The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby My assignment was to compare the novel The Great Gatsby to the movies which were made in 1974 and 2000.While the basic idea of the book was expressed in both movies, I choose a version of 1974 because it seemed to have more noticeable details than the version which was realized in 2000. In my opinion the 2000 version didn’t do a better job in expressing the ideas of the book. The 1974 version did an excellent job in portraying the Jazz Age. The scenes of Gatsby’s party seemed almost real. The parties included the Charleston, dancing, drinking, and many other things that were common in the 1920’s. In the 1974 version of The Great Gatsby Tom appeared to old. Tom was also supposed to be a hulking man, but was barely bigger than Nick. This took away from the movie because a bigger Tom would seem to have more control over Daisy. It would also add to the feeling that Daisy is afraid of what Tom’s abuse and would explain why she is so passive around him. Mia Farrow, who played Daisy, did not have the right voice for this role. After reading the book, I thought that Daisy would have a nice, soft, loud voice that could get your attention and hold onto it. Daisy appeared to be very attracted to Nick, her cousin. In the majority of scenes that she saw him, she made him kiss her and asked him if he loved her. I never got the impression that Daisy was attracted to Nick this much from the book. I also noticed that Daisy did not pay as much attention to her daughter as she did in the book. Also in the book, Myrtle was supposed to be ugly, overweight, dirty, and the exact opposite of Daisy. In the movie, Myrtle is dressed in white, skinny, and not ugly. By doing this they took away from the viewer the opportunity to realize that Tom was interested in a woman that was the exact opposite of Daisy. The scene that surprised me the most was when Myrtle punched through the window when Tom, Jordan, and