Year taken: 2012-2013
Professor: Ernesto Castillo
Class: INGL3055
University: University of Puerto Rico, Cayey Campus
Grace H. Rodríguez Cruz
Professor Castillo
INGL3055
May 22nd
2013
Analysis of “The Great Gatsby” film
by Baz Luhrmann
We can’t repeat the past… Or can we?
“The Great Gatsby” settles the drama and the romance like no one expected. It
takes us back in time to the drinks and the glam of the 1920s; when society was
on the edge of immorality and values. Baz Luhrmann’s most recent adaptation of
Fitzgerald’s famous book by the same name is a trippy, visually-excessive and
creative film in where the fidelity and passion of the book are plastered in
the most unique way it has ever been done. But, is it a film masterpiece or
just a visual eye-candy? Many mixed reviews have been done by the critics,
placing the value of the movie in a lower standard than many of the
movie-go-ers. However, Luhrmann has, once again, created a statement with his
work. Even when Luhrmann’s signature is misunderstood and misconceived, the Aussie
director rises in fame by his creative scenery montage and suspension that can
leave anyone at the edge of the chair.
In its essence: “The Great Gatsby”
was looking forward to bring the young audience a classic story that most are
not used to seeing in the everyday media. As said before, the movie is
extremely similar to the original printed work; this is also stated by
journalist Charles Moore in his critic about the film: “It uses many of F Scott Fitzgerald’s original descriptions and dialogue.
It respects the fact that the novel is told as the narrative of Nick Carraway,
cousin of Daisy, the woman whom Gatsby loves. You are reminded of this by the
fact that Carraway’s typewriter sometimes prints on to the screen, the words
overlaying the action. It attentively reproduces various details, such as the
clock Gatsby drops when meeting Daisy again for the first time since she
married nasty Tom five years earlier. It follows Fitzgerald’s instructions that
Daisy’s husband’s lover’s husband’s garage is beside a “valley of ashes” and a
huge optician’s billboard depicting the eyes of Dr T J Eckleburg. It
meticulously presents and builds everything that Fitzgerald describes, using
computer generation as a substitute for imagination. I do not doubt that it is
accurate about the clothing of the period.” The characters brought to us
are not as stereotypical as we may expect. Those who haven’t enjoyed the
literary work of Fitzgerald will encounter personalities and archetypes twisted
to a more realistic way than most of the series or soap operas. The good girl
has her dark side, the hero lacks morality, the narrator cannot keep control of
temptations and the bad guy has a soft side that blocks any access to hate.
With this particular bunch alone, we expect good things from the fresh reboot.
But how does the director intend to turn the “good” to a “great”? It will all
lie in the hands of good managing of the film’s final style.
Luhrmann gave birth to CGI-filled
stages where the details of the sky were breath-taking and the parties had an
on-going animalistic feeling of nonsense. Even if this can be visualized as a
bad way to spend money (considering how many remember us that less is more when
it comes to topics), I found this amazingly well made. The whole message we
need to receive from a movie, as spectators, is to develop empathy to the
situations in where the characters need to face decisions and tough thoughts.
The mise-en-scène Luhrmann made for the public was an amazing mixture between
enchanting the crowd into the Gatsby world in a spellbound and the constant hit
of reality with the fantasy-filled scenarios. The constant problem with a
public not used to seeing this, sort of, abstract movie-making is the eternal
blind stubbornness to what the director makes as the “bigger picture” of
things. In the case of the film, we see the excessive lights and make up, the
dizzy angles, the modern music and the unrealistic plot here and there; but
this is the essence of it all. This is the way of connecting the public into
the situations and to the rushes and heartbreaks with the needed stimulation to
trigger similarity and, later on, affection to the characters we just met.
The camera angles decide to play such
tricks to the eyes that, I must admit, it was hard to keep up at first. The
spinning motions at the parties and the point of view constantly switching from
a sky view to a downfall all the way until the appearance Carraway’s face was
exhausting for those of us who are not used to this type of style. However,
when seen as a critic, we can see how these were necessary to represent a rush,
an ever-lasting go-go in the busy life of New York and the fast pace of events.
