Fitzgerald was wildly creative when writing The Great Gatsby. Colors, clothing, money, etc. Each symbolized something more than what was envisioned in the minds of the audience. Green symbolized the future and hope, Gatsby's silk clothes symbolized riches and a mislead path, money represented status and therefore tragedy. It was difficult to depict what Fitzgerald was conveying to the audience at times because he was at a much higher level of depth than any other writer at that time. Fitzgerald used several stylistic elements like foreshadowing, irony, symbolism, and use of metaphors. Luhrmann did a great job of keeping the Gatsby feel to the film by leaving much of the dialogue the same. This helped preserve the roaring twenties era and the stylistic views from the characters.
The soundtrack displayed by Luhrmann was one of the best qualities of the film. I thought that the use of new songs added great effect to the film. The songs by Kanye West and Jay-Z were tweaked a little bit to fit the timeline of the movie which inspired tremendous innovation and surprise. These base pumping songs added excitement to scenes and was able to related the audience to the era more so.
One of the main ideas in Luhrmann's version was the green dock light. It represented the life between Gatsby and Daisy and as long as the light was on and blinking, he knew in his head that he could repeat the past (according to Gatsby). The green light was a representation of color and emotion within Gatsby and Daisy. Luhrmann makes this connection easier to understand because he was able to provide a visual to the audience where Fitzgerald did it through words. Appearing several times, it is clear that Luhrmann believes this is one of the biggest symbols in the book. Though Luhrmann and Fitzgerald portrayed their ideas through different mediums, they effectively translated their views to the audience using stylistic elements, sound, and meaning.
