Film Profile: The Great Gatsby
Title: The Great Gatsby
Release Year: 2013
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Screenplay: Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce
Based on: The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Genre: Romantic drama, period film, literary adaptation
Country of Origin: United States
Language: English
Production Company: Bazmark Films
Studio / Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Running Time: 142 minutes
Budget: Approximately $105 million
Box Office Collection: Approximately $353.6 million worldwide
Production Details
Producer: Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Douglas Wick, Lucy Fisher
Cinematography: Simon Duggan
Editing: Matt Villa, Jason Ballantine, Jonathan Redmond
Production Design: Catherine Martin
Costume Design: Catherine Martin
Visual Format: 2D and 3D
Filming Locations: Australia (Sydney-based studios)
Release Date: May 10, 2013 (United States)
The film was shot primarily in Australia, continuing Luhrmann’s practice of large-scale studio filmmaking. Extensive use of CGI and 3D technology was employed to recreate 1920s New York, Long Island, and the Valley of Ashes.
Music and Soundtrack
Executive Music Producer: Jay-Z
Original Score: Craig Armstrong
One of the most distinctive features of the film is its anachronistic soundtrack, which blends Jazz Age aesthetics with contemporary music styles such as hip-hop, pop, and electronic music. This choice reflects Luhrmann’s intention to recreate the cultural shock and excess of the 1920s for modern audiences.
Notable Songs Featured:
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“Young and Beautiful” – Lana Del Rey
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“No Church in the Wild” – Jay-Z & Kanye West
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“A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)” – Fergie, Q-Tip & GoonRock
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“Love Is Blindness” – Jack White
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“Bang Bang” – will.i.am
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“Back to Black” – BeyoncΓ© & AndrΓ© 3000 (cover)
The soundtrack functions as an intersemiotic translation, replacing Jazz with modern genres to convey similar emotional and cultural intensity.
Main Characters and Cast
Jay Gatsby – Leonardo DiCaprio
Gatsby is portrayed as a tragic romantic figure whose life revolves around his dream of reclaiming Daisy Buchanan. The film emphasizes his emotional vulnerability and idealism over his criminal background.
Nick Carraway – Tobey Maguire
Nick serves as the narrator and observer of Gatsby’s world. In the film, he is framed as a traumatized writer recounting events from a sanitarium, adding psychological depth to his role.
Daisy Buchanan – Carey Mulligan
Daisy is depicted as delicate, conflicted, and emotionally restrained. The film softens her moral responsibility, emphasizing her symbolic role as Gatsby’s dream.
Tom Buchanan – Joel Edgerton
Tom represents inherited wealth, arrogance, and moral hypocrisy. He functions as both Gatsby’s rival and the embodiment of old-money power.
Jordan Baker – Elizabeth Debicki
Jordan is portrayed as modern, cynical, and independent, offering a contrast to Daisy’s fragility.
Myrtle Wilson – Isla Fisher
Myrtle embodies aspiration and social mobility, ultimately becoming a victim of class division and moral carelessness.
George Wilson – Jason Clarke
George represents despair and economic ruin, particularly associated with the Valley of Ashes.
Themes and Motifs
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The American Dream and its failure
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Illusion versus reality
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Love, obsession, and memory
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Wealth, class division, and moral decay
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Time, nostalgia, and the impossibility of return
Awards and Recognition
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Academy Award for Best Costume Design
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Academy Award for Best Production Design
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Multiple nominations for music, visuals, and art direction
Famous Line:
“You can’t live forever; you can’t live forever, you’ve got to let me go!”
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Part I: The Frame Narrative and the “Writerly” Text
Context: The Sanitarium Frame and Nick Carraway’s Memoir
Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby (2013) departs significantly from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel by introducing a strong frame narrative in which Nick Carraway recounts the events of the story while undergoing treatment in a sanitarium for “morbid alcoholism.” In the novel, Nick is a reflective narrator who looks back on the past with moral clarity and restraint. In contrast, the film transforms him into a psychologically fragile figure whose memories are shaped by trauma, addiction, and emotional collapse. This framing device modernizes the narrative by placing it within a therapeutic context familiar to contemporary audiences. By doing so, Luhrmann signals that the story we are about to witness is not an objective account but a subjective reconstruction filtered through memory, guilt, and loss. The sanitarium thus becomes a symbolic space where writing serves as both confession and healing, reinforcing the idea that Gatsby’s story exists as a written and remembered text rather than a stable historical reality.
