It's going to take a lot for this to not sound like my A Level English essays, but I'll do what I can. The last thing I want to do is trigger flashbacks to 6th Form days. I'm not going to do a full plot analysis for this one. It's not even because the story is popular. It's just because the story itself is irrelevant to the points I want to make about the film. Yeah I know, a historical film but you don't want to talk about the plot? Insanity. I'm going to focus on the other elements of the film instead. Characters. Costume design. Music. Laws. That sort of thing. The last thing people need is a done-to-death plot overview with this popular tale.
When I studied the novel, one key aspect I had to research was the context it was set in: the Roaring 20s. A new era of decadence, rebellion, and style. Stepping away from the Edwardian fashions, thanks in part to the Great War, there was a desire to break with traditions and form new ones. With the new musical styles of jazz becoming popularised, people started to do away with restrictions that they found in their fashions. Corsets were done away with, and dresses had shorter cuts. Women's hairstyles took the form of the famous bob cut. Where the film was concerned, this detail was excellent. While there was the infamous flapper appearance, the film's costume designers, Catherine Martin and Miuccia Prada, gave the style a bit more of a unique touch, while keeping with Baz Luhrmann's typical modernist yet colourful style. The party Nick is invited to is a perfect example of this: we see all sorts of fashions that both men and women wear, with different colours, fabrics and sets. When I watched the film, I remember thinking how bright the entire montage was. No doubt it was modernised some to appeal to a 21st century audience, yet there was no denying that the costume design remained authentic. I actually enjoyed the modernist influence on the film. It made it easier to understand how seductive this kind of lifestyle was when we see much of it now. The allure of rebellious behaviour in a crowd is rather similar to today: instead of alcohol, it's drugs.
I do think the styles in a way reflect the characters of the film. For example, Daisy is almost always seen wearing light colours, perhaps a reflection of her supposed innocence; the only time she wears black is when she restarts her affair with Gatsby. Meanwhile, Jordan's most iconic look is a black dress to match her dark hair and makeup - no doubt an indication of her corrupting influence. Costume designers very rarely have coincidental inferences with their work. I'm sure there was something important about trying to reflect differences between social groups - the aristocratic styles of Tom Buchanan, the simple tweed suits of Nick Carraway, and the "new money" custom-made cuts of Jay Gatsby.
The music of the film was definitely put together in a way that would appeal to the modern person. Upbeat jazz wasn't enough to keep our attention. From what information I could find about the musical styles, Jay-Z worked with Luhrmann for two years to blend the music of the Jazz Age theme of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel with hip-hop and pop. It was not a decision made lightly. Luhrmann stated, "The question for me in approaching Gatsby was how to elicit from our audience the same level of excitement and pop cultural immediacy toward the world that Fitzgerald did for his audience? And in our age, the energy of jazz is caught in the energy of hip-hop." Working with Graig Armstrong, the three managed to provide a soundtrack that incorporated the electronica that gained prominence in this time with the jazz of the 1920s, as well as not-so-subtle hint to classical music in the form of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. However, I won't lie - I didn't like the combinations. I have a love-hate relationship with jazz, and aside from a few exceptions, I don't like hip-hop that much. It was clever, but I really didn't like it.
The characters themselves were done very interestingly. Gatsby's entrance was far more satisfying than in Fitzgerald's novel, where it was almost anti-climactic that the man Nick spoke to at the party was Gatsby. Instead, there's the infamous scene of Leonardo DiCaprio raising a glass of champagne as fireworks explode in the background - far more satisfying. Roger Ebert made an interesting point about DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire's performances in the film, arguing that the two humanised their characters as Gatsby and Nick respectively, especially the latter: "It helps that he's played so many wry blank-slate types, but there's something else going on in his performance besides familiar notes — something deeper and sadder." Luhrmann's adaptation gives more substance to the characters so that we as the audience can feel more sorry for them, even if they were all horrible people in a way. Carey Mulligan and Elizabeth Debicki as Daisy and Jordan respectively were cast perfectly. I have to give props to the hair and make-up team for this one because the way they brought the 1920s out of these two actresses really felt like we had a proper glimpse of the styles of the time. The actresses themselves were able to portray a dichotomy of innocence and corruption, maintaining an aura of deception.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. There were a few hiccups, but the aesthetics of the film won me over. It transported me to the 1920s where there was an underlying knowledge of misconduct, disguised with liberty and amusement. As Nick says in the film, it was a kaleidoscopic carnival.
The characters themselves were done very interestingly. Gatsby's entrance was far more satisfying than in Fitzgerald's novel, where it was almost anti-climactic that the man Nick spoke to at the party was Gatsby. Instead, there's the infamous scene of Leonardo DiCaprio raising a glass of champagne as fireworks explode in the background - far more satisfying. Roger Ebert made an interesting point about DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire's performances in the film, arguing that the two humanised their characters as Gatsby and Nick respectively, especially the latter: "It helps that he's played so many wry blank-slate types, but there's something else going on in his performance besides familiar notes — something deeper and sadder." Luhrmann's adaptation gives more substance to the characters so that we as the audience can feel more sorry for them, even if they were all horrible people in a way. Carey Mulligan and Elizabeth Debicki as Daisy and Jordan respectively were cast perfectly. I have to give props to the hair and make-up team for this one because the way they brought the 1920s out of these two actresses really felt like we had a proper glimpse of the styles of the time. The actresses themselves were able to portray a dichotomy of innocence and corruption, maintaining an aura of deception.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. There were a few hiccups, but the aesthetics of the film won me over. It transported me to the 1920s where there was an underlying knowledge of misconduct, disguised with liberty and amusement. As Nick says in the film, it was a kaleidoscopic carnival.
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