My Sister's Keeper
ROUGH COPY #1 – MY SISTER’S KEEPER ESSAY
Although movies are entertaining and maintain the viewers’ interest, they are known for changing the original plot, lacking in character development and not demonstrating the theme of “understanding others” to the fullest. This movie in particular, has a completely different ending, lacks almost any sort of insight into the characters’ thoughts and lives and does not show enough compassion between the characters. The book, entitled, My Sister’s Keeper by author Jodi Picoult, does a better job of developing these three aspects than the movie “My Sister’s Keeper” by director Nick Cassavetes does, based on the comprehension of the text and the observation of the film.
The biggest change in the movie adaptation is the ending. In the novel, the protagonist is Anna, a young girl who wins her court case against her parents, receiving medical emancipation. Unfortunately, she is then involved in a car accident that ends up leaving her brain dead. Anna being unable to make decisions about her body, her lawyer, Campbell Alexander has the power to make medical decisions concerning her. He allows Anna’s organs to be donated, thus saving Kate’s (Anna’s sister) life; Kate was dying of leukemia and believes that Anna took her place in heaven. Whereas, in the motion picture, it is more focused on Kate and her memories, using a scrapbook she made for her mother. As well as, Anna is told she won her case and Kate died because of her leukemia. The ending of the story is key to the book’s message, “that sad things in life are going to happen and some things can’t be reversed”. Changing this final event of the story caused the movie to not contain the deep emotional truth that author Jodi Picoult was trying to portray. Medically, the ending was a realistic scenario and thematically, it was the best way to conclude to all the characters what is truly important in life. But the movie version made the ending much more predictable
Although movies are entertaining and maintain the viewers’ interest, they are known for changing the original plot, lacking in character development and not demonstrating the theme of “understanding others” to the fullest. This movie in particular, has a completely different ending, lacks almost any sort of insight into the characters’ thoughts and lives and does not show enough compassion between the characters. The book, entitled, My Sister’s Keeper by author Jodi Picoult, does a better job of developing these three aspects than the movie “My Sister’s Keeper” by director Nick Cassavetes does, based on the comprehension of the text and the observation of the film.
The biggest change in the movie adaptation is the ending. In the novel, the protagonist is Anna, a young girl who wins her court case against her parents, receiving medical emancipation. Unfortunately, she is then involved in a car accident that ends up leaving her brain dead. Anna being unable to make decisions about her body, her lawyer, Campbell Alexander has the power to make medical decisions concerning her. He allows Anna’s organs to be donated, thus saving Kate’s (Anna’s sister) life; Kate was dying of leukemia and believes that Anna took her place in heaven. Whereas, in the motion picture, it is more focused on Kate and her memories, using a scrapbook she made for her mother. As well as, Anna is told she won her case and Kate died because of her leukemia. The ending of the story is key to the book’s message, “that sad things in life are going to happen and some things can’t be reversed”. Changing this final event of the story caused the movie to not contain the deep emotional truth that author Jodi Picoult was trying to portray. Medically, the ending was a realistic scenario and thematically, it was the best way to conclude to all the characters what is truly important in life. But the movie version made the ending much more predictable