One part that Baz Luhrmann's version changed was near the end. Gatsby was waiting outside Daisy's house, after she hit Myrtle, and Nick came around and said he would go check on her. When Nick checked on Daisy, Tom's hand was supposed to be on Daisy's hand. They were supposed to look like they have solved a greater problem. Instead Tom's hand was on her back and Daisy just looked sad. The affect that came over me in the book, that the green light was already behind Gatsby, did not come to me while watching the movie at this part.
Also, Baz Luhrmann's version changes the death scene. I really liked how at first you didn't know if Gatsby was actually dead. It seemed surreal. Of course I was expecting a difference between the movie and the book, but this was a giant difference to me. We were supposed to see leaves swirling through red water and Gatsby was supposed to be staring at the stars. I felt that the swirling leaves and the red water were significant to Fitzgerald's style and Luhrmann changed it. I also felt that Gatsby staring up at the stars had a meaning, there were other places in the book that the stars came into play and made the entire scene seem more colossal. Although I know the movie is never as good as the book, I was surprised that Luhrmann decided to change those two scenes.
Now that I have set aside, what I believe, the major scenes that Luhrmann has changes I can take a look at what he has kept the same. I believe that Luhrmann excelled in the green light scenes. The green light can symbolize hope and that emotion definitely came over in the film. Also, I loved the party scenes, the overall excitement and frenzy of the Gatsby parties was shown in this version. And one last visual that I believe Luhrmann did an amazing job at showing was T. J. Eckleburg's eyes. I got goosebumps when a crazed George Wilson said, "God sees all!". And I kept thinking, "Oh please no!", sometimes you just have to hope that the movie director took pity on the poor man and in the end he truly does live. Unfortunately Gatsby still dies, in the movie and the story.