1. The Sanitarium Device
The sanitarium device plays a crucial role in shaping the film’s narrative logic and visual style. By presenting Nick as a patient encouraged to write his memories as therapy, Luhrmann provides a psychological justification for the film’s heightened emotions, fragmented editing, and dreamlike imagery. The excessive glamour, sudden emotional shifts, and surreal visual transitions can be read as expressions of Nick’s unstable mental state rather than as purely stylistic excess. Moreover, the sanitarium reinforces the modern relevance of the story. Issues such as addiction, trauma, and emotional isolation resonate strongly with 21st-century viewers, allowing the film to bridge the historical distance between the 1920s and the present. At a deeper level, this framing also reinforces the authority of writing. Nick’s act of putting words on paper emphasizes that The Great Gatsby is fundamentally a written text, even when translated into film. This self-conscious emphasis on authorship foregrounds the constructed nature of Gatsby’s myth and reminds the audience that what they see is mediated by narrative choice, memory, and emotional distortion.
2. The “Cinematic Poem” and Floating Text
One of the most distinctive features of Luhrmann’s adaptation is his use of floating text—actual lines from Fitzgerald’s novel that appear on screen as Nick writes. This technique is especially prominent in sequences such as the Valley of Ashes, where bleak industrial images are overlaid with Fitzgerald’s poetic language. Luhrmann himself has described the film as a “cinematic poem,” and the floating text functions as an attempt to visually translate literary language into cinematic form. On one hand, this strategy effectively bridges the gap between literature and film by preserving the lyrical quality of Fitzgerald’s prose. The words do not merely describe the images; they interact with them, creating a layered meaning that combines visual decay with poetic commentary. On the other hand, this technique risks trapping the film in what can be called a “quotational quality.” By directly inserting the novel’s language into the film, Luhrmann constantly reminds the viewer of the film’s literary source. This can distance the audience from the diegetic reality, as the viewer becomes more aware of reading than watching. Ultimately, the floating text both enriches and limits the film: it honors the novel’s language while sometimes preventing the film from fully asserting its independence as a cinematic narrative.
Part II: Adaptation Theory and “Fidelity”
3. Hutcheon’s “Knowing” vs. “Unknowing” Audience
Linda Hutcheon’s theory of adaptation distinguishes between the “knowing” audience, who are familiar with the source text, and the “unknowing” audience, who encounter the story for the first time through the adaptation. Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby consciously addresses both groups. For the knowing audience, the floating text, direct quotations, and faithfulness to iconic symbols such as the green light and the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg serve as signals of respect toward Fitzgerald’s novel. For the unknowing audience, the film offers visual spectacle, emotional intensity, and contemporary music to ensure accessibility and engagement. This dual address explains why the film often feels torn between reverence and reinvention. Rather than choosing between fidelity and innovation, Luhrmann attempts to satisfy both audiences simultaneously, resulting in a film that is at once deeply literary and aggressively modern.
4. Alain Badiou and the “Truth Event”
Alain Badiou’s concept of the “Truth Event” refers to a disruptive moment that breaks with existing norms and generates new ways of understanding reality. Luhrmann applies this idea when he justifies his use of hip-hop and contemporary music in a 1920s setting. He argues that Jazz functioned as a disruptive cultural force in Fitzgerald’s time, just as hip-hop does today. From this perspective, the anachronistic soundtrack is not a betrayal of the novel but an attempt to remain faithful to its revolutionary energy. Through the lens of intersemiotic translation, the film shifts meaning from one sign system to another: the shock and excess of Jazz are translated into the rhythms and attitude of modern music. However, this choice is not without controversy. Critics argue that such anachronism sacrifices historical specificity and risks turning the 1920s into a timeless fantasy. Yet if fidelity is understood not as literal accuracy but as loyalty to the novel’s emotional and ideological force, then the soundtrack can be seen as an effective reactivation of Fitzgerald’s Truth Event for a contemporary audience.
