The great gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
The great Gatsby. A novel published in the year 1925, has fascinated many people and is still one of the greatest American novels written. The story of J. Gatsby and his love Daisy Buchanan has changed the structure of a love story. And now in 2013 they made a second movie of the almost 90 year old story. Starring actors like Leonardo Dicaprio and Carrey Mulligan. But there are a lot of questions that can be asked about this movie, but also going to be answered, such as...
...How did the movie depict the lifestyle of the 1920s versus how did the book depict the lifestyle of the 1920s?
As you can see in the picture above, the lifestyle shown is careless parties every week. It shows that the people are self centered and never care about anybody else, nor the future. Their only goal in life is to have fun. The Buchanan's even talk about their daughter as an it, which shows that they do not really care about her.
Did the book or the movie create more believable characters?
It definitely visualizes the relations between the characters very well, but I would not say that it shows the relations between the characters better. Some parts are even changed. I feel like the movie was missing out a lot of the relationship between Nick and Jordan, since they only had about 2 scenes together where they were actually talking.
How were the book and movie similar?
Well. Obviously they had the same story. But there are a lot of things that you only really notice in the movie if you've read the book. For examples a lot of quotes were in the movie. But they seemed kind of meaningless, because in movies it just sounds like a little sentence by the way, while they have a much bigger purpose in the book. A lot of the mood making things were in the movie. but here I would say they were better portrayed in the movie, because in the book you get explanations to it, while the explanation comes with itself in the movie. They eyes looking on the valley of ashes are one example.
How were they different?
It is always the same. People are mad at the movies which originated from books, because they are missing parts. But it is pretty hard to make a movie with as much content as the book, because there is a limited amount of time. so yes there were parts missing, like a lot of the relationship between Jordan and Nick on my opinion. Also chunks of the parties were missing, but it would make the movie almost two hours longer than it is now.
What was your favorite part of the book?
My favorite part of the book was the last chapter. I'm not a very talented reader, which is why I don't pick up stuff very easily. So in this last chapter, where they summarized the previous parts again, I finally began to go over it again. It gave me a new perspective and some time to overthink the whole story. It might not be the best chapter by itself, but it works really well with the rest.
What was your favorite part of the movie?
i really enjoyed the part where Tom and Gatsby are arguing in New York. To me it showed a lot of tension between all the characters. it is also kind of the climax and again sums up the story pretty well. But what I really enjoy about this scene is the acting. I feel like every character is different in this scene and has different points of view, which is greatly shown by the acting. Especially the part were Gatsby gets mad.
What was your least favorite part of the book?
I did not really enjoy the part of the book where Tom and Nick are going to New York to see Tom's mistress Myrtle. Why? Because it was confusing. Too many new characters and none of them but Myrtle were necessary. I just did not really realize what was going on. Especially, because Tom brought the cousin of his wife to his mistress, which I thought couldn't be possible, so it took me a while to figure it out.
What was your least favorite part of the movie?
I have to be honest. The movie was pretty good, but to me the beginning just sucked. It did not have any content and was very meaningless to me. But Especially the party. I felt like it was some movie where they are just going to show how great life is, and I feel like that took too much time of the movie.
Would you recommend the book to others? Why or why not? Would you recommend the movie to others? Why or why not?
It is a short book, with very philosophical aspects in it. I think it would be a great book to read during holidays, or while traveling, because it has a fantastic touch to it, that makes life seem great, but it makes you question things too. The movie is certainly a great addition to the book, but I don't feel like it is the same as the book. You should not expect a filmed version of the book, but more a different thing.
Did you enjoy studying Gatsby? Why or why not?
Gatsby was one of the better things to study. It was quick, not too hard, and overall pretty fun. The movies made it easier to understand, which I liked. So yeah. I enjoyed it.