A thematic-content comparison of the 1974 and 2013 ‘The Great Gatsby’ film adaptations in the light of contemporary film adaptation theory

Abstract

With many books being transformed into movies, film adaptation theorists try to explain the process of adaptation while attempting to observe how adaptations can be faithful to their source text. This research analysis goes through adaptation studies and fidelity theories seeking to analyze and discuss how fidelity is impracticable as intertextuality, like adaptation, seeks to reinvent the familiar into a new work of art. I chose two different versions of The Great Gatsby to be analyzed and compared examining how the director’s chose to depict the novel’s main themes. Furthermore, I compared these two versions to show their dissimilarities in terms of Form, Context and Style. Whereas Form explores cinematographic features of the cinema like the mise-en-scene, sound, camera work, editing and narration, Style examines the director’s personal mode of expression in film and how his/her style influence the final version and the narrative content too. The shift from literature to film demands that all aspects of the filmed novel are analyzed in order to examine how the director and screenwriter transform a literary work into film. All results were presented highlighting the directors’ respective approaches and how they fail or succeed in capturing the following themes: the American Dream, Social Stratification and Morality and Spirituality. In an attempt to see if the two versions are faithful to the novel, the concept of intertextuality was reviewed and finally combined with the study of adaptation, bringing to light the aesthetic limitations of fidelity studies.