The evolution of the director Baz Lurhmann
Andrew Venter
Topic two: “Lurhmann’s films are not so much adaptations as re-imaginings”
Baz Lurhmann is a very distinctive director who is both loved and hated for his bold cinematic techniques. These techniques allow Lurhmann to recreate famous titles such as Romeo and Juliet in a way that very few people could have ever imagined. From Lurhmann’s first film Strictly Ballroom these techniques were very prevalent and instead of out growing these brash techniques he actually evolved and developed his techniques. And thus resulted, resulting in the creations of very successful films. In this essay I will be discussing how Lurhmann has evolved these cinematic techniques beginning in Strictly Ballroom, continuing in Romeo and Juliet and finally in The Great Gatsby.
Strictly Ballroom was made on a very limited budget but this did not stop Lurhmann using very audacious costumes. His use of specific costumes always has a meaning behind it such as in Strictly ballroom: Fran’s dull and boring dresses that she wears at the beginning of the film, that creates a big contrast to all the ‘over the top’ costumes all the other people wear. Lurhmann does this in order to get people to over look her as a character because she doesn’t stand
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In The Great Gatsby, Jay is shown wearing very ostentatious pink and white suits where as Tom Buchanan wears more traditional dark suits. This symbolizes that Gatsby represents the ‘newly rich’ where as Tom Buchanan represents the old aristocracy. This shows how Lurhmann has evolved from using costumes to simply symbolize the importance of a character and the relationship between two characters to symbolizing the social backgrounds of two contrasting
In the novel The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby and Tom bunchman are very similar in that they both have extravagant cars, live in magnificent homes and both love daisy. Tom and Gatsby both are in love with Daisy and they somewhat have to compete in wealth, but also in who actually loves her. The huge parties that Gatsby throws for Daisy shows a sign of wealth. Also Gatsby’s yellow extravagant rolls royce signifies money and wealth. (“it’s a nice yellow one”(Fitzgerald 130).
In chapter 7 of the novel when Gatsby wears the pink suit it becomes clearly evident he is not old money and does not belong to the elite class. Tom uses color as symbolism when stating Gatsby as “incredulous” “Like hell he is! He wears a pink suit.” there was no way someone from old money like tom would ever wear such a color. (p.122).
The novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald exposes the economic traps and social norms of the 1920s in through symbolism context and setting. Set in the 1920s, Jay Gatsby is a character that rose the poverty to millionaire status. He represents the new money during the 1920s. Tom Buchanan symbolizes old wealth. Daisy Buchanan represents a woman who marries for money, not love and regrets it her whole life.
When looking at a person for the first time clothing is often a large part of a first impression, giving information about that person that may or may not be true. Clothing also plays a large role in first impressions of characters in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who uses clothing to give information about each character and who they are or wish they were. Fitzgerald carefully describes the clothing of each character, using color, material, and quality to expose each character's insecurities. The clothing that he has the character’s wear gives information about their status, emotions, and personality.
For example, they have big elegant houses, cars, and dress very put together. Gatsby thinks he is doing this, but many things stick out to Nick, showing him that it’s all fake. The shirts Gatsby wears are bright and colorful with his initials on the pockets. Real rich men in the twenties didn’t wear such vibrant shirts. Also, his car was described as a clown car with a banana yellow outside, and a weird shape.
Kishan Patel Art 2901 Exam 1 Essay 1 (100 points) Early films by Edison and Lumiere involved very simple cinematography, little to no editing and simple realist mise en scene. However, Georges Melies, a theater proprietor and an amateur magician, laid foundation for the new generation films. In A Voyage to the Moon, he becomes first person to introduce a sci-fi film.
The costumes represent the rank in society for these characters. An example is Desmond, who wears extravagant clothing showing she has money. Mostly, throughout the film, she wears black clothing, which represented her sadness, and anger of accepting her time in Hollywood that ended many years back. Another example, Gillis, who in the beginning wears lower class clothes because he cannot afford anything else. Eventually, he becomes a gigolo and ends up wearing expensive suits that many people cannot afford.
