The Gatsby Soundtrack

The producers of The Great Gatsby used this blend of contemporary hip-hop and 1920s jazz because it mixed the best of both worlds beautifully. One of the key parts to using this blend was to bring out the true persona of Gatsby. He was a wealthy man that showed it off to the world. Who else do we know like that today? Well, plenty of people, but the majority of the stock is taken up by hip-hop stars. So this blend kind of intermixed the persona of Gatsby in the hip-hop with the overall attitude of the time period in the 1920s jazz. I believe the music was a successful choice because it couldn't have worked any better. If the producers would have only used jazz it would have slowed the movie down and perhaps not made it as exciting as it was. The upbeat style of the hip-hop brought a lot of it to life without throwing off the story line of the time period. The mood of the music definitely fits the movie in many different songs. My favorite song is "Young and Beautiful" by Lana Del Ray because I've heard some of her albums and she doesn't change her style or music at all for this song. "Young and Beautiful" describes the story that is taking shape in The Great Gatsby. It is a slow song with a sort of melancholy tone that is accompanied by lyrics that are epitomizing the storyline between Gatsby and Daisy. The producers even said the movie couldn't be watched without hearing this song a dozen times. Another song of interest for me was the remix of Amy Winehouse's "Back in Black" by Beyonce and Andre 3000. This song originally is a deep, dark, saddening song and fits in perfectly with the mood of the movie. The movie is about sadness because Gatsby can't have Daisy but does everything in his power to get her. The tone that is produced in this remix is even deeper and darker because of the story it accompanies. The lyrics to the song parallel the story being told making an even greater impact on the viewer/listener. This soundtrack in its entirety brings out the sad love story being told and mixed in with the movie creates an incredible viewing experience.

Process and Product

This writing definitely helped me tremendously! Without the strict schedule of drafts we had, I honestly wouldn't have started this paper until tonight probably. I especially liked just getting my ideas out on paper and seeing what would work and what would not. This process let me see all of my ideas first and proceed in the paper with the most constructive one. The rough drafts we wrote showed me what errors I obviously needed to work on. I am a sporadic writer and will get into another topic in the same paragraph so this let me separate my ideas successfully and move paragraphs to the right place. Also, the peer review was an incredible help as I got feedback from 4 other writers who were telling me from a reader's, instead of teacher/writer's, perspective what they thought was strong and other points that were weak. As to the process, I think it fits with my style of writing particularly but I have never used this type of process before. Having the strict schedule and writing a lot of rough drafts has helped me produce what I think to be a well-written paper which needs a few revisions and will be ready to go Wednesday!