The Great Gatsby Novel vs. Film

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Many classic novels have been adapted over time into motion pictures. Whether it is an older novel, such as Gone With the Wind or To Kill a Mockingbird, as well as modern literature, like the Harry Potter series or the Lord of the Rings trilogy, nearly all book-based movies omit a lot of essential details. However, some movies actually exclude or change a good amount of detail but follow the plot closely enough to make a satisfying homage to the book in film form. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is quite difficult to classify whether it fits this profile of a leaky novel-based film or not, decided by careful consideration of all shared and excluded dialogue, plot, characterizations and character interactions present in the original storyline versus the film. One type of significant difference in comparing and contrasting the film and novel are dialogue changes. Certain dialogue is vital to be in both adaptations of the story, and even changing the timing of character’s lines can affect the story and audience. A subtle example of altered dialogue is present right after the scene where Nick, Jordan and Tom stop at George Wilson’s garage when they notice the crowd gathering around. The curious group asks a police officer at the garage what had happened, learning that Myrtle Wilson was killed instantly after she had been struck by a large yellow car. Immediately, the three realize that it was Gatsby’s car and rush back to the Buchanan’s house where Nick finds Gatsby standing by the bushes. The audience would then have to wait until later the next day to discover the driver was in fact Daisy and not Gatsby, but in the novel Gatsby tells Nick as soon as they arrive to the Buchanan’s that Daisy was driving his car. This may be a slight alteration of the dialogue between the movie and novel, but it affects those watching who

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