Great Gatsby is a worldwide-known masterpiece. Jack Clayton decided to visualize this book through a greatly shot movie. In my opinion, the film does depict the atmosphere created by Scott Fitzgerald. All the luxurious decorations transfer the viewer to those perfect Roaring Twenties. At the same time, I found a couple of misunderstandings concerning the plot. They do not worsen the whole impression of the movie, although I wish the director had mentioned them. Moreover, there are some details that do not coincide with the book at all.
I would like to start with the description of Gatsby himself. The book tells us about a calm and romantic individual, whereas in the film, he is depicted as a loud and boastful millionaire. Talking about Daisy, I would say that the actress played her role very well. The viewer gets the right perception of a gentle lady with great manners. In my opinion, Myrtle's character is not perfectly depicted in the film.
As a viewer, I have got a perception of Myrtle as of a well-mannered lady, although Fitzgerald did not want this. In his book, this character is portrayed with lesser number of good features. When I am the reader, I do not sympathize her at all, which was the goal of the writer. At the same time, being the viewer of the film, I see an elegant woman, who evokes both good and bad emotions. To my mind, the actress should have been less mannered and ruder in her behavior.
The viewer gets a wrong perception of Tom as well. Fitzgerald described him as a man with strong complexion. It is an important feature. By describing Tom like this, Fitzgerald wanted to show his power over Daisy. At the same time, in the film, we see him as an ordinary individual with nothing as described as in the book. Probably, it happened due to the cast producers’ mistake.
There are also a couple of scenes that are completely left out in the movie. For example, the scene of Myrtle`s death was powerfully described by Fitzgerald, although the director decided not to include it in the movie. As a viewer, I do not get any information about the early years of Gatsby and his life experience, whereas this information was greatly described by the writer.
Moreover, the book tells us about a car accident initiated by Daisy. Scott Fitzgerald described with the smallest details how Daisy bumped into Myrtle with her car. This moment is very powerful and does make you feel worried even when you are just a reader. In my opinion, leaving out this scene was a great director`s mistake.
There is a time-frame moment that was changed in the movie as well. The film tells us that 8 years have passed since Gatsby and Daisy saw each other for the last time. Yet, in the book, Fitzgerald tells us, that the pause between their last meeting lasted for 5 years. Maybe it was done by the director just to emphasize the duration of their parting.
In conclusion, the film is well-shot, the scenes of the parties in Gatsby`s mansion are impressive. However, it seems to me that by adding skipped moments from the book, the movie would turn out to be even better!
Author: Marshall Vasquez