Taking on Gatsby: A Director’s Tall Task

Many films have been adapted from literature with much success.  1 However, adapting a novel as beloved as The Great Gatsby has proved to be a great challenge. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic tale of 1920s excess 2 have been taken on by Hollywood four times: in 1926, 1949, 1974, and 2013. None met with widespread critical or popular success. As a novel, The Great Gatsby has become a mainstay of American popular culture, so when readers go to the movies to see Jay Gatsby come to life, their expectations are high. Viewers should keep in mind, though, that adapting a novel into a film is more complicated than it seems, and literary film adaptations should be evaluated on their own merits.

The issue of fidelity is the first thing that stands in the way of fairly 3 negotiating a film adaptation. Many viewers want to see the literary source portrayed on screen exactly as it was written, especially when the plot and characters are as memorable as 4 that of The Great Gatsby. The 1974 film adaptation was recognized for following Fitzgerald’s novel to the 5 letter, however, the movie was also criticized for being lifeless and dull. 6 A film is limited to the length of time that the production is allowed to run, and the director must use this time to create an immediate, sensory impact, not a visual retelling of a book.

  7 Because Fitzgerald had unlimited space in The Great Gatsby to create as many characters, plots, and subplots as he desired, the directors of film adaptations have the advantages of theatrical performance, the spoken word, music, sound effects, and photographic images. The director of the most recent film adaptation of The Great Gatsby was credited for shaping Fitzgerald’s material to fit his own artistic sensibility and 8 also his own contemporary perspective. Although the inclusion of hip- hop culture and high-end consumerism in this latest film surprised some critics and probably some faithful readers of the novel, at least the director 9 made the movie using the tools of his own medium.

  10 People love movies. This is the hard reality that must be faced when viewing the film version of a beloved book. Though it may be difficult, The Great Gatsby must be taken off its literary pedestal before one goes to see its filmic counterpart. Books are capable of inspiring countless interpretations. Film adaptations deserve the same creative space. 11