The Great Gatsby: Film and Novel Comparison Essay Sample

The Adaptation of The Great Gatsby (2013 directed by Baz Luhrmann) displays the difference between the wealthy and working class through the self-indulgent image of the rich. Comparatively the book (Named the Great Gatsby as well) that it is adapting explores the reality of “The American Dream” through the degeneracy of the 1920s lifestyle of the wealthy. Both texts portray the deceitful nature of past American society, but they differ in several key elements. Some of these include the Billboard/Eyes of Tj. Eckleburg and The Narration of Nick Carraway. All these components have the use/meaning in both the book and the film. Although the way the composers express the components is where the main difference is.

The eyes of TJ. Eckleburg is a key component in the novel as well as the film. It represents the figure of God staring down judging American Society as a Moral Wasteland. There are a few differences of this component when you compare the book to the film. In the novel the Billboard of TJ. Eckleburg is subtly mentioned “Over the Ash heaps the giant eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg kept their vigil”. Where in the movie the message of T.J. Eckleburg shoves itself into the face of the viewer. This can be seen when Myrtle gets hit by Daisy Driving Gatsby’s car and she gets sent flying into the air just so the director can put a close shot of the billboard. This demonstrates the difference in style between the two texts. The Film is nothing like a mystery while the Novel wants you to try and figure things out. The Owl eyed man is a direct reference to the billboard in the novel. His character represents the “True American Dream” by doing things that he knows are morally right unlike Gatsby who tries obtaining money-oriented products to impress/attract Daisy. At one of Gatsby’s parties, when Owl Eyes was first introduced in the novel, he was found in the library appreciating Gatsby’s array of books. “A stout, middle-aged man, with enormous owl-eyed spectacles, was sitting somewhat drunk on the edge of a great table, staring with unsteady concentration at the shelves of books.” He cherished knowledge more than money. A legitimate American Dream. Owl Eyes is a symbol of the perseverance of the undefiled American Dream, the real one, not the false and materialistic ideal one Gatsby so desperately desires. Owl Eyes is nevertheless the “True American Dream”. Owl Eyes is mostly cut from the film. He still appears in the library but not at Gatsby’s funeral. This reveals the main difference between the film and the book. Both the book and the film do cover the Reality of the American dream, but the novel really emphasises it more. While the film doesn’t emphasis the reality of the American dream as much it brings the text into a modern context by showing the difference between the wealthy and the working class through the self-indulgent image of the rich. This resonates more with a modern audience then if the film tried to present a story mostly around the American Dream.

The narrative voice of Nick Carraway is crucial component as it exposes the dissipation and questionable morality of the wealthy classes in 1920s American society in both the novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ and the film. Both texts focus on the arrival of the mysterious character, Jay Gatsby, who throws lush parties and gains “new money” in a contentious way. Nicks proclaims, “I am inclined to reserve all judgements”, which is a contrast to what he stated later which was that he “disproved of him (Gatsby) from beginning to end.” This exposes his moral high ground. The tension in the novel heightens due to Nick’s complex character and unpredictable narration and his difference of justification and disposition is exemplified when he says, “I was within and without simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.” Both Fitzgerald and Luhrmann use Nicks narration to make righteous comments on the fraudulent nature of 1920s America. Nick in the film is seen writing the story. The film cuts to him at points with a close shot of him typing it out. With his typed words underlying his narration becoming the foreground for his character. This juxtaposes his background character in the novel. At Myrtle and Tom’s Apartment in New York a montage of increasingly drunken behaviour ensures, even with nick saying he has “never been drunk above twice in his life”. The director makes sure that Nick’s Narration is of up most importance but curtails when making a moral decision on his own character. Comparatively Fitzgerald does this in the last chapter when Nick proclaims to Jordan that he is “five years too old to lie to myself and call it honour”. Luhrmann’s Decision to make Nick foregrounded and righteously neutral undermines the complex voice of Nick in the novel.

The Eyes of T.J Eckleburg and the narrative voice of Nick Carraway are key components of both the film and novel of the Great Gatsby. They both express the deceitful nature of past American society even if in different contexts. The film may not be as mysterious as the novel or as much about the American dream and more about the difference between the working and wealthy class. But they were both made to question your own morality in their own respective ways.