Gatsby Final Discussion

          The characters and the plot in the movie are very closely related the way they are portrayed in the novel. From the movie there two major characters that I noticed that were most or least like their characters in the novel. Tom’s character shared the most similarity in the book and novel and Nick’s character seemed to stray the most.

            When we first see Tom in the movie he is on his polo horse showing off all of his money and his toned physique. As the movie progresses Tom’s character is more like the book he gets angry with Daisy for calling him “hulking”, he treats her poorly, and he doesn’t take it well when he finds out she is cheating on him. His mannerisms and poor judgment are also highlighted throughout. He is poor judgment is exhibited in his choice to have a mistress and how to deal with Daisy’s affair. Not only does he poorly decide how to deal with these life problems his decision to help Wilson find the owner of the runaway car highlights his poor judgment. Tom’s character stays closely related to him in the movie and the book, but Nick’s character has some very drastic changes.    

Nick first appears in an asylum for the mentally ill in the movie. This characterization of him is hard to see because he stayed sane through Gatsby’s crazy life. The movie then feels that Nick is narrating the story to try and find where he went insane. In the novel if felt more like Nick was finding who he is and who to trust. Only in the end does he fully understand Gatsby’s decisions and beliefs. Nick did find relief after Gatsby and Myrtle’s deaths because he didn’t have to keep as many secrets from the people he was closest to. The similarities and differences in Nick and Tom’s characters were so easily detected because of how closely the script followed the plot.

The plot in the movie followed the novel almost to a tee. The major change that was exhibited was why Nick was narrating the story. In the opening scene Nick is shown living at an asylum and he is talking with his doctor about his past. When his doctor suggests that he should write about Gatsby that is what takes us back into Nick’s memories and the beginning of the novel. The next major change in the plot was after Myrtle’s death. Tom, Nick, and Jordan arrive at the Wilson’s garage after she has been moved on to the work bench. Nick and Jordan stand back and watch Tom interact with others around at try to find Wilson. When Tom finally finds Wilson he takes him to the side and calms him down to tell him who killed his wife. The huge difference between the novel and movie was that Wilson sought Tom out the following day to find information about who killed his wife.

Many of the scenes in the movie were just as the described them in the book. The scenes of the small get together in New York, Gatsby’s parties, and when Daisy and Gatsby meet. I thought the party scene with Tom’s mistress in New York was perfect. The furniture was just a bit too big and the people there were the ones invited. Not only did the small parties shine on the big screen the big ones did too. Gatsby’s parties were so wild on screen that it was hard to see all that was happening at once like at one of his actual parties. Gatsby also showed his great love for showiness when he met Daisy again at Nick’s house. The amount of flowers and the food that he brought over for the tea was just as it was in the novel. There were many other scenes that were spectacularly played out, but these were the ones that made the most impact. As Gatsby would say, “Good show, old sport.”