The Role of Music in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby

One of the most interesting and effective uses of music in film in recent times occurs in Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s seminal novel The Great Gatsby. Luhrmann utilizes modern hip-hop music as a method of conveying to the modern audience the consumerism and materialism of the 1920s, and how we see it paralleled in our own society. In addition, the modern soundtrack serves to emphasize the enormous disparity between the rich and poor evident during both the time period of the novel and our own. Luhrmann’s use of music is one of the most creative and memorable examples of the potential for the soundtrack to transform the message and tone of a film, and it succeeds with flying colors in conveying the director’s intentions to the audience. The director’s revolutionary and innovative use of music is essential to the communication of his vision of the classic novel.

Luhrmann’s use contemporary music to illustrate to the audience the parallels between the themes of the novel and our own modern society is one of the most stylistically striking decisions made by the famously bombastic director. As Ann Powers states, “Distilling the essence of the Jazz Age culture though never completely reflecting it, this soundtrack is as much an event as is the film that inspired it” (2013). Clearly, the choice of music is so important to Luhrmann’s vision of the film that it is impossible to discuss the execution of the director’s vision of the work without a detailed examination of the role of the soundtrack in creating the film’s message and tone. The film is in many ways a vehicle for the musical choices, allowing them to tell the story and illustrate to the audience the myriad parallels between the world of the roaring twenties and our own contemporary time period. While we have established the importance of music to the creation of the film, we need to also examine exactly what message Luhrmann hopes to convey through his uniquely contemporary musical choices in such a classic period piece.

The reason Luhrmann uses contemporary music in his portrayal of the novel is to drive home to the audience the corollaries between the highly stratified society of the 1920s, with its obscene gap between the lives of the rich and poor, and our own contemporary culture that struggles with the same issue. As A.O. Scott states, Luhrmann “fuses the iconography of dressed-up ’20s decadence with the swagger of hip-hop high-end consumerism” (2013). The parallels between the materialistic nature of modern hip-hop and the status and wealth-obsessed characters of the novel are quite obvious and create a powerful visceral reaction within the audience, causing them to recognize the relevance of the novel to the social climate of the present day with acute force. Luhrmann’s use of hip-hop as the modern soundtrack to the debauched lives of the rich as they flaunt their ostentatious displays of wealth while the poverty-stricken masses suffer is an ingenious use of music to both emphasize the vision of the director as well as allow a modern audience to connect with what could be a remote period piece with seemingly no contemporary connection. The commercial and monetized nature of modern hip-hop is its defining feature, and undoubtedly the reason Luhrmann uses the music to such an extensive degree in his explication of the lives of the rich and powerful during the era of the novel.

Hip-hop serves largely as a method to illustrate and comment upon the vast differences between the lives of the rich and poor in the modern era, and therefore is the ideal soundtrack to The Great Gatsby, with its themes of wealth and materialism amongst the upper class of society and the juxtaposition with the lives of ordinary people. As Simon Gray states, “Featuring hundreds of extras, snowstorms of confetti, fireworks, and lively contemporary music, Gatsby’s parties serve as visual motifs of the morally vacuous lifestyle of the rich and famous” (2013). The vital aspect of this stylistic choice that needs to be recognized is that hip-hop serves not only to demarcate the outlandishly extravagant lifestyles of the rich but to contrast them with the austere lives of the working class. No other style of music is more perfectly suited to the exploration of this theme than modern hip-hop, and Luhrmann uses it masterfully to illustrate this essential theme of the novel and effectively connect it to the outlook of the modern audience. Indeed, the connection forged with the audience through the use of contemporary music is one of the most important reasons for the use of music in the film, and cannot go overlooked.

The modern soundtrack allows the director to update the film for a modern audience while staying true to the original intent of the novel. As Luhrmann himself states, Fitzgerald “utilized the then-new African-American street music – jazz, which was called a ‘fad’ by many and placed it in the novel, to help tell a story. To do something similar for today’s audience was our challenge. And I am a great fan of jazz. But it is a bit rarified today. So it was a natural fit to translate the African-American music that came from the streets called hip-hop and weave it into a jazz language” (2013). The film’s music, therefore, serves not only as a commentary on commercialism and materialism in modern society, or an illustration of the absurdly exorbitant lifestyles of the wealthy but also as a simple means of creating a connection with the modern audience on a level that the original music of the time period would be unable to do. Modern music creates an emotional response in the audience unrivaled by more antiquated forms of musical expression, and as a result, the film resonates on a more personal level with the audience as a result of the director’s musical choices. Clearly, Luhrmann’s use of music is one of the most fascinating and effective aspects of his interpretation of the work.

Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby is one of the most unique and effective examples of the potential power of music within the film. Luhrmann’s bold musical choices emphasize the similarities between the era of the novel and our own both economically and socially, as well as allowing for a deeper emotional connection between the audience and the film’s characters as a result of the music’s increased relevance to the viewer. Luhrmann is one of the most effective filmmakers of the modern era in terms of his ability to utilize music within his work, and nothing illustrates his abilities in this department more clearly than The Great Gatsby.

References

Gray, S. (n.d.). Living Large: The Great Gatsby, Shot by Simon Duggan, ACS, Uses 3-D to Immerse Viewers in a Hedonistic Era. American Cinematographer. Retrieved December 3, 2013, from http://www.conwayfilmlighting.com/assets/great-gatsby-e.pdf

Ohneswere, S. (2013, April 4). Baz Luhrmann Speaks On Directing “The Great Gatsby”. Life+Times. Retrieved December 3, 2013, from http://lifeandtimes.com/director-baz-lurhmann-speaks-on-directing-the-great-gatsby

Powers, A. (2013, May 2). First Listen: Music From Baz Luhrmann's Film 'The Great Gatsby'. NPR. Retrieved December 3, 2013, from http://www.npr.org/2013/04/30/180098344/first-listen-music-from-baz-luhrmanns-film-the-great-gatsy

Scott, A. (2013, May 9). Shimmying Off the Literary Mantle: ‘The Great Gatsby,’ Interpreted by Baz Luhrmann. The New York Times. Retrieved December 3, 2013, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/movies/the-great-gatsby-interpreted-by-baz-luhrmann.html