Gatsby Stumbling

Baz Luhrmann took on a pretty extraordinary task in adapting one of the more classic American novels to film. I think he did a pretty bad job of it.

It was flashy, as one would expect from Luhrmann, and the flashy elements were done well, as one would expect from Luhrmann.

Unfortunately, The Great Gatsby is not a flashy story. It isn’t about the doomed love between Jay and Daisy. It isn’t about, as Tobey Maguire’s Nick Carraway spells out at the end of the movie, Gatsby’s persistent and striving optimism.

It’s a brilliant story about pathetic people.

That’s what Luhrmann’s Gatsby is missing. There’s too much color, too much flash and too much fun for the movie to be considered at all faithful to the book. Baz has taken Fitzgerald’s brilliant social criticism, his brilliant study of characters, and morphed Gatsby into a run of the mill blockbuster love story, which should have been expected.

Things were missing. The funeral was completely (and incorrectly) rewritten. Gatz’ father, who brings some sort of closure to the arc of his son, never appears. My favorite line[1], which I think encapsulates the themes of the story, the problems with Gatsby, was somehow cut, although the scene in which it was said and the character who said it remained.

Most concerning was how, despite Leonardo DiCaprio’s best efforts, Gatsby was portrayed as some kind of hero. Carraway’s narration is only ever glowing when it regards the man, again missing the complexity of Fitzgerald’s writing. If there’s any point that should come across in any retelling of The Great Gatsby it’s that the story’s namesake is a fraud chasing shallow wealth and glory, that his love for Daisy isn’t true, it’s just another bauble for his mantle, another fine shirt to hang in his closet.

While walking out of the theater, I considered that someone had failed to read the book before watching the movie. And that someone probably walked away satisfied, instead of shocked and furious as I was. And that someone would forever misunderstand the true brilliance of Fitzgerald’s Gatsby.

Lurhmann recreates the basic plot of Gatsby, he even spices it up a bit with 3D effects and bright colors, but he fails to tell the true story.

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[1] Owl-Eyes standing in Gatsby’s library exclaims that the books are “absolutely real – have pages and everything. I thought they’d be a nice durable cardboard. Matter of fact, they’re absolutely real.”