Part III: Characterization and Performance
5. Gatsby as Romantic Hero vs. Criminal
In Fitzgerald’s novel, Gatsby exists in a morally ambiguous space, suspended between romantic idealism and criminal activity. Luhrmann’s film, however, leans strongly toward presenting Gatsby as a tragic romantic hero. While his illegal activities are acknowledged, they are visually softened and morally overshadowed by his devotion to Daisy. Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance emphasizes vulnerability, hope, and emotional intensity, making Gatsby less a mysterious figure and more a wounded dreamer. This shift reflects contemporary storytelling preferences, where emotional transparency is often valued over moral ambiguity. As a result, Gatsby’s criminality becomes secondary, serving mainly as a background detail rather than a defining feature of his identity.
6. Daisy Buchanan
The film significantly reconstructs Daisy Buchanan to make Gatsby’s obsession believable to a 21st-century audience. Carey Mulligan’s Daisy is portrayed as fragile, emotional, and internally conflicted, rather than careless or morally evasive. This interpretation invites sympathy and positions Daisy as a victim of social and marital constraints rather than as an active participant in tragedy. However, this reconstruction comes at the cost of Daisy’s agency. By minimizing her responsibility for Myrtle’s death and emphasizing her emotional vulnerability, the film protects Gatsby’s image as a pure romantic hero. Daisy becomes less a morally complex character and more a symbolic object of desire. In doing so, the film shifts the narrative focus away from Fitzgerald’s critique of moral irresponsibility and toward a more conventional romantic tragedy.
Part IV: Visual Style and Socio-Political Context
7. The “Red Curtain” Style and 3D
Luhrmann’s signature “Red Curtain” style is characterized by excess, theatricality, and deliberate artificiality. The use of 3D intensifies this effect, immersing the viewer in a world of overwhelming glamour and sensory overload. Rather than aiming for realism, the film embraces spectacle as a way of expressing the illusionary nature of wealth and success. The exaggerated visuals mirror the excesses of the Jazz Age while simultaneously exposing their emptiness. In this sense, style becomes meaning: the film’s visual extravagance both seduces and critiques, drawing the viewer into the dream while subtly revealing its hollowness.
8. Contextualizing the American Dream (1925 vs. 2013)
Viewed through a post-2008 lens, Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby reflects widespread disillusionment with the American Dream. The green light is repeatedly shown as distant and unreachable, reinforcing the idea that desire is endlessly deferred. While the pursuit of wealth and success is portrayed as glamorous, the film ultimately emphasizes its futility. The Valley of Ashes, with its imagery of decay and industrial waste, resonates strongly with contemporary concerns about economic inequality and social neglect. In contrast to the optimism often associated with the American Dream, the film presents a vision shaped by financial crisis and moral exhaustion. The dream is not merely corrupted; it is fundamentally unattainable.
Part V: Creative Response
Scenario: Gatsby’s Loss of Control
The film’s addition of a scene in which Gatsby loses his temper and nearly strikes Tom Buchanan marks a significant departure from the novel’s characterization. In Fitzgerald’s text, Gatsby maintains an idealized composure, even in moments of emotional stress. Removing this scene would preserve fidelity to the book and maintain Gatsby’s mythic restraint. However, keeping the scene serves the demands of the cinematic medium, which relies on visible emotional conflict and dramatic tension. The moment visually represents the collapse of Gatsby’s carefully constructed persona and the shattering of his dream. By choosing to include this scene, the film prioritizes fidelity to emotional truth over textual consistency, using cinematic language to externalize what remains internal in the novel.
Conclusion
Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby is best understood as an ambitious intersemiotic translation rather than a conventional adaptation. Through its use of framing devices, floating text, anachronistic music, and visual excess, the film reimagines Fitzgerald’s critique of the American Dream for a contemporary audience shaped by psychological awareness and economic disillusionment. While the film occasionally risks over-stylization and excessive reverence for the source text, it succeeds in transforming the novel’s themes into a powerful cinematic experience that speaks to the anxieties and desires of the modern world.
Here is "Sir’s presentation on the fidelity of Luhrmann’s film adaptation to Fitzgerald’s novel."-
References
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