The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is said to be ‘the supreme American novel’, but is it possible to say the same for the film adaptation of this classic piece of literature? The television film adaptation of The Great Gatsby done in the year 2000 was by the A&E Cable Network. The film and the book were vastly similar but there were also the few details that stuck out and differentiated it from the actual book. The book portrays the motif of car crashes, literally and metaphorically, quite differently than the film version.
The actual car crash that had the biggest effect on the viewer/reader in both the book and the film is when Daisy accidently hits Myrtle Wilson, a hit and run. When reading this in the book one can’t really picture the scale of the impact or the way in which Myrtle was hit. In the book, Tom, Jordan and Nick are driving back from New York and they see the commotion and the whole scene. There wasn’t any part in the book where the author wrote the actual happening of Daisy hitting Myrtle. The film was able to provide a graphic and intense display of Myrtle getting run over, something the book was lacking. This had a more serious effect on the viewer of the film as well. Car crashes in a metaphorical sense are different but just as shocking.
Once such metaphorical car crash is that sudden and surprising moment when Tom smacks Myrtle across the face and causes her nose to bleed. Like the previous car crash stated, this one was also dulled over in the book, it was a quick and less serious situation in the book. It was over in a matter of seconds as well. In the movie, there was the whole scene played out and the viewer is able to visually experience the aggressiveness of Tom and the silliness of Myrtle. The use of sound is also very important in this metaphorical car crash, the slap across Myrtle’s face can be heard and with this it becomes more severe.
There was the first car crash in the book, the one dealing with Owl Eyes after he had left Gatsby’s party. This whole scene took up quite a few pages in chapter three, although within the film this scene did not take place. The director had probably decided to leave the scene out, seeing as how it could be sacrificed to fit more important scenes in the movie. Owl Eyes is seen once in the film and that’s it for him, a very minor character in both film and book.
Basic definition of a crash is for an object to collide violently an obstacle or another moving object. The car crashes, metaphorically and literally, within The Great Gatsby are all quite drastic and unexpected. The car crash is an effect that is well played out in both the film and the book; it provides various climaxes throughout the story. It shows the extent to which things can suddenly turn bad and mess up in common day happenings.
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