The Great Gatsby | Movie & Book Review
This is one of my favorite 20th century novels, I read The Great Gatsby when I was thirteen years old. I loved it back then, and I've recently saw the movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, which I liked much better than the one starring Robert Redford or any others.
It's a very short novel. Funny, I seem to have remembered the book as being so much thicker for some reason, but I guess to my 13 year old mind the whole world was a lot bigger than it is now.
I fell in love with this book all over again. It's so much better reading it as an adult, I felt there were things that I've missed before — like Nick's witty dialogues and narratives, the tragic love of Gatsby and Daisy, the selfish and shallowness of Daisy, etc. The disdain from those whose old-world wealth was being mixed with those whose new-gain riches in society, was met with haughtiness.
The American mainstream era during the roaring twenties was that anyone could be rich from any background, you no longer had to depend on aristocratic names or pedigrees. This of course was scorned by those established families who felt that the "new money" didn't hold the same prestige as the "old money" did.
What I found very "renewing" was my compassion for these star-crossed lovers; especially since Gatsby went overseas during WWI and was a lieutenant in the Army, and I think Daisy never really loved Tom at all. I thought it amusing that Daisy's character never drinks.
This is definitely more tragic and romantic than any corny Nicholas Sparks novel!
Plus, I just love any book about NYC. I love when I read about areas I know, places I've been to... even when they talk about the two "eggs" and the "valley of the ashes", all pseudonyms for locations in the metro-NYC area that I'm well acquainted with.
The 2013 movie was excellent, in my opinion. I know that there were mixed reviews with critics, and a lot of people felt that it fell short of its bar, but this is also an adaptation of possibly the best novel of the 20th century, so the expectation was impossibly high.
I also think that the characters were very difficult to play, but that this cast was the best adaptations of the characters so far. I think this version was also the most faithful to the book, including the dialogues. A little bit was changed, but not significantly like other movie versions previously were.
The soundtrack was also really good; but the costumes, the production design, and visual effects were spectacular. The whole movie was so vibrant with colors — and of course, I think DiCaprio was the best man to play Jay Gatsby.
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"Your wife doesn't love you," said Gatsby. "She's never loved you. She loves me."
"You must be crazy!" exclaimed Tom automatically.
Gatsby sprang to his feet, vivid with excitement.
"She never loved you, do you hear?" he cried. "She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved any one except me!"
— The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Novel: The Great Gatsby
If someone told you The Great Gatsby is just a love story about a rich guy trying to win back an old girlfriend, they missed about 90% of the book.
At its heart, Gatsby is about:
- The American Dream
- Class divisions
- Obsession and nostalgia
- The illusion that money can buy happiness
- The impossibility of recreating the past
Jay Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald created one of literature's most fascinating characters.
Gatsby starts life poor as James Gatz. He reinvents himself into the glamorous millionaire Jay Gatsby and builds an entire identity around one goal — winning back Daisy Buchanan.
The tragedy is that Gatsby doesn't actually love the real Daisy anymore.
He loves the memory of Daisy and what Daisy represents. The dream that he built around her.
When Gatsby says he can repeat the past, he's expressing the central delusion of the novel. He believes enough money, determination, and longing can reverse time.
The book's answer is brutally simple — no, you can't.
Daisy Buchanan
Daisy is often misunderstood.
Many readers expect her to be a romantic heroine and end up disappointed.
She's shallow, charming, selfish, and weak, but Fitzgerald intentionally made her that way.
Daisy represents old money — the established wealthy class who never have to face consequences. Gatsby spends years trying to become worthy of her, only to discover she isn't worthy of the dream he created around her.
Tom Buchanan
Tom is one of the most unpleasant characters in American literature.
He's rich, arrogant, racist, violent, and entitled. Yet, Tom wins.
That's part of Fitzgerald's point.
Tom and Daisy are protected by wealth and social status. They destroy lives and simply move on.
Nick Carraway
Nick narrates the story, but he's not entirely reliable.
He claims to be objective, yet he clearly admires Gatsby.
