{"id":1383,"date":"2013-05-21T10:18:16","date_gmt":"2013-05-21T17:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=1383"},"modified":"2013-11-08T20:55:43","modified_gmt":"2013-11-09T04:55:43","slug":"the-great-gatsby-3d-why-mess-with-a-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2013\/writing\/the-great-gatsby-3d-why-mess-with-a-classic\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Gatsby 3D: Why Mess With A Classic?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been a fan of author, F. Scott Fitzgerald<\/strong>, <\/a>and his classic novel, The Great Gatsby<\/a><\/strong>, for at least half my life. I\u2019ve read it, as well as many books on the author and his wife. I\u2019ve seen Robert Redford\u2019s The Great Gatsby several times. So it was with some excitement that I went to see director Baz Luhrmann’s 3D version of The Great Gatsby<\/a>.<\/strong> The buzz of the film beforehand only heightened my desire to see the film.<\/p>\n

The opening scenes were puzzling. Baz Luhrmann<\/a><\/strong>, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Craig Pearce, added what seemed to me implausible scenes at both the beginning and the end of the film, involving the narrator of<\/p>\n

\"Scrivener's<\/a>

Scrivener’s 1925 book jacket of The Great Gatsby<\/p><\/div>\n

The Great Gatsby and a psychiatrist (who doesn\u2019t exist in the novel). \u00a0Creative license, you say? Sure, but why was it even necessary? It\u2019s as if Scott Fitzgerald\u2019s story wasn\u2019t enough. It\u2019s as if the director didn\u2019t trust the story for today\u2019s young generation. Grant it, I\u2019m two generations beyond, but story is story is story. And if something works, why mess with it?<\/p>\n

Once we got to the shot of Daisy\u2019s house with its green light, on the other side of the water from Gatsby\u2019s mansion, I thought, okay, now we\u2019re getting into Fitzgerald\u2019s story. That scene alone promised me a film that wouldn\u2019t disappoint. And yet it did, despite the beautiful art direction and dream casting.<\/p>\n

The story centers on Jay Gatsby, a self-made rich guy (by dubious means), who still pines for Daisy, the girl he fell in love with when he was young and poor. She’s also the girl he left behind when he went to war. When he returns from battle and discovers she’s married to wealthy Tom Buchanan, he buys a house across the water from her and plots to woo her away from her husband. We hear much of the story through the narrator, Daisy’s cousin, Nick Carrington, (played by Toby McGuire) who’s moved in next door to Gatsby for the summer.<\/p>\n

\"new-great-gatsby-poster\"<\/a>

Warner Bros. Film Poster on http:\/\/www.imdb.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Still, there were a number of scenes where Leonardo DiCaprio (Jay Gatsby), Carrie Mulligan (Daisy Buchanan) and Joel Edgerton (Tom Buchanan) managed to soar above the distraction of 3D cinematography, dizzy camera work of motoring cars, \u00a0and other special effects to give us some substance. It was only towards the end of the film,\u00a0 around the climax, that the director allowed the camera to focus more on the players than on visual tricks. At that point, it was as if I was watching a different movie, one that had been spliced to an earlier music video-like version of the classic story.<\/p>\n

I think today\u2019s young people are smarter than what the producers and director give them credit for. \u00a0The problem of relying on special effects to wow the audience rather than trusting the original literary content to hold an audience\u2019s attention reminded me of a recent American Idol program.<\/p>\n

On this year’s American Idol, the four final contestants had to sing songs from the Great American Songbook, like Stormy Weather and My Funny Valentine.\u00a0 Their coach was Harry Connick Jr.<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong> He noticed they hadn\u2019t taken the time to understand the lyrics nor appreciate the melody that made the songs so great. By trusting the lyrics and the melody to be enough, they didn\u2019t need to add runs or other vocal tricks. Their need to belt it out as if that would convince the audience they could really sing was missing the point. My husband, once an American Idol fan, gave up early in the season because of all this unnecessary belting. Like Baz Luhrmann messing with a classic, the contestants messed with a great song and came up short.<\/p>\n

I’m not alone in my perceptions about The Great Gatsby 3D. For similar sentiments, see Philip French’s review in The Guardian.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

As I was wowed by the acting and the art direction, I\u2019m hoping to see The Great Gatsby in 2D, maybe then I\u2019ll be pleasantly surprised. On the other hand, there are still those weird scenes with the psychiatrist.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been a fan of author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and his classic novel, The Great Gatsby, for at least half my life. I\u2019ve read it, as well as many books… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[82,4],"tags":[505,501,78,435,34,504,506,83,103,502,503],"class_list":["post-1383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film-2","category-writing","tag-american-idol","tag-baz-luhrmann","tag-diana-stevan","tag-f-scott-fitzgerald","tag-film","tag-harry-connick-jr","tag-leonardo-dicaprio","tag-movie","tag-screenplay","tag-the-great-gatsby","tag-why-mess-with-a-classic"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-mj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":859,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/writing\/asghar-farhadis-film-a-separtion-universal-film-and-story\/","url_meta":{"origin":1383,"position":0},"title":"Asghar Farhadi’s Film, A Separation – A Universal Film and Story","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"29 \u041b\u044e\u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I saw Asghar Farhadi's film,\u00a0A Separation, the week before it won best foreign film at the Oscars.\u00a0 Shot in a very intimate fashion\u2014no panoramic shots of city or country\u2014this film tells a story that could be told anywhere. 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