Blog Post #4: Adapting The Virgin Suicides

Adapting The Virgin Suicides would not be too hard to adapt into a movie, in fact it already has been, but making the movie directly from the book would definitely run into some problems. For example, one major problem that the filmmakers would have an issue with is how to actually format/present the story. I say this because the book is uniquely formatted in which the narrator is essentially made up of a group of boys that are never specified and act as though they are one. The story is essentially all told in a flashback, making the boys sound as though they were still teenagers; however, they are telling the story in present day making them all middle aged men. The boys lived across the street from the main characters, the Lisbon sisters, and were entranced to the point of repulsion (to the reader) with the girls. This said the filmmaker would have trouble discretely keeping the narrator and the boys as the same entity that they act like in the book. When adapting this book they would probably have to cut out many minor characters that pop up throughout the story like the paramedics, Paul Baldino, Mrs. Patz, Joe Larson, Joe’s mother, Mrs. Sheer, Mr. Baubee, Joe the Retard, Mr. Eugene, Mrs. Higbie, Little Johnny Buell, Vince Fusilli, Laura White, and many MANY more. All of these people add a little spice to the story and further paint the picture of a tight-knit community, but these characters would waste precious time in the movie and, believe me, these characters never come up again and act as visual, pointless mental clutter for the reader.  Another thing the filmmakers would have to cut is the scene in which Paul Baldino travels through the sewer systems and comes into the Lisbon house and finds Cecilia with her wrists slit. I think that they would have to cut this scene because it is extremely weird that Paul was in the sewers in the first place and he is never mentioned in the book again therefore making him irrelevant. One thing that would be essential to keep in the movie and not change in order for the adaptation to work would definitely be the visual destruction of the Lisbon home in relation to the inner turmoil the family was facing. I say this because it adds so much depth to the story. Another scene the filmmakers could not cut would be the scene in which Lux and Tripp Fontaine have their first steamy interaction in Tripp’s car because the way Tripp describes the event is almost as if she were not human which is a key point in the story. Another thing the filmmakers would absolutely have to keep would be the tree scene where the sisters all unite to protect their deceased sister’s favorite tree from being cut down. This is integral to the story because it gives us a caring element to the otherwise unfeelingly elusive sisters. It also paves the way for the author to make his interesting point that the loss of old, large trees in suburbs led to the decline in the neighborliness we fail to see in today’s society. All in all, the movie adaptation of The Virgin Suicides would unquestionably be one to watch.