The Great Gatsby: Critical Analysis of Social Class Representation in the Adaptation of the Novel to Cinematographic Language

Abstract

[eng] This paper studies the film remake created in 2013 by Baz Luhrman and Craig Pearce based on Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby (1925). The focus is specially placed on how the reworking process is managed and its use of cinematographic language in order to create a piece of cohesive-cinema. This is accomplished by following Grissom’s ‘six-question cohesive cinema analysis’ which provides a useful guide to proceed with the study. It consists of a series of questions critics can use to determine whether thematic consistency is achieved or not, and how. Moreover, the paper combines the study of film lexicon with the representation of key themes related to social class, social stratification and the American dream. The main findings of the project show that through the combination of an understanding of the main themes, a mixing of the ‘conversion’ and ‘intepretation’ styles and the analysis of the remake according to the cultural expectations the medium of expression carries, Luhrman accomplishes a piece of cohesive cinema.