Navigating the differences within the book versus the movie, The Lovely Bones Outline

Thesis:

  • The thesis of this essay is that there are more books brought on to the big screen than one can count.
  • Many producers fail to bring real life from the book, but instead feed us as moviegoers including what they feel will make for good box office sales.
  • It is not easy taking a 214 page book and adapting it to the big screen with a running time of two hours and 19 minutes.
  • At this point, the film is merely a summary of the real story. Book readers anxiously wait for the film to debut with the expectations that their imagery of the book will finally be on the big screen.
  • Sadly, many are disappointed due to the lack of detail and the confusion stemming from the conflicting scenes on the big screen.
  • First, I will discuss a bit about the story behind The Lovely Bones. I will also discuss the differences between the book and the movie and compare and contrast both the book and the movie as linked to the thesis.

Main Points:

  • Both the movie and the book center on a young, teenage girl who was murdered. In the book, we are introduced to the main character and narrator, Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan in real life) where the surname is pronounced like the fish salmon.
  • The book tells of her loved ones at her funeral (38). The film has no mention of a funeral for Susie and only tells us that she was murdered and without the details of the gruesome events, surrounding her death.
  • The book describes Susie as having a roommate in heaven (6). The film hints that the girl is another victim of Mr. Harvey’s (Stanley Tucci).
  • Susie describes that most of the town dumped lots of unwanted things in the hole. The book depicts her killer (Mr. Harvey), dumping a safe containing Susie’s body into the sink hole and leaving town very early (19).
  • The book describes that the police arrive at Mr. Harvey’s home because Jack, Susie’s father, requested them to after much suspicion.
  • Abigail (Susie’s mother), is depicted as a woman that has lost her way in life soon after Susie disappeared. She grew distant from her husband and had an affair with Len Fenerman (the detective), before leaving her family.
  • Susie watches from her “in between” place and recalls seeing her parents have sex and also her mother with a man who is not her father.
  • In the book, Susie is kissed by Ray (her love interest), before her death. The film does not show a kiss between the two. Susie is able to use Ruth’s (Susie’s friend), body to have sex with Ray (119).
  • In the book, we learn of Mr. Harvey’s bad childhood and that he now kills animals to feed his hunger. Neither of these events happens in the film.

Conclusion

  • In conclusion, the entire film describes only about a third of what the book does. The book depicts the story as being told over at least one year’s time. The film depicts the storyline lasting only a few months. The book lover of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold would be surprised to see what the director Peter Jackson did to the film, and many of the lovers of Sebold’s eloquent words and stark imagery of the book would be disappointed in the film. As usual and what is common place when comparing a book and a movie, the movie does not even hold a candle to the book.

Annotated Bibliography

Ebert, Roger. “The Lovely Bones.”Critic Review. 13 Jan 2010. Web.

The Lovely Bones is a deplorable film with this message: If you're a 14-year-old girl who has been brutally raped and murdered by a serial killer, you have a lot to look forward to. You can get together in heaven with the other teenage victims of the same killer, and gaze down in benevolence upon your family members as they mourn you and realize what a wonderful person you were. Sure, you miss your friends, but your fellow fatalities come dancing to greet you in a meadow of wildflowers, and how cool is that? Web. 14 May 2016

Freer, Ian. “Empire. The Lovely Bones.”Critic Review. 14 May 2016. Web.

Like “The Lord of the Rings,” The Lovely Bones does a fantastic job with revered, complex source material. As terrific on terra firma as it is audacious in its astral plane, it is doubtful we’ll see a more imaginative, courageous film in 2010.

Jackson, Peter, The lovely bones the films writer and producer with screenwriter help from

Philippa Boyens, Jackson's wife Fran Walsh. 15 January 2010. Motion Picture.

Schwarzbaum, Lisa. The Lovely Bones Review.” Critic Review. 14 May 2016. Web

“A sad-but-hopeful, dramatic-but-gentle fairy tale intentionally made less upsetting for teens.”

Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones. 9 February 2002. Print.

This is an online version of the book that I downloaded and read in its entirety. Once read, I frequently referred to the book to verify my comparisons to the film.

Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones. Web.

Travers, Peter. “Rolling Stone.”Critic Review. 14 May 2016. Web.

All this is conveyed in the remarkable performance of Ronan, an Oscar nominee for Atonement. She and Tucci -- magnificent as a man of uncontrollable impulses -- help Jackson cut a path to a humanity that supersedes life and death.

Williams, Joe. “The Lovely Bones Review.”St. Louis Post. 14 May 2016. Web.

“Yet so much about The Lovely Bones is so skillfully orchestrated, from the chillingly methodical villainy to the thrillingly paced manhunt, we can accept that we're in the hands of a higher power.”