The Great Gatsby film is one of the most popular throughout the world. The Baz Luhrmann version incorporates classical 20's jazz, but with a hint of newer music to attract the younger generations. By doing this, it strengthened the movie as a whole. Music, to me, helps the audience understand the movie. The music tells us if it is a sad, happy, angry, or suspenseful scene. By adding the newer music that the audience is familiar with really reals them in and assisting them with identifying each character and what kind of person today they would relate to.
One thing I vividly remember when reading The Great Gatsby is how everything and everyone was personified to symbolize money. Gatsby’s silk-spun shirts are either gold or silver or green-colored. Every one of the characters is assigned a specific value, which Nick precociously weighs in his mind. In short, everyone in this book looks like money, and fittingly, this soundtrack resounds like thick coins clinking together in a pile. Luhrmann and Jay-Z both know that hype sells.
Hey Dan! I think you bring up a very interesting point about the choice of music. This roaring 20s movie was definitely transformed with a modern twist due to the choice of music. I think it was a great choice to add modern music because the plot still stayed the same, but the choice of music made the movie appeal to many more generations. Also, I think it was a good idea to change the music so that the new movie didn’t follow the old one. It gave it its own twist which made it unique and draw people in. Also, I noticed the symbol of green things as well in the movie. It was interesting to see how they incorporated each symbol in the movie since they couldn't deeply describe each one like they did in the book. For example, the green light is a huge part of Gatsby’s journey to winning Daisy’s heart and it was described and mentioned a lot in the book, where as in the movie they dedicated a couple scenes to green light and Gatsby to show its importance.
ReplyDeleteHello Dan! I really like your last statement that read, "Luhrmann and Jay-Z both know that hype sells," because I feel that is not only very true, but very important as well. Hype does sell. I found the book to be less interesting than I anticipated it to be, so when I heard the music in the movie and the vibrant colors, I was happy to see that there was some life added to the characters. I was also able to take everything that symbolized money from the book and see it first hand from the movie because Luhrmann took those symbols and made sure that they were just as important in the movie as they were in the actual novel. Going back to your very first statement that "The Great Gatsby" is one of the most popular movies throughout the world, I believe that it was as successful as it was because it was transformed into something that appealed to numerous audiences. Like you said, the music was changed in such a way that added to what the novel already was, and I believe if that wasn't done it would not have been so successful.
ReplyDeleteHey Danielle, I agree with you that the updated music helps us relate to the scenes more than Jazz music from the 20's. I felt more connected with the scenes as a result of the updated soundtrack, and builds around the plot of the movie in order to help strengthen the movie as a whole. You also pointed out that it appeared that everyone in the movie was assigned a specific role that they were supposed to fill. These roles were typically revolved around money as you said, and I think this was an interesting way to tell a second story that might not have been on the forefront of all of our discussions. We often asked the question of "Can you repeat the past?" but maybe we should have also focused on "Can money buy happiness?" Awesome Post!
ReplyDeleteYo Dani! I also wrote about the music in the movie. I agree with much of what you have to say. In the course of a movie, the music does definitely help inform the audience of the mood at the moment. I also agree that the modern music allows the younger audience to connect further with a story that was written generations in the past. Most of the songs have a lot to do with the main ideas in the story as well. In your second paragraph, I enjoyed how you brought up the fact that you resurrected the idea of how everyone is connected to money. This is a pivotal idea in the story that ultimately shapes how the story happens. Well done, Dani!
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