Adapting "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"

Adapting Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer would be very difficult to do. I haven’t seen the movie yet because I haven’t finished the book but my sister said it was very sad. I don’t understand how it’d me sad because the book is perverted and confusing, not sad like at all.

One scene in the book that would be essential to keep in the movie would be the scene when Oskar, the main character, went into his parents’ bedroom and found a vase. He dropped it and it shattered. Inside was an envelope when the world “Black” written in red ink. Inside of the envelope was a key. He travels to a locksmith and finds out that the key belongs to “some kind of lockbox,” (Foer 39). This scene begins the journey that Oskar travels throughout the whole book. If the director left out this scene, movie wouldn’t match the book at all.

Another scene in the book that would need to be kept in the movie is the scene where Oskar gets home from school and listens to voicemails on the home phone. He hears his father leaving messages to let the family know that he’s okay. This scene is important because you experience the death of his father. This is also essential for the movie to mimic the book because if this scene was left out then Oskar would have never found the key.

The last part of the book that shouldn’t be left out of the movie isn’t really a scene just a detail of the book. Oskar only wