In The Bedroom Compare And Contrast

FROM LITERATURE TO FILM

IN THE BEDROOM
BY: EDGAR REA-BUCAY
MONDAY 6:15 CLASS

The film “In the Bedroom” is an adaptation of the short story “killings” by Andre Dubus. It narrates the story of a young man, Frank, being killed by the soon to be ex-husband, Richard Strout, of, Natalie, his summer love. It also depicts the reactions of the young man’s parents, Matt and Ruth Fowler, to the apparent impunity of the murderer. Both movie and short story raise the question of morality, is it ok take revenge into our own hands? And if so can we live with the consequences and even worse the knowledge that we are not better than those who harmed us. The movie does a commendable job in translating the short story in a traditional narrative, it preserves the overall idea of the story with minimal alterations, which emphasized the love of a father for his son in a realistic style.

Traditional translations are known for breaking free from the parent text, and in this instance, the changes created a more dramatic sequence.

While the plot was the same, certain changes were clearly noticeable such as the absence of an older brother in the movie. This subtle modification was received on my part as the director trying to create a stronger bond in the parent - only son relationship; which would later if not justify the father’s actions, it would at least make them understandable and relatable. Frank’s killing was also different, in the story the two kids are sitting with him and in the movie he was by himself. I thinks while the story derives no emotional attachment to either side, the movie is bias and inclined to the justification of Matt’s crime at the

end.
When compared with the short story another difference is the place where the movie starts. It gives a background so one can relate to the characters and it builds up to the beginning of the short story. While the short story narrates the story from a revenge motivated mode, which minimizes the sympathy for the characters; the movie in contrast gives another deeper perspective of the same characters making us empathetic to their emotions. The most notorious difference is appreciated in the titles while the “killings” is the name of the short story and reflects exactly that, killings; “In the Bedroom”, the movie, is a more appealing name which makes its remark in the last scene when Matt returns home after killing Richard and lays next to his awaken wife. Who seemed to know what he had done when she says "Did you do it?"
In a more technical view, the splicing together of the sequences and the black transitions that cut them and varied in length in accordance to the scenes that they proceeded are most frequently used by American editors. It helps to change and to alleviate the transition from one scene to another without having to create avoidable extra ones. However I think some of these transitions were too prolonged. In some shots this movie also seem to promote Schaefer beer and Moxie soda, I guess they were some of the sponsors which made this film possible.
As I mentioned in the beginning, the movie made us forget about the actual text and led us to question ourselves, as what we would have done if face with those situations. I thought the movie showed no final resolution; since, Matt seem more perturbed than before and killing Strout did not accomplish anything.