First, gut reaction to the Great Gatsby preview? Please, kill me now. Or take me back in time to the 1920s, where I can just read the book again and again without fear of some abomination and perversion of a film coming along and trying to ruin it for me and a million Gatsby lovers.
Who knows, it may grow on me? And I will still go see it, but I may have to pretend that it is in no way connected with the book if I am actually to be able to sit through it. If I am capable of detaching myself and watching it as a Baz Luhrmann film, rather than an interpretation of one of the best books ever written, it may even be possible to enjoy it...
Everyone will be already be asking the same question but... what are your thoughts? I'd love to hear, both those in agreement and those against me!
((deepest of all possible groans)) I think Hollywood's snatched up my dream journal again and is slowly wrecking all my very favorite things for me... HUGE F Scott + Zelda fan, HUGE Dark Shadows fan, DARK year of out Lord 2012 for me and going to the movies!
ReplyDeleteI just hate how things have to be "modernized" so that people will "connect" with them (those are the angriest quotation marks I can muster, btw!). It just looks so cartoony. I wish someone would do a Scorcese' "Age of Innocence" style adaptation of some of Fitzgerald's work, with the kind of understanding and feel it deserves. But, as always, I'll just sit on my hands and wait for this one to die away.
LOL, my thoughts! Just finished the book with my reading club. We all did enjoy it and this preview looks completely different from my imagination. Way too over the top and in your face. All subtleties are blasted away, what's left of the dense prose? Ofcourse, what can you tell from a preview? Not a lot probably, but the music just makes me shudder and fear for the worst. Oh dear!
ReplyDeleteI posted this trailer on my blog, too, to see reactions. I see some elements of the book reflected in a way that I actually think 'work' in relation to Fitzgerald's themes, narrative perspective, etc. However, I'll have to save my full critique until after I've seen it all.
ReplyDeleteMy initial reaction was one of horror - and, as Superheidi said, all the subtleties seem to have been lost. However, I suppose I'll watch it as an interpretation of Gatsby, and accept its Luhrmanness with that.
ReplyDeleteFor me it looks far too glossy, and Luhrmann's trademark modernisation seems to be very much in evidence even in the short trailer. I suppose we'll have to wait and see, but going by this clip I'm not holding out much hope.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I've given you a little blog award here. Congratulations!
Thanks so much! Will try to put together a response post soon, though I always find random facts so hard to come up with... But I'm honoured by the award.
DeleteI am a massive fan of the book and I am a huge Baz Luhrman fan. I wasn't expecting the two to go together well and I was prepairing to hate it, but I have to say I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! It is just sumptious! Anything Baz Luhrman comes up with will always be a theatrical exaggeration of the original, look at Romeo and Juliet. With that in mind I think it'll be hard for people to critise it. He has only done what he always done and I'm am very very exctied to get swept up again into another one of his worlds.
ReplyDeleteGreat hearing all your thoughts! It's certainly going to give fuel for lots of heated discussions, which will be fun...
ReplyDeleteStumbled on this one today, interesting:
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/Asajgm-ciWA
Okay, that is actually amazing! Thanks so much for sharing! xxx
DeleteWell, the costumes do look great. I don't know about the feel of it compared to the book (too long ago that I read it), but the version of U2's Love Is Blindness (it's not them, is it? but why not?) has a nastier, more threatening feel than their original, so maybe that will apply to the film compared to the book.
ReplyDeleteOh, I recommend reading it again. Not too long but so immersive... The cover is by Jack White, of The White Stripes fame. A friend of mine really likes it, but I'd rather just listen to the White Stripes or U2 personally!
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