Great Gatsby Adaption

What I found most interesting about the film versus the book is how the directors portrayed Nick Carroway as the narrator. The decision to have him in a mental health facility recovering from events and then actually writing the story of Gatsby was interesting; the choice removed Fitzgerald as the author but made Nick's voice over narrations more understandable to the viewer. The change also affected the film adaption of the last scene. 

Gatsby's death in the film was similar to that of the novel, as he was in the pool and the shooter was Wilson. There were some stylistic changes, i.e. having the butler by the pool, the phone ringing at the moment Gatsby gets shot (giving him hope that it was Daisy) and Gatsby with his back to Wilson as opposed to floating on an inflatable mattress. But the biggest change were the events after the funeral. The directors chose to not include Nick's call to Mayor Wolfsheim, who refused to come to the funeral, or have Gatsby's father come. In the book, Gatsby's father makes the trip from Minnesota, expresses how proud he is of his son and fills Nick in on Gatsby's earlier life. The decision to not have anyone come to the funeral at all and to completely remove Gatsby's father from the storyline made the closing scenes more about Nick than they were about Gatsby.

In the novel, Nick also runs into Tom on the street and learns how Tom was the one to tell Wilson about Gatsby's car. Again, the directors did not include this scene in the film adaption. Instead, after the funeral, the closing scenes are of Nick in the mental hospital. The writing of the story seems to have helped to cure him. This adaption suggests that Nick is the main character.