The Great Gatsby : Movie vs. Book
Essay for The Great Gatsby The plot and the setting of book and movie are very similar. There was a lot of thins borrowed from the book, but there was a lot changed as well. The movie followed the plot of book very closely and portrayed the setting of the book very well. A lot of the dialogue was borrowed and spoken directly as it was in the book.
The movie did an excellent job portraying the 1920’s and the parties that happened at Gatsby’s house. “There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like months among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars” (39). The scenes of the parties at Gatsby’s house portrayed people dancing, music and drinking. It was a very accurate picture of that people would imagine party scenes to be in the book. The party scene of where Nick met Gatsby for the first time was drastically different in the movie than it was in the book. In the book, Nick and Gatsby were talking about the war and Nick did not know that he was talking to Gatsby. “This is an unusual party for me. I haven’t even seen the host. .. For a moment he looked at me as if he failed to understand. ‘I’m Gatsby’, he said suddenly” (47-48). In the movie, Gatsby summoned Nick up to his study and they had a very awkward conversation.
The movie changed the time that had passed between Daisy’s and Gatsby’s meeting. Only five years had passed in the book and the movie states that eight years had passed after the last time that Gatsby saw Daisy. It seems strange that producers would change it from five to eight because the longer time just makes Gatsby look crazier than he already is. The eight year difference also changed the age of the characters, making them older than they are in the book.
The character of Daisy in the movie came off differently than she did in the book. Mia Farrow, who played Daisy, did not have the right demeanor to play Daisy and her portrayal of Daisy
The movie did an excellent job portraying the 1920’s and the parties that happened at Gatsby’s house. “There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like months among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars” (39). The scenes of the parties at Gatsby’s house portrayed people dancing, music and drinking. It was a very accurate picture of that people would imagine party scenes to be in the book. The party scene of where Nick met Gatsby for the first time was drastically different in the movie than it was in the book. In the book, Nick and Gatsby were talking about the war and Nick did not know that he was talking to Gatsby. “This is an unusual party for me. I haven’t even seen the host. .. For a moment he looked at me as if he failed to understand. ‘I’m Gatsby’, he said suddenly” (47-48). In the movie, Gatsby summoned Nick up to his study and they had a very awkward conversation.
The movie changed the time that had passed between Daisy’s and Gatsby’s meeting. Only five years had passed in the book and the movie states that eight years had passed after the last time that Gatsby saw Daisy. It seems strange that producers would change it from five to eight because the longer time just makes Gatsby look crazier than he already is. The eight year difference also changed the age of the characters, making them older than they are in the book.
The character of Daisy in the movie came off differently than she did in the book. Mia Farrow, who played Daisy, did not have the right demeanor to play Daisy and her portrayal of Daisy
Bibliography: Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. 180.