The newer the better? A comparison of the 1974 and 2013 film adaptations of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby

Abstract

The present work deals with the question whether a new adaptation of a literary work, in spite of unconventional elements and the blockbuster cinema, can outclass a prior and more traditional version. Moreover, it aims at demonstrating the importance of moving away from fidelity discourse in the field of film adaptation studies and of considering different aspects for the evaluation of a movie. For this, we compared and analyzed some selected elements of the narration, the historical background of the Roaring Twenties and the contextual frameworks of the 1974 and 2013 adaptations of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. This examination demonstrated that it is, in fact, the new movie that successfully recreates this classic in a personal way without setting aside the range of aspects and the author’s criticism. Therefore, it does not reduce the story to a simple romance as happens with the older version. Additionally, the analysis proved that only a variety of strategies and aspects, shifting away from the strict faithfulness to the original that contravenes the individual creativity, can do justice to an adaptation and the filmmaker’s interpretation of the source text. As a result, it stresses the importance of further developing this new way of approaching and evaluating modern film versions with the help of a multifaceted view, drawing the distinction between analysis and review.