Baz Luhrman directed drama The Great Gatsby in 2013. Stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan took part in the film and played the main characters. The film was anticipated in 2013 and its screening became the great event. IN turn, High Fidelity is a comedy-drama movie starring John Cusack and it was screened 13 years before the Great Gatsby. Despite it received many positive reviews screening of that Nick Hornby’s novel was not as anticipated as the F. Scott Fitzgerald’s adaptation. These films are very different in style, in directing, in soundtracks. Yet they are both movies that describe stories of a man and of love.
As both films are adaptations of books, they have narrator, who sets the tone of the whole movie. The Great Gatsby shows the audience Nick Carraway, university graduate and veteran of the World War I. Besides, he is treating his alcoholism. He talks about a man named Gatsby and his doctor suggests him to write the whole story down. In this movie narrator is not the main character, he is just a spectator. He witnessed all the events, yet he barely played any role in their happening. The narrator is only a passive participant in this film. As for another film, narrator and the main character is one person. Rob Gordon, owner of the music shop and guy with poor understanding of women, tells the story of his life and analyzes his relationship with ex-girlfriends. He often talks to the audience and with Bruce Springsteen inside his head. Here narrator is active participant, he decides about his life.
Music plays an important role in both movies. In The Great Gatsby it is not only creates an emotional content, psychological depth and adds tempo to the events of the film – it helps to create the feeling of epoch. Despite the music of The Great Gatsby includes songs of the twenty first century it is all about partying, murder and heartache and about story’s main theme – “the story's point home – illusionary love, the excess of the leisure classes, the curse of money” (Jaleru). Actually, soundtrack managed to depict the portrayal of epoch. For example, Lana del Ray’s song Young and Beautiful tells about the main heroine, Daisy, and helps the audience to understand her image. High Fidelity uses another way to discover images of characters. As Rob is a musical snob, he listens to songs very carefully. Howard Shore and his assistants chose the music which was played in the time the main character recalls and songs, which mirrors this mood.
Both films contain elements of drama. The central moment of The Great Gatsby is when the main character tells Tom, the Daisy’s husband, that they are together with Daisy and love each other. The plot starts to move with a high speed after this moment. It is shown with speed of cars characters are driving after that. The accident on the road spurs the chain reaction, which leads to the Gatsby’s death. High Fidelity’s central point is the Laura’s dad’s funeral. It is the place and time, where and when Rob understands, what is his main problem. And after this the tempo of the drama slows down and happy ending is anticipated.
Mise en scenes are very important part of any film. The decorations of The Great Gatsby are set to demonstrate the epoch of Roaring 20’s with its luxury and danger. The other movie demonstrates the inner world of the main character with the outer decoration. The mess in the music shop indicates the mess inside the head of Rob.
Works Cited
Jalery, Christina. Great Gatsby Soundtrack Review: Film's Music Is 'Sexy' And 'Dangerous. Huffington Post. 5 Jun 2013. Web < http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/06/great-gatsby-soundtrack-review-film-music_n_3224005.html>
High Fidelity. IMDB. Web. 5 Nov 2013. < http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0146882/>
The Great Gatsby. Official Web-Site. Web. 5 Nov 2013. < http://thegreatgatsby.warnerbros.com/about-the-film/>
The Great Gatsby. IMDB. Web. 5 Nov 2013. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1343092/>
