Research the names of the two songs Luhrman uses in the trailer. Discuss why you think he used these songs and how accurate is the trailer?
The trailer begins
with the song “No Church in the Wild” by Kanye West & Jay-Z. From the first
notes we hear, the reasons for Luhrman’s choice of soundtrack becomes apparent.
The first beats of the song instill a sense of anticipation, with its blend of
dark undertones creating a sense of building tension and ‘the restlessness”
that “approached hysteria” as pointed out by the voice of Nick Carraway. The song’s agitated rhythm compliments the extraneous
party taking place, and the lyrics are an accurate reflection of the main
concepts of the novel. The song portrays the lack of depth within the Roaring
Twenties, questioning the significance of the superficial wealth for those “Who
don't believe in anything?” The song’s references to the church and its
religious connotations consolidate with the novel’s portrayal of the reverence
that wealth held in that time, and the veneration that it seemed to procure. Luhrman’s
ingenious choice of a contemporary song relates these concepts to a modern
audience and applies the criticisms by F Scott Fitzgerald of the society that
he lived in, to the world we live in today.
Subsequent
to a few well timed moments of anticipatory silence, the trailer launches into
the song "Love Is Blindness”, the u2
cover by Jack White. Its gradual start is a perfect introduction to
another aspect of the novel – the tragic love story between Daisy and Gatsby.
The opening chords of the song are sudden and uncertain, much like the meeting
between Daisy and Gatsby that it illustrates – the awkward reunion of two
lovers that have nothing and yet five years of unexpressed words to say to each
other. The song is permeated with emotion that heightens along with the events
in the trailer, augmenting the impact the sequence of scenes has on the
audience. Luhrman’s choice of this song serves to not only amplify the
atmosphere throughout the trailer, but like the preceding “No Church in the
Wild”, hints at the themes of the novel within its lyrics. The lyrics “Love is
blindness, I don’t want to see” are a synopsis of Gatsby’s and Daisy’s
relationship towards each other. Both are transfixed by the supercilious façade
of glamorous luxury of each other, and are blind, or unable to see the true
person beneath the appearance. Gatsby fails to see Daisy as a person beneath
the unattainable but so desirable aura of prestige that she projects, and Daisy
falls in love with the idea Gatsby being a man that she could truly love,
someone unaffected by the lavish extravagance around him, but still part of it.
To both of them, unable to see the respective truths, as in the lyrics of the
song “love is drowning”
Films are more often, more than inaccurate representations of the novel they
are trying to depict. Luhrman’s attempts to portray the atmosphere of “The
Great Gatsby” are particularly valid in the scene where Gatsby is throwing his
collection of shirts towards Daisy. Not only is this a precise representation
of the same scene in the book, it is a scene that summarizes the idea behind
the novel – the overwhelming emphasis on extravagance with no regards for
consequences or repercussions. The scene in the novel represents everything
that was wrong with the American Dream, the idolization of wealth in the
“shirts, piled like bricks in stacks a dozen high”. It portrays the decaying
void that is thinly veiled by the supercilious attempts to counterfeit class –
the complete belittlement, yet glorification of aristocracy. Daisy’s reaction to
this overt show of wealth is an insight into her true character, her
extreme materialism. Her tears show her attitude towards love, or perhaps her
inability to love - because Gatsby can now afford an assortment of lavish
shirts, he is more worthy to be loved than what he was five years ago, a man
with nothing.