Although I know that The Great Gatsby had an adaptation come out not too long ago (in 2013 directed by Baz Luhrmann, starring Leonardo Dicaprio), and had a quite iconic adaptation come out only a number of decades ago (in 1974 starring Robert Redford), neither of these adaptations did the coveted "great American novel" justice. For some reason when people have gone to adapt The Great Gatsby, they have focused too much on the distracting love story between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. While this adds a nice amount of fluff to the story and might sell to some viewers, what makes this novel great, and what would make it a particularly relevant adaptation of a film to come out now is its themes on the American Dream, gender relations, and class inequality. These themes are what make this novel intriguing, and done right, would make a wonderful film.
While debating the ideas of this adaption, I wondered if I should change the time of when it takes place. The Great Gatsby *is* the essence of America in the 1920s--lavish, excessive, and glamourous. However, as much as many traditionalists would possibly hate this idea, we are in the 20s yet again! Set this story in modern times, to make a stronger argument on how this novel's themes are still largely relevant. Plot-wise I think this story should largely follow the original novel (which focuses less on the love story than the films!) with modern alterations where necessary, of course. Put the financial struggles in modern settings to show that we still largely have the class struggle now as what was portrayed in the original novel.
The character of Jay Gatsby is quite an iconic one and maybe shouldn't be messed with since I'd likely ruffle so many people's feathers by modernizing the adaptation. Gatsby as a character would largely remain much of the same, while the other characters would have a similar essence with slight modern twists:
Daisy Buchanan is still married to a loaf and stuck in an unhappy marriage, but she does have a job to give her other satisfaction in life.
Nick Carraway is still largely naïve and optimistic at the beginning of the film, only to be slowly lost as he witnesses greed and hardship lose his faith in others--except maybe now he has more of a backbone and doesn't flirt with his cousin!
Tom Buchanan still sucks. He will always just be a womanizing control freak.
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| Leo was perfect casting for Gatsby... I'll give Baz Luhrmann that and that alone. |
