Morgan VanOtteren
Visual Design Analysis
The Great Gatsby, 2013
Directed by Baz Luhrmann
The 2013 award-winning film The Great Gatsby, directed by Baz Luhrmann, is based off the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald and takes place in 1920’s New York. The film follows Nick Carraway (played by Tobey Maguire), a recovering alcoholic, through his memories of what led him to become one. The main plot of the film follows the love story of Daisy Buchanan (played by Carey Mulligan), a now married woman, and Jay Gatsby (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), a millionaire who throws extravagant parties in order to find Daisy, his long lost love. In this scene, Nick has set up a meeting for Gatsby and Daisy. Gatsby has set up a room in Nick’s house with plenty of flowers and snacks, making sure everything is just perfect for his meeting with Daisy. At the start of the scene, Daisy arrives in the rain and goes inside. She is unaware of who is going to be there waiting for her. This scene is particularly good at showing off the spectacular costumes and makeup that show off the 1920’s style, and the color palette that shows how different the characters are.
The 2013 award-winning film The Great Gatsby, directed by Baz Luhrmann, is based off the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald and takes place in 1920’s New York. The film follows Nick Carraway (played by Tobey Maguire), a recovering alcoholic, through his memories of what led him to become one. The main plot of the film follows the love story of Daisy Buchanan (played by Carey Mulligan), a now married woman, and Jay Gatsby (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), a millionaire who throws extravagant parties in order to find Daisy, his long lost love. In this scene, Nick has set up a meeting for Gatsby and Daisy. Gatsby has set up a room in Nick’s house with plenty of flowers and snacks, making sure everything is just perfect for his meeting with Daisy. At the start of the scene, Daisy arrives in the rain and goes inside. She is unaware of who is going to be there waiting for her. This scene is particularly good at showing off the spectacular costumes and makeup that show off the 1920’s style, and the color palette that shows how different the characters are.
One aspect of this scene that is interesting is the 1920’s costumes and makeup. In this scene, Daisy is wearing a knee length light grey dress with plenty of ruffles and straps that show her shoulders. During this time in history, women began to wear shorter hemlines and overall began to wear more scandalous clothing. These women were called flappers, and Daisy is a great example of one. Another common trait of flappers was short hair, which before the 1920’s was considered inappropriate for women. Again, in this scene you can see Daisy’s bob haircut, which is very with the trends of the time. Both Jay and Nick have short hair, parted and slicked back. This hairstyle was very common for men in the 1920’s. Jay is wearing a white suit, with a thin lapel. Before the 1920’s it was common to have wider lapels, but as women’s dresses got shorter, men’s lapels got thinner. Gatsby also has cuffed pants which had been also new. All of these things help the film feel more realistic. With Gatsby throwing such big parties, Daisy’s new flapper wardrobe and attitude fit right in and even augment the craziness of the parties. Gatsby’s stylish and fancy clothing and hair show his wealth, and also help enhance the feelings of the parties he throws.
A second visual aspect that reinforces the film is the color palette. The first thing to notice is the many white flowers in the room. On top of that, Gatsby is wearing a white suit, and Daisy is wearing a light grey dress. This doesn’t seem important until it is compared to Nick. Nick is wearing a dark green sweater with dark pants and besides the flowers, everything else in his house is dark. The difference is that colors represent wealth. The lighter the color, the wealthier or more expensive the person or object with that color. Since Jay and the flowers are both white, this shows how wealthy Jay is and how expensive and extravagant the flowers were. Daisy is wearing a slightly darker color, light grey. This shows that she is still pretty wealthy, but Jay is above her. Finally, since Nick is wearing such dark colors, it shows how poor he is compared to the others. This also comes into play with lighting, because Jay and Daisy are much lighter than Nick. This heightens the film because it puts the characters into levels. It tells the viewer who should be considered the best or most important.
The attention to detail when it comes to set design is spectacular. Catherine Martin and Beverley Dunn won an Oscar for best production design and it shows through in this scene. Two things that stand out to me in this scene are the silver tea set and the wooden clock. Fancy tea sets were very common in the 1920’s because when people got together, they often drank tea. The dark wood of the clock and the design of the face and hands show its age and clearly show the the attention to detail the production and set designers put in to make everything in the film seem authentic. Temporal factors play a clear role in this scene: rain. Throughout the entire scene it is raining outside and this represents the renewal of Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship, and the washing away of the old. Social structures and economic factors also play a role, and even though Gatsby and Nick are on opposite ends of the financial spectrum, they can still be friends and help each other out.
Through the careful use of setting, the manipulation of the color palette, and costume design, The Great Gatsby makes the viewer feel as if he/she is in the 1920’s. The techniques also provide a sense of separation of wealth between Gatsby, Daisy and Nick. In the grand scheme of things, wealth will never be able to supply all of one’s needs. Like Gatsby’s parties, fortune can only can subsequent for so long. Overall, The Great Gatsby is a great movie to go see with many interesting characters and scenes. Make sure to watch for the amazing visual design techniques used in this film.