The Great Gatsby Book Vs Movie Essay

The debate over which version of the movie The Great Gatsby does justice to the book has long been dominated by critics and journalists, both professional and unprofessional, in the literary world. The 2013 Baz Luhrmann version, although newer and flashier than Jack Clayton’s 1974 version, is lacking the depth that the older version brings to the story. Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, tells through narrator Nick Carraway’s eyes the story of Gatsby, a rich man of immense hope who pines over Daisy Buchanan, his long lost love from before the war. Daisy married Tom Buchanan while Gatsby was a soldier because Gatsby was too poor for a socialite such as herself. The story follows Daisy and Gatsby’s brief and tragic reunion in the summer of

The major characters in the novel had significant impact on the mood of the movie and the way it was perceived by the audience. Gatsby, for example, was best portrayed by Robert Redford, who brought subtle intense emotion to the character. In Redford’s portrayal of Gatsby, we see how deeply he loved and missed Daisy Buchanan, even after the passage of 5 years, and, tragically, even after she decided to stay with Tom. The scene in which Daisy realizes she cannot leave Tom for Gatsby shows Redford’s depth as an actor, as he depicts a fractious yet controlled Gatsby, waiting in tense anticipation for the love of his life to tell her husband that she is leaving him- waiting for a moment that never comes. Leonardo DiCaprio, although brilliant in movies such as Titanic and The Wolf Of Wall Street, lacked the depth needed to play a character as mysterious and complex as Gatsby. Part of the blame, however, lies with the directors of the 2013 edition of The Great Gatsby, who allowed the audience to see Gatsby’s face long before we are introduced to him in the movie. The mystery of who Gatsby was pervaded more clearly through the beginning of the older version of the