The Great Gatsby

I recently watched The Great Gatsby, some months after reading the book. While on its own the movie was good, I was struck by the differences between the novel and the movie. Many changes were made in the plot, which somewhat changed the emotions associated with it. The changes are evident from the very beginning of the movie. In the film, Nick has checked himself into a mental sanitarium for “morbid alcoholism.” While in the novel, Nick claims that he has been drunk “just twice” in his life, the movie shows him indulging in alcoholism far more than twice. Furthermore, while the novel discreetly implies hat Nick wrote The Great Gatsby (when Nick states that “Gatsby is the man who gave name to this book”), the movie goes further and shows Nick writing the story while at the Sanitarium, which takes away some of the original mystery of the novel.

The entire affair between Nick and Jordan that happens in the novel was cut out of the film. The beginning of the movie suggests that Nick and Jordan will start a relationship, but the matter is dropped and does not resurface for the rest of the film, leaving a loose end. In addition, Jordan is seen leaving on of Gatsby’s parties with another man, something that was not in the novel. Finally, in the movie, upon first meeting Jordan, Nick expresses that he finds Jordan frightening, a term never used in the novel.

Later, at Tom’s party, Nick waits in the living room while Tom and Myrtle loudly have sex in the bedroom. While this scene is implied in the novel, it is not nearly as explicit and central to that scene. When the party begins, Myrtle’s sister gives Nick a pill that she got from a doctor. This incident is never mentioned in the novel either. Finally, Nick wakes up home with no idea how he got there. In the novel however, Nick wakes up in on of he guests’ apartment and takes a train home.

Two characters were also completely omitted from the movie. In the novel, Nick has a maid, a Finnish woman who muttered to herself and made his bed. This decision was perhaps to emphasize how poor Nick is compared to his wealthy neighbors. While that is the same in the novel, the movie portrays Nick far more cash-strapped than is implied in the novel.  The second missing character is Ella Kaye; she is the woman who (in the novel) cheated Gatsby of Dan Cody’s fortune.

The final part of the plot, Gatsby’s death and funeral, were perhaps the most altered events. Gatsby’s death in the novel is not explicitly described; the audience only knows that Gatsby takes a pneumatic mattress into the pool and the chauffeur then hears the gunshots. In the movie, we see Wilson shoot Gatsby with a single shot to the back while he climbs out of the pool. Furthermore, the movie depicts Gatsby climbing out of the pool for a phone call, which he believes is from Daisy, while in fact it is Nick calling. This entire scene is not in the book and was added for drama in the movie. The funeral was also significantly “darkened.”  The attendance of Gatsby’s father and “Owl eyes” are also omitted from the film.

While most of these changes were minor, I found them particularly noticeable. While the altered “death scene” gives the audience comfort, knowing that Gatsby died thinking that Daisy chose him, it takes away from the colder feelings in the novel.