fitzgerald's work was extremely relevant after the crash so was Luhrmann's adaptation. It shows audiences how deluded society can become if we blindly follow the success of others and that is why the great gatsby as a novel and as a film are such heavy criticisms of the American