The Great Gatsby (On Acid: The 3D Nightmare Viewing Experience)

As a recent English Literature graduate with a love of literary adaptations, The Great Gatsby has been something I have been looking forward to. I love the work of the American authors writing in the 1920's (The Sun Also Rises, anyone?) and The Great Gatsby has always conjured up for me a vision of subtle, pastel colours, beautiful, shimmering scenes, and an elegiac, fading tone of loss and sadness. Therefore, I almost went into shock when I saw the first trailer. And that was nothing compared to the film. I am a big admirer of Baz Lurhmann's Romeo and Juliet, which is one of the best adaptations I've ever seen, as it picked up so well on the subtleties of the script (such as using a gun titled a 'sword', and the fancy dress). I know he likes bright colours, fireworks, and zooming camera work. But all that combined to dizzying heights in this film to create a nightmare viewing experience that completely overshadowed everything that was amazing about it. 

THE BEST

1) Certain Faithful Moments To The Book- When looking at the best moments, I am going to pretend they weren't compromised (I always feel like a secret agent when I use that word- 'Bond, the plan has been compromised!') by 'The 3D Nightmare Viewing Experience' which I will discuss later. Certain things were captured well; T.J.Eckleburg, the atmosphere of the tacky apartment party, the dog in the apartment party, the beautiful scene where Daisy is throwing up her hands amidst the floating fabric and laughing happily. 

2) Visual Spectacle- Spell-binding. The costumes, the glitter, the scenery. I was gaping in amazement at  what Lurhmann had, at times, managed to pull off, allowing the viewer to become lost amidst a whirlwind of beautiful hedonism. I loved the visual aspects of scenes like this: 

and this:

and this: 

Just the right amount of sparkle, with the dream-like and sad quality inherent in the book. 

3) Casting- For me, Carey Mulligan as Daisy was good, Jordan was good, and Daisy's husband (Joel Edgerton) was amazing. And, although people have been making fun of Tobey Maguire for looking stoned, he is how I imagined Nick to be. Plus, hasn't he always looked a little stoned? Why are people just realising this now? 

THE WORST

1) Leonardo DiCaprio- It's not that he's a bad actor. He's an amazing actor. And he didn't act badly in this movie; he was great. It's just...I think he is too famous to be Gatsby. Gatsby is meant to be elusive, a mysterious enigma, and I always imagined him with a slightly anonymous, typical American handsomeness. DiCaprio has a very distinctive face, is incredibly well known, and the film became a bit more The Great Leonardo than The Great Gatsby. Especially this shot: 

Plus, in my opinion Carey Mulligan looks too young, and Leo too old, for them to work visually as an effective couple. And finally...it's 'Old Sport'. With a 't'. As well as being outrageously overused, it is NOT 'Old Spor' which is how he pronounced it EVERY SINGLE TIME and it was SO ANNOYING. On the plus side, at least he wasn't wearing eyeliner this time.

2) Every Single Thing About 'The 3D Nightmare Viewing Experience'- SNOWFLAKES GLITTER FIREWORKS WORDS VROOOM VROOOM (CARS) GLITTER PARTAYY JOLTING CAMERA WHY ARE THE COLOURS SO MUCH DIMMER BEHIND THESE GLASSES ZOOMING CAMERA GREEN LIGHT FIREWORKS GLITTER PARTAYY VROOM VROOM SPINNING HEADACHE NAUSEA CAKES FLOWERS RAIN VROOOOM VROOOM OH GOD GET ME OUT OF THIS CINEMA GREEN LIGHT WHAT THE F MORE GLITTER STARING AT FRIEND IN SHOCK AT THIS NIGHTMARE VIEWING EXPERIENCE GREEN LIGHT VROOOOM VROOOM SWOOSH SWOOSH SPIN SPIN SPIN CAR CRASH GUN SHOT GREEN LIGHT SNOWFLAKES WORDS WORDS WORDS THE END. Was it fun reading that? No? It's a lot less fun seeing it.

'We need more dancers!'

 

'We need more flowers and cakes!'

'We need more glitter and Leonardo in the same frame!'

 3) Frame Narrative- I don't know why it needed the boring frame narrative of Nick being in a miserable rehab centre in a very snowy town writing the novel himself. Everyone knows Fitzgerald wrote 'The Great Gatsby'. The words on the screen also made this already pointless and irritating theme become part of 'The 3D Nightmare Viewing Experience'. 

4) Music- It worked so well with 'Romeo and Juliet', but I don't think it worked well here. It enhanced the visuals that had already gone too far. I get what he was going for, though, and it was cool at times. 

5) Certain Unfaithful / Hideously Over-exaggerated Moments of the Book- Where was the tragic, and touching, scene where Gatsby's working class father attends his funeral missed out? I would happily have sacrificed a minute of the glitter, or zooming cars, or flowers, or Leonardo DiCaprio, or words on screen, or boring frame narrative, or green light shots, for this. Speaking of...did you know there is a green light on Daisy's dock and it's a symbol of Gatsby's unyielding idealistic dreams he has attached to his love for Daisy and he likes to reach out for it at night?

No...what green light? 

END

For me, this was a disappointing adaptation. I don't like 3D movies anyway, and this was so overdone, it completely obliterated the delicate beauty of the book. But, then again, I can't imagine it being turned into a completely successful movie anyway; it's hard to translate such subtle symbolism on screen without it being turned into, well, the above picture. I read an interview where Lurhman says he wants to do Hamlet, and I think that could be incredible. He's a fantastic film maker, he just picked the wrong book.