The Great Gatsby

Personal response to my favourite film this summer.

Although I do not go to the cinema often, this summer I did go and watch a film I had been really looking forward to, The Great Gatsby. The reason I wanted to see this film so much was mainly due to the fact I adore the 20’s culture, style and music. I also loved the book, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

          The story primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his passion for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess, creating a portrait of the Jazz Age that has been described as a cautionary tale regarding the American Dream.

          The film also attracted me as I liked a lot of the actors and actresses cast in the film, especially Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan and feel they portrayed their characters very well.

          The story is based on Nick Carraway, a Yale University graduate and World War I veteran who is staying in a sanatorium to treat his alcoholism. He talks about a man named Gatsby, describing him as the most hopeful man he had ever met. When he struggles to articulate his thoughts, his doctor, Walter Perkins, suggests writing it down, since writing is Nick's true passion. He talks of meeting ‘The Great Gatsby’ and of how he formed an unlikely friendship with his billionaire neighbour, attending all of his extravagant parties and learning of the mysterious man.

          Through all the partying and glamour, Nick learns that Gatsby also has a darker side, and a broken heart, which has more to do with Nick than he may have thought.

          To me, the way this film is visually presented was very good and gave me an exceptional picture of what this story may actually have looked like.

          Although there have been several film and opera adaptations of the book, this version appealed to me most and it was a lot more modernised than others, attracting a younger audience, as well as keeping the traditional 1920’s style and image, which is what fascinated me in the first place.

          On paper The Great Gatsby also did very well, making over $331 million worldwide, with an overall budget of $105 million. This was also director Baz Luhrmann’s highest grossing movie, although he was criticised by certain critics saying ‘Luhrmann is exactly the wrong person to adapt such a delicately rendered story’.

          The film did receive mixed reviews, mainly for not being an ‘accurate’ adaptation of the novel and being too ‘modernised’.

          However I feel that although some of the films criticisms may have truth in them, this adaptation of the film may appeal to a wider, younger and different audience.

          I really enjoyed this film and do not regret paying to watch. I would definitely watch it again, mainly for the style, culture, music and lifestyle portrayed in this movie.