Girl Interrupted Movie Analysis

The 1993 classic Girl Interrupted, written by Susanna Kaysen, is a series of nonfiction pieces about her 18 months spent in a mental institution in the late 1960s. The pieces are mostly chronological, and in between chapters she shows real files from her stay at the institution (doctors notes, discharge papers, etc.). Throughout the fragmentary novel, Susanna questions her sanity and fights for self realization. James Marigold adapted the memoir into a film in 1999. The movie is loosely based off the novel, at best. The differences between the two are so significant that they are basically two separate works completely.
One of the major differences between the two was the plot structure. The memoir had no linear plot; it was a collection of her memories and musings about sanity. The book gives you a closer look at Susanna’s internal struggles and thoughts. What makes someone ‘sane’ or ‘insane’ is the fundamental question of this novel. The movie on the other hand was a clear cut narrative with flashbacks of Susanna’s life added in. The movie producers did this to add more excitement and suspense to the film. Producers and directors need to create a film with a climax, character arcs, and tie it
The book didn’t focus much on the other girls. In the movie, the character of Lisa is expanded. She only appears in one or two chapters in the book, but in the movie, she pretty much steals the show from the protagonist Susanna. The film plays down Susanna’s symptoms of insanity which makes her seem like a dull character in a crazy setting. Susanna's roommate Georgina is made less central than in the book. Daisy’s story about how she is abused by her father is expanded greatly and tied to Susanna's story. The black nurse, portrayed by Whoopi Goldberg, doesn’t appear in the novel in a similar form (there is a nurse named Valerie, but she is not at all like Goldberg's