To anyone complaining about the music in this film...

I want to say first off...if you have never seen a Baz Luhrmann movie (the director of this film) then I understand why you were taken a back by the musical choices, for example Moulin Rouge (the film is set in the end of the 1800's) there are tons of music from the 80's, 90's, 70's and 60's in the film including one original song. A lot of the songs are rehash of their own counter parts, instead of just using the exact recorded versions of the songs. This is a little different in Gatsby where most of the songs used are just being played no one is really singing them in the scenes of the movie. I have always found that unique from most musicals while others have called it lazy. I really think the director did not want to make a straight up period piece and while having a film in a certain period of time does confine you to somethings like the costumes or design of sets, you don't HAVE to have the music of that period to capture a story that could really be presented in a variety of time periods. This director is HIGHLY visual and music is A BIG PART of his formula when it comes to story telling even if it's not a musical like Romeo + Juliet was or Great Gatsby is. All three of these films are set in a period of time but honestly the music choices make them feel like they are in a limbo between period pieces and a current long music video that has dialogue. It's just different and odd. Luhrmann has A LONG HISTORY of doing this so I was not surprised when some of the same choices were made in Great Gatsby. Also the trailer had music with Kanye West in it so I was expecting some rap influences already going into it.

Now this film follows a very similar formula on it's approach to music. The only difference is that the music has less variety in genre than Moulin Rouge did. Which doesn't bother me. I think the biggest gripe is because a huge amount of the soundtrack is rap music which musically isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I'd like to explain why I was not only okay with it, but thought it was a very interesting choice that elevated the film for me. Rap isn't my go to genre for music but I can appreciate it at times. I feel like the rap music genre in general focuses on decadence, money, sex, fashion, wealth, and partying (with tons of drugs and booze). The era the film is set in is ALSO set in a time period that is marked for it's wealth and decadence among ALL the things I listed that the rap genre is focused on. We have themes about this in the story AND commentary given by the main character. I love Jazz music and I understand people's beef with it not being the prime focus of the film in this movie but that would have made it a straight up period piece and that's not the Luhrmann formula.

Jazz is shown and has it's influence here. A lot of the other songs are given a new twist that gives them a jazzy sound like "Crazy In Love". The movie is not a musical in a sense where we have characters singing songs to each other like we did in Moulin Rouge so the songs kind of give the film a music video effect. There are more original songs as well then have been in his other films. Young and Beautiful is probably my favorite song from the soundtrack. There are also songs that are not rap music as well that I think worked for the most part. Not all the songs are heard in their entirety even which is why I'd suggest checking out the full soundtrack if you liked some of the songs that only got a couple seconds of play in the film.

I just wanted to explain all this because to just write off the music because it doesn't match the period of the film in a literal sense because YES rap music didn't exist in the 1920's, is not really a good reason for writing it off based on that fact alone or claiming it hurt the film in anyway. Luhrmann did not want it to be your typical 1920's film retelling the acclaimed novel he wanted to visualize it and put a twist on it. If you have never seen Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet I understand why some of the artistic choices were odd to you and I suggest you watch those films to fully understand what I am talking about. I'm not saying the film doesn't have flaws but I think criticism of the soundtrack is misguided.


EDIT: You know looking through all the replies... some that are reasonable and some that are from "I LOVE THE BOOK, THE MOVIE SUCKED" approach... I want to point out an example of someone else visualizing a period of time while having music in that visualization that doesn't match the period at all and EVERYONE loves it! Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal...the music video is set in a 1930's night club so it's even close to the time period the Great Gatsby's set in. Would a pop influenced dance song be in a 1930's dance club? Hmm no, but we all enjoy it for the most part and it actually elevated the song and it's mood. Some say it's one of the best music videos ever made. Here is a link to video for those who have never seen it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj4zNWW2nvY



ANOTHER example comes from Mr. Jackson with his collaboration with Paul McCartney in the song "Say Say Say" which has it's music video set in a period that would not have had pop music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC2Grms55Fw . I am showing these videos to kind of give you an idea of the same aspects the director was trying to put in this film. I have already said his style is kind of like a long music video with dialogue that is so long it's a film. I honestly feel like he would be an amazing music video director and wish he would produce music videos because the creativity that used to be in music videos is few and far between these days. Anyways thought those were good examples.