The Great Gatsby - Adaptation Data

       One of the most notable differences between the original novel The Great Gatsby and the Baz Luhrmann remake is the addition of a Hip-Hop soundtrack to the movie. Obviously, hip hop music had not been created in the same form as it is currently back in the 1920’s. Jazz music was the lively and dangerous music to be heard blaring at parties like Gatsby’s. However, as the times have changed since the book’s original publishing in 1925, the realm of music is quite different, and jazz is no longer the “typical party music” of today. The addition of a modernized soundtrack, filled with hip hop/rap singles, seems like a basic ploy to catch the attention of the youth of today. But really, there is actual significance to the type of modern music Luhrmann decided to add to the new adaptation. 

          

       In the novel, there is talk of an orchestra to underscore a party, “no thin five-piece affair but a whole pitful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos and low and high drums…the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music…” (Fitzgerald 44). Likewise, in the novel, there is no artistic, abstract section which focuses on the parties. There is much more emphasis on the visuals of the party in the film. This is undoubtedly so that the watcher of the film can appreciate more of the exquisite scenery and large cast, which cost the producers quite a bit a money. Also, this is a prevalent tool used in film, dialogue-less artistic shots of the scenery, usually scored, that cannot be used in a novel because of inabilities of the apparatus. 

                Based solely on this screen-grab from a scene of Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, a singular comparison/contrast can be made, in terms of the musical group performing at a Gatsby affair.

                    In the novel:

                            ·         “no thin five-piece affair”

                            ·         “whole pitful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and
                                    piccolos and low and high drums”

                             ·         “the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music”

                     In the film:

                             ·         A smaller group, not five-piece, but not a whole orchestra

                             ·         A charming group of people in fezzes

                             ·         A Rick Astley-esque leader

                             ·         All-white cast

         It would seem as though the film is down-playing the grandiosity of the party by having a smaller musical group, smaller = less extravagant. It seems more plausible that a man would have a 7-10 person group playing a party than the entirety of a classical orchestra; however, the movie actually seems to depict the Gatsby parties as quite embellished, regardless of the small size of the musical affair. This is partially because there is little visual focus on the band itself, and partially due to the fact that the band pictured couldn’t possibly be responsible for the actual music in the soundtrack scoring this party. 

          The all-white cast of the film’s musical group is to be expected, and I would imagine that it might be the same for the orchestra depicted in the novel; however, it is ironic that the music in the film be played by an all-white group when the music in the film, particularly at the party scenes, is not made by white men or even in a genre populated by white men. Whereas in the novel, it is quite possible that an all-white professional orchestra could play jazz music, the “risqué” party music of the time, it is much less likely that the all-white group in the film is playing songs like Fergie’s “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody” and Will.I.Am’s “Bang Bang.” 

         This inconsistency in the film aside, it would not be surprising for Gatsby to entertain guests of color even in the 1920’s, considering his wild and risky nature. In fact, there is a later party scene in which an all-black musical group is playing a party.

       The choice of music, both in the novel and in the film, add to this idea of mystery and danger, of risky partying, that Gatsby and the whole novel portray. The differences between the two lie in the type of music being played throughout. In the original novel, there is jazz music, or “yellow cocktail music.” In the Baz Luhrmann remake, there is hip hop and rap. Why is this?

           The hip-hop soundtrack, too, stemmed from Luhrmann's understanding of Fitzgerald as an
           unflinching modernist. "He took African-American street music, jazz, and he put it front and
           center in the novel," Luhrmann said. "He did that because he wanted the book to feel
           immediate and dangerous." But the jazz of the 1920s has long since matured into something
           "classical and quaint," so Luhrmann turned to a newer form: hip hop. (Hogan)

                Because jazz music is no longer scene as “dangerous” music meant to be played at underground hardcore parties, Luhrmann had to turn to today’s general party music, the hip-hop genre. This music choice has another significance, however, a cultural one. Not only is the hip-hop the “edgy” music of today, in parallel to jazz in the 1920’s, but both genres also share a similar source.

           Luhrmann has steeped himself in both Fitzgerald and the Jazz Age. He immersed himself in
           Fitzgerald's biography. He read previous drafts of the novel. He even has a reason for using
           rock and hip-hop music on his soundtrack: The seemingly anachronistic sounds are the
           equivalent of jazz in the novel's 1922 setting, when the music was "referred to as an African
           American fad," the director told the New York Times. (Leopold)

The music choices reflected a certain class of party-goers of their respective times, jazz in the 1920’s and hip hop in the 2010’s, but there was also the underlying fact that both edgy forms of music were created by African Americans and seen as dangerous fads because of their origins. Although the small music groups pictured in the film pale in comparison to the concert-sized orchestra described in the novel, the most important part of the music in each story, the danger-filled, African-American-generated, lively and dangerous quality of the music, is shared between both the original and the new film. It just so happens that whereas jazz was the risqué music of the 1920’s, it isn’t any longer, and Luhrmann was actually quite reflective in his decision to score the movie with hip-hop, the cultural equivalent of jazz in today’s society.  

References:  

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print.

Hogan, M. (2013, May 13). Baz Luhrmann, 'Great Gatsby' Director, Explains The 3D, The Hip Hop, The Sanitarium And More. The Huffington Post. Retrieved October 5, 2015, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/13/baz-luhrmann-great-gatsby_n_3265327.html

Leopold, T. (2013, May 9). 'Unfilmable' novels? No such thing, says Hollywood. CNN. Retrieved October 5, 2015, from http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/09/showbiz/movies/unfilmable-novels-adaptations-gatsby/