Great Gatsby Book Vs Film Essay
While the free essays can give you inspiration for writing, they cannot be used 'as is' because they will not meet your assignment's requirements. If you are in a time crunch, then you need a custom written term paper on your subject (great gatsby book vs film)
Here you can hire an independent writer/researcher to custom write you an authentic essay to your specifications that will pass any plagiarism test (e.g. Turnitin). Waste no more time!
Great Gatsby: Book vs. Film
Before the invention of television and film the art of story telling was restricted to theater and literature. Theater was and still is performed live by actors who tell some kind of story through their performance. But theater is still limited greatly in its ability to convey setting to the viewer. In order to fully grasp the power of any story one must believe, in a sense, that the events are happening before them. Literature is better able to accomplish this by utilizing the power of the human imagination. Even more than this literature has the ability to describe human emotion through the use of strong metaphors and colorful language. It is this technique of writing that remains unique to literature. Even film cannot approach the human emotion and heart that literature has given people over the ages. Yet film is not without advantages of its own. Film can have strong power behind it. A kind of power that a viewer is forced to see and feel. This power is delivered though a film s soundtrack, it s quick pace, and in recent years, the use of special effects. Good books are often made into films. Which is better? The answer to that question depends on the intentions of the author of the book.
Both film and literature are a form of art. They are fiction and they create a false reality and a plot that is bound by that false reality. When comparing the two the intentions of the artist must be considered. When John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath he intended the book to be sort of modern day epic that modeled the patterns of old world epics such as The Odyssey. Steinbeck wanted people to read a book that would take them into the human side of the troubles facing many farmers during the Great Depression. The book includes interchapters that do not advance the plot but serve only to offer another, more general point of the events being presented in the actual story. An attempt to model something like this in film would be futile as its meaning would become lost. Toni Morrison s Beloved is another example of book that could never be translated into film and maintain the power of its literature counterpart. Most of that book is based on metaphors and symbolism. Rather than say that a character is in distress over something symbolism is used to give the reader something that most people can relate to so that they can identify with the hardship facing the character. Literature will always be able to offer emotion and passion more powerfully than film. Film is not without its own virtues, however. People rely on vision more than any other sense and to see something magnificent in person is far better than reading about it. Mel Gibson s Braveheart told a story of Scottish rebels fighting against their English oppressors. Reading a story of massive battles is of no comparison to seeing hundreds of people on a big screen battling for freedom and life. Add a powerful and moving soundtrack and this film is superior to any book telling a similar story. Then there are books that deal with normal life situations that can be easily told through both literature and film. In this case, as it is with The Great Gatsby, the intentions of the author must be evaluated..
The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was originally a book written in 1925. Several years later the book was translated into film. The book is written in first person narrative from the point of view of one of its main characters Nick Carraway. The choice of first person narrative by Fitzgerald causes the reader to be brought closer to the level of the characters in the book, rather than be at a distance as would be the case with a third person narrative. A story told in the first person most likely includes the personal feelings of whoever tells it. Nick Carraway begins the book with the line, In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I ve been turning over in my mind ever since, (p 5). Immediately emotion has been handed to the reader through Carraway s words. This line implies that at the present time of story telling Carraway has grown in some way since the time he refers to as his more vulnerable years. Film can do this as well, but only on a limited basis by using a voice over. No one wants to see a movie that has a continuous voice over but a first person narrative in a book is one large voice over and the narrator s feelings are continuously expressed to the reader.
One important scene in both the book and the movie is when Carraway meets Gatsby for the first time at his party. In this scene Carraway does not immediately recognize Gatsby because he has never seen him before. Up until this point Carraway has only heard of Gatsby and he is very interested in meeting the person himself as Gatsby is a very unique individual. The fascination and anticipation that Carraway has for meeting Gatsby is not communicated very well in the film because the viewer of the film does not know what Carraway is thinking or feeling. The reader...
MLA Style
. EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 24 May, 2012 from
<http://essaymania.com/145528/great-gatsby-book-vs-film>
More College Papers
Socialism essay
Socialist Theme in Recent History
The seemingly swift rush of technological and industrial development throughout the 18th and 19th centuries led to success and advancement in the standard of living and abilities and comforts available to the public. This heightened life was not, however, availabl
The Great Gastby essay
The Great Gatsby? F. Scott Fitzgerald s Great Gatsby tells a story about the American Dream, and the downfall of those who attempt to reach its illusionary goals. The American Dream has always been based on the idea that each person, no matter who he is, can become successful in life by his hard wor
Behind The Wheel essay
What It Feels Like Behind The Wheel by Richard Corliss
The article was out of a recent magazine regarding what it is like to drive a race
car in the Nascar circuit. The article goes further to explain what happens on a routine
race day for a known race car driver by the name of Derrike Cope. He a