And even if this was the case, the creative ups and downs coming from diagonal
sides or from a corner of the scenes really captivated the eyes of the
spectators. No one was ever expecting those kinds of transitions coming from a
film who keeps a classy touch. This also adds to my praise to Luhrmann’s
creative side and performance, giving another way of using the “expect the
unexpected” phrase.
Nothing defines better Baz Luhrmann’s
style than a good scene building tension and amazing cross-cuttings. In the
film, we see so many tensed moments that it could glue the crowd to scenes
forgetting about eating the popcorn. The constant switch from face A to face B
and C can be so nerve wracking that, even if it doesn’t count much as a
cross-cut-because of the lack of scene transition- it still brings the effect that
needed in the moment. The subtle zooming in and out from angle to angle brings
desperation out of people, me included. But even if this is such an important
factor, nothing brings up emotion more than music these days.
There is nothing more desperate than
the lack of music in a movie. “The Great Gatsby” gives more meaning to the
sound of objects or the lack of sound of anything. In the heated scene where a
discussion between Gatsby and Buchanan takes an unexpected turn of
events-having Gatsby losing his temper an assaulting Tom-; the most amazing
thing about it is the sound of the fans twirling and the glasses against each
other. The whole scene had such tension that it felt like it could be cut with
a knife. I remember sitting down next to someone who confessed he started to
sweat by the buildup of the scene being too much to handle. Whenever there was
music, we would find a surprise in every now and then. Luhrmann had arranged a
soundtrack that brings familiarity even more out there. The party music was a
modern electronica or pop song groove being mixed with a 1920s feel to it,
giving the tough of a creative moving slideshow of vintage pictures with new
music. Whenever this was not the case, the movie would play out a song very
familiar to the pop culture. For example: The scene of Carraway’s house being
fixed for the meeting of Daisy and Gatsby had been covered by a more settled 1920-kind-of
version of Beyoncé’s “Crazy in love”. It brought some laughs here and there
with others singing out the lyrics they know by heart, but it was more than
obvious how that scene was enjoyed.
The Symbols are, just like in the
book, shown on the right moments. The constant green light resembles the hopes
and dreams for a new and bigger future; this makes a counterpart to the Valley
of Ashes, where the decaying of men and their dreams settle as a reminder of
the cruel life and society to any passerby. The unsettling feeling of Doctor
T.J. Eckleburg’s eyes on the billboard is shown whenever there is a foul done
to any moral in the movie. Example to this we have the affair of Tom and Myrtle
in the beginning and at the end of her death scene, where, as transition, it
spreads from Myrtle’s house to the outside of the valley. But none of these
were as shocking for me as the weather. The harmony between the rainy times as
Gatsby’s awkward situations and the hot days on his loss of temper and frustration
won the very best of my viewing and emotional side.
From start to finish,
from silence to bangs; “The Great Gatsby” has won its way up to my heart. The
incredible selection of committed actors played so well with the extravagance
and warmth of Luhrmann’s ingenuity. The movie transports the viewer from the
very beginning of the film to a world rich in story-telling, character
development, hidden symbols, exquisite details and an unrealistic idea of
reality. The contemporary film effects and surprises educate for a better
understanding of the film industry and of the art it portrays to the world. The
moral of the story being the lack of morals and the amounts of shattered dreams
take on the audience just like it took on Nick Carraway; reality is just as sad
as any hollow man and woman who used and betrayed one another. This is what
leads Carraway to becoming a wreck and the crowd in the cinema to reconsider
life, the people in it and the search for empathy and values afterwards. Giving
the book the movie it deserves, Baz Luhrmann is a mind-twisting master of
masses where he doesn’t simply makes a movie; he creates his own state of
nirvana.
Sources:
"The Great Gatsby (2013)." The
Great Gatsby. Rotten Tomatoes, 10 May 2013. Web. 21 May 2013.
The Great
Gatsby. Dir Baz Luhrmann. Perf. Leonardo DiCaprio, Toby Maguire, Carey
Mulligan. Warner Bros., 2013. Film.
Bordwell,
David, and Kristin Thompson. Film
Art: An Introduction. 9th ed. Boston [etc.: McGraw-Hill Higher Education,
2008. Print.
Moore, Charles. "Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby: A Faithful Film –
and a Terribly, Terribly Bad One." The
Telegraph. N.p., 19 May 2013. Web. 21 May 2013.
No comments:
Post a Comment