Communications in Humanities Research
- The Open Access Proceedings Series for Conferences
Communications in Humanities Research
Vol. 1, 21 December 2021
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Color Symbolism and American Dream in Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby
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Abstract
Luhrmann’s movie version of The Great Gatsby has caused many discussions and debates in the area of literary analysis. This paper would argue that Luhrmann manages to gain commercial success in the film. While the director recreates the scenes that demonstrated color symbolism, the color symbolism suggests different meanings from the book; and that is because the director changes certain important plot in the book, which exaggerates Gatsby’s pure love to Daisy at the expense of undermining the complexity of Gatsby’s character and his American Dream that based on materialism. With the help of secondary sources, this paper will expand on analyzing how color symbolism, which includes the green light and the main characters’ clothes, illustrate different themes between the book and the movie.
Keywords
gatsby, color symbolism, commercial success, daisy, green light
References
1. Marcus, Greil. “HE TOO WAS A GREAT GATSBY.” Under the Red White and Blue: Patriot-ism, Disenchantment and the Stubborn Myth of the Great Gatsby, Yale University Press, New Haven; London, 2020, pp. 125–146.
2. Vernallis, Carol. “Partying in The Great Gatsby: Baz Luhrmann’s Audiovisual Sublime.” Indefi-nite Visions: Cinema and the Attractions of Uncertainty, edited by Martine Beugnet et al., Edin-burgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2017, pp. 180–206.
3. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. SCRIBNER. 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020.
4. Plath, James. “In an Odd Light: Kipling's Maisie and Fitzgerald's Daisy.” The F. Scott Fitzgerald Review, vol. 6, 2007, pp. 95–104.
5. Schreier, Benjamin. “The Great Gatsby’s Betrayed Americanism.” The Power of Negative Think-ing: Cynicism and the History of Modern American Literature, University of Virginia Press, 2009, pp. 116–144.
6. Elmore, A. E. “Color and Cosmos in The Great Gatsby.” The Sewanee Review 78.3 (Summer 1970): 427-443.
7. Lance, Jacqueline. “The Great Gatsby: Driving to Destruction with the Rich and Careless at the Wheel.” Studies in Popular Culture, vol. 23, no. 2, 2000, pp. 25–35.
8. Morgan, Tom. “Sentimentalizing Daisy for the Screen.” The F. Scott Fitzgerald Review, vol. 12, no. 1, 2014, pp. 13–31.
Data Availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
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- Volume Title
- Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Educational Innovation and Philosophical Inquiries (ICEIPI 2021), Part 2
- ISBN (Print)
- 978-1-915371-02-7
- ISBN (Online)
- 978-1-915371-03-4
- Published Date
- 21 December 2021
- Series
- Communications in Humanities Research
- ISSN (Print)
- 2753-7064
- ISSN (Online)
- 2753-7072
- DOI
- 10.54254/2753-7064/1/ICEIPI_153
- Copyright
- © 2023 The Author(s)
- Open Access
- This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited