5. The Relationship Between Daisy And Gatsby
So earlier I discussed how much I liked the movie's romantic approach to Gatsby's character. But there's a difference between romanticism and actual romance. And in this case, only Gatsby's side of the romance worked. Daisy's reaction to him, and the way their relationship develops together, is completely off. One of the most interesting aspects of Gatsby's obsession with Daisy, as presented in the book, is that it's relatively one sided. Daisy is the green light, the distant, gleaming illusion across the bay that is always just beyond Gatsby's reach. And when he finally grasps her in the novel, you very much get the sense that she's just allowing herself to be swept away; that she senses how much she means to him, and goes along with it because of his overwhelming adoration of her. The love she declares for him seems more to be a result of his coersive influence than a genuine feeling. It's like the illusion has spread from him to her, and she too is so deceived by it to the point that she thinks she loves him too. It's clear in the book that everything that made their relationship special happened 5 years ago, and couldn't be reclaimed. But the movie portrays their romance as though it's just as palpable in the present as it was in the past. In the book the scene where they meet for the first time after 5 years is a moment of triumph on Gatsby's side, because he seems to think he has her again. But Daisy's sobbing indicates to me a kind of mourning - tears of loss and regret, not happiness. The movie plays it as a moment of happiness, like her knight in shining armor has finally returned to sweep her off her feet. Then there's the moment when Daisy sobs to Gatsby that "It makes me sad because I've never seen such - such beautiful shirts before." In the book the statement is doused with regret, the whirlwind of colored shirts reminding Daisy all the more that her world is now a black and white one, with no color or hope. But the movie plays it as a moment of hope, as the possibility of a reignited romance. And of course there's the hotel room scene. Daisy tries to go along with Gatsby's desires to run away together, but her reluctance makes it clear that "she had never, all along intended on doing anything at all." In her heart she seems to know that her rekindled romance with Gatsby is a temporary fling. But this same scene in the movie has Daisy going along with Gatsby until he pushes her too far. In the novel, we understand that there was nothing tangible to push. In portraying Daisy as giving Gatsby her full adoration, it makes far less sense when Daisy finally rejects Gatsby in the hotel. Why would she pull away from someone she's so in love with just because he raised his fist to her husband, a man she barely even likes? This is probably why Luhrmann chose to insert the aforementioned clumsy "Gatsby threatens Buchanan" moment. There seemed to be no justifiable reason for her to leave him, so a moment of violence probably seemed like a good way to make up for that. The movie also insists upon playing up the "Daisy needs to tell Tom she doesn't love him" angle. When Gatsby makes this demand in the book, it reaffirms the power of his illusions, but in the movie, when the demand turns Daisy off, it takes on the appearance of a wrong move by an overly needy boyfriend. We're left with the sense that if he hadn't been so pushy and just left well enough alone, they actually could have had a happy romance together. This is nonsense, as the book makes it very clear that there was not a single chance they would ever work out. And so this aspect of the movie standardizes the Daisy/Gatsby romance into your typical cinematic love story. Which is a shame, because overall the movie gets the illusion angle right. But the over-focused romance with Daisy undermines the point. It doesn't ruin the movie, but it makes its themes less focused. It also makes you wonder why the heck Daisy is staying with Buchanan when he's clearly a loudmouthed, unpleasant brute. They have virtually no connection to each other, and Gatsby seems infinitely more appealing. But in the book you understand it, because Daisy is clearly already aware on some level that her romance with Gatsby is an overwrought trip down memory lane. She seems to have accepted, however sad it may be, that her marriage to Tom is an immovable reality, and their connection is too deep to make way for the illusion of Gatsby. Because we understand her and Tom's history and the permanence of their marriage versus Gatsby's impermanence, we understand her decision. In the movie it just seems like she's choosing her horrible, cheating husband over the gentleman she was always destined to be with. It doesn't make sense, and it harms the narrative. The movie constantly tries to tell us that everything is an illusion, but the very reality of the Daisy and Gatsby romance, as portrayed by Luhrmann, undermines that idea. Like any adaptation, The Great Gatsby incurred the changes the director thought were necessary, even if he was off in a few places. And it channelled enough of the book's heart and soul that one can overlook the missed points. Against a concept so inherently designed for the page, Luhrmann faced an unenviable challenge in attempting to translate it for the screen. His vision became something like Gatsby himself, a nearly impossible dream beating against the current. Like the dreamer himself, Luhrmann held the desire of reaching the green light. But unlike the dreamer, he may not have failed to grasp it. So there you have it, the 5 changes from the book that worked and the 5 that didn't! Agree? Disagree? Have your own ideas of what the film did and didn't get right? Sound off in the comments below!