One reason the novel remains so interesting is that we're seeing Gatsby through Nick's eyes — a man who is both fascinated and repelled by the world around him.
The American Dream
The novel asks: What happens when the American Dream becomes only about money?
Gatsby achieves enormous wealth, but not happiness.
He gets the mansion. He gets the parties. He gets the cars, but he never gets what he actually wants.
Old Money vs New Money
This distinction is everywhere in the book.
Old Money: born rich, socially accepted, and represented by Daisy and Tom.
New Money: earned wealth, viewed as outsiders, and represented by Gatsby.
Even in Nick's character; he has the pedigree, but not the wealth, but in high society the pedigree matters just as much as the actual dollar amount. Which is why he's accepted into the old-money, blue blooded society, but Gatsby is not.
No matter how rich Gatsby becomes, old-money society never truly accepts him.
The entire novel is basically a warning about living in the past. Gatsby's greatest flaw isn't ambition.
It's refusing to accept reality.
Why the Novel Is Considered a Classic
Many people are surprised by how short it is.
The novel is only around 180 pages, yet Fitzgerald packs extraordinary symbolism into nearly every chapter.
The writing is also gorgeous. Fitzgerald's prose is famous for sounding elegant without being overly complicated.
The ending is widely considered one of the greatest endings in American literature because it's usually more realistic than the "happily-ever-after" endings of most novels. Just like in real life, the rich folks get off free and without consequences.
The 2013 Film: The Great Gatsby
Directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, the movie is one of the most divisive literary adaptations ever made.
Critics were split. Some loved its energy and spectacle; others felt it sacrificed the novel's subtlety for visual excess.
Leonardo DiCaprio is the film's greatest strength. DiCaprio captures both sides of Gatsby: the charismatic millionaire and the insecure dreamer underneath.
His nervous smile, awkwardness around Daisy, and desperate optimism felt exactly right. Many critics considered his performance the best portrayal of Gatsby on film (I definitely do!).
The movie perfectly captures excess. The parties feel loud, chaotic, overwhelming, almost unreal for the that era; which is exactly how Nick describes them in the novel. Baz Luhrmann's style turns Gatsby's world into a giant fever dream of wealth and spectacle.
The modern soundtrack (featuring artists such as Jay-Z and Lana Del Rey) was controversial.
Some hated it.
I think it was a smart choice. The point wasn't historical accuracy. The point was making modern audiences feel what 1920s audiences felt — music that seemed exciting, decadent, and a little shocking.
What the Film Gets Wrong
The novel is quiet. The movie is not.
At all.
Luhrmann blasts it through fireworks, confetti cannons, and a 200-piece orchestra. Many critics felt the film buried the emotional core beneath visual spectacle.
Carey Mulligan gives a solid performance, but the film struggles to capture the complexity of Daisy.
In the novel she's frustrating because she's simultaneously enchanting and disappointing. The movie sometimes leans too heavily into making her seem merely fragile and naive.
The book lives inside Nick's observations; which in the movie gets played as Nick basically doing journaling therapy in a psyche ward.
Movies can't easily replicate that first-person narration.
As a result, some of Fitzgerald's most beautiful insights lose their impact.
This is one of the great American novels. Not because of the plot — which is actually fairly simple — but because Fitzgerald uses that simple story to explore dreams, class, love, and self-deception with extraordinary precision.
The 2013 movie is, in my opinion, the best movie adaptation of the book made so far.
As a movie, it's entertaining, visually stunning, and elevated enormously by DiCaprio's performance. He was the best person to play Gatsby.
As an adaptation, it misses some of the novel's restraint and melancholy. Gatsby isn't supposed to feel like a rock star for most of the story; he's supposed to feel like a lonely man trapped inside a fantasy of his own creation. The movie sometimes remembers that and sometimes gets distracted by the fireworks.
The biggest success of the film is that when DiCaprio finally drops the glamorous façade and you see the frightened, hopeful man underneath, you understand exactly why Nick remains loyal to Gatsby long after everyone else abandons him.
That's the moment when the movie finally becomes Fitzgerald.