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, deploys color symbolism in order to further develop characters and the plot. Fitzgerald’s use of color symbolism within The Great Gatsby not only defines the characters but adds depth to them. The most recognized color within the novel is “the single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock” (26). In addition to the green light, there are many other colors within the novel that embody characters, objects, and ideas. The most significant and memorable colors, other than green, are white and yellow, both of which are intertwined in Fitzgerald’s fictional world of materialism and scandal.
Mise-en-scéne is crucial to classical Hollywood as it defined an era ‘that in its primary sense and effect, shows us something; it is a means of display. ' (Martin 2014, p.XV). Billy Wilder 's Sunset Boulevard (Wilder 1950) will be analysed and explored with its techniques and styles of mise-en-scéne and how this aspect of filmmaking establishes together as a cohesive whole with the narrative themes as classical Hollywood storytelling. Features of the film 's sense of space and time, setting, motifs, characters, and character goals will be explored and how they affect the characterisation, structure, and three-act organisation.
In an attempt to win Daisy back from her lifestyle of “Old Money”, Gatsby becomes excessively greedy with his money. While he himself may not care about wealth, he knows Daisy does. Therefore, when Daisy comes to his mansion, he flaunts his expensive shirts. “‘They’re such beautiful shirts,’ she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. ‘It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such—such beautiful shirts before.’”
Jay Gatsby, the title character of the novel “The Great Gatsby” is a man that can not seem to live without the love of his life. Trying to win Daisy over consumes Gatsby’s life as he tries to become the person he thinks she would approve of. What most readers do not realize is that Jay Gatsby’s character mirrors many personality traits and concerns that the author of novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald, had. In fact, Gatsby and Fitzgerald are similar in that they both had a girl they wanted to win over, took a strong stance on alcohol, and ironically both had similar funerals, also, both people also symbolize the American dream.
Item 2: Color Chart: In the book “The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, colors have been used to represent the character’s unapparent and underlying thoughts, feelings, status and class. Through the motif of colors, Fitzgerald depicts the feelings of the character as he refers to a specific color while describing each one of them. The colors make a deep impact on the readers as they contain a profound meaning throughout the novel. There are around five main colors in the novel appearing frequently: white, yellow, green, blue and grey, which help the novel look more gaudy and idealistic.
When meeting someone for the first time a large part of an initial impression is their clothing. The color, quality and style of their clothing gives information about them as a person that may or may not be true. F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of The Great Gatsby, utilizes clothing as an informer of each character’s lifestyle and their desires. Fitzgerald carefully depicts each character’s clothing using color, material, and quality to expose their insecurities. He uses clothing to show how each character wants to be perceived.
Baz Luhrmann is widely acknowledged for his Red Curtain Trilogy which are films aimed at heightening an artificial nature and for engaging the audience. Through an examination of the films Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby, the evolution and adaptation of his techniques become evident. Luhrmann’s belief in a ‘theatrical cinema’ can be observed to varying degrees through the three films and his choice to employ cinematic techniques such as self-reflexivity, pastiche and hyperbolic hyperbole. The cinematic technique of self-reflexivity allows a film to draw attention to itself as ‘not about naturalism’ and asks the audience to suspend their disbelief and believe in the fictional construct of the film.
Baz Luhrmann is known world wide for his eccentric and flamboyant film-making style. Luhrmann’s signature bright colours, fast-paced camera-cuts and zooms, and bold costumes are all key characteristics of his films and assist Luhrmann in putting forward the themes and motifs he regards as essential in each of his works. However, Luhrmann still receives much criticism for not staying true to the original source material of the stories he introduces to the big screen. One fails to realize the fact that, “Luhrmann’s films are not so much adaptations as re-imaginings” (Vogue Magazine) and through analysis of his various techniques, as well as his overall cinematic language in his films, “Strictly Ballroom” (1992), “Romeo + Juliet” (1996) and “The Great Gatsby”, one can see this clearly, through Luhrmann’s evolution as a director. Luhrmann makes his films his own from the start, the opening scenes of all three of these films implement post-modern techniques which instantly informs the audience that they are entering into Luhrmann’s