Gatsby Book Comparison

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The Great Gatsby is an iconic book and an unforgettable piece of American literature. It has not only stood the test of time, but the numerous bad movie adaptations that followed in the wake of its success. Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 version of the novel, was no different to this. I do admit to the fact, that yes; it did have some interesting features and was definitely worth the watch. But it still stands that my inner book-worm can’t help but refuse to look past the simple and inevitable fact that you can live and breathe through a book. In a film, you’re nothing more than a fly on the wall. There were particular scenes in the movie that interested me more than others. Luhrmann’s technique of transferring each of the scenes onto the screen was done…show more content…
Whilst the book was more focused on the shock horror of the death. The movie reinforced and glorified the death of Myrtle as some beautiful tragedy, rather than painted it as the bloody tragedy it actually was. The film depicted the glass shards from the windshield Myrtle had just fatally crashed through, as stars in the sky that you should look up at with awe. There was passionate music ‘Love is blindness’ playing as her lifeless body crashed to the ground. Her death was romanticized. Plain and simple. Not only do you feel more emotionally attached to the characters in the book, but the death was painted as the horrific event that it actually was, and what it should be seen…show more content…
“Michaelis and this man reached her first, but when they had torn open her shirtwaist, still damp with perspiration, they saw that her left breast was swinging loose like a flap, and there was no need to listen for the heart beneath. The mouth was wide open and ripped at the corners, as though she had choked a little in giving up the tremendous vitality she had stored for so long” (7.313). This description doesn’t leave out the gruesome elements of Myrtles death and more than that, it reminds people of how alive she was, and how such a gift was brutally stolen from her. Myrtles death was meant to highlight the injustice and divide between the rich and poor, but instead, Luhrmann used it as a poor excuse to show of some artsy filming techniques. Albeit them entertaining, but nevertheless inappropriately placed. Through this, it is frankly quite obvious that the scene was not an accurate representation of the novel, and it doesn’t deserve to be treated as
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