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I’d like to disagree with some of what you said about the visual style of the film. While I agree that the degree of elaboration makes the film seem unrealistic, I don’t think that this is a bad thing. I would even say that the film’s goal is to appear unrealistic and outlandish, which reflects Gatsby’s character perfectly. Ultimately, The Great Gatsby is a tale about someone whose entire identity is a fallacy. His guests all hear different stories about him and then once we (and Nick) think we’re getting the truth, it turns out to be fake as well. The visual style, in all its grandeur is simply emphasizing that point – that we can’t believe everything we see or hear.
One of my favorite moments of this movie is when Gatsby has Nick invite him and Daisy over for tea. He goes completely overboard in decorating Nick’s house. There are flowers everywhere and then there’s a perfect moment when butterflies flitter across the screen. This whole scene screams fake, which might be why many people that I’ve talked to didn’t like it. But, it represents the most fundamental aspect of Gatsby – he’s a fraud. Everything he does is to convince people that he’s genuine. Such behavior ought to cause suspicion. It should make us feel like what we’re seeing isn’t real. The visual style of the film is constantly reminding us of this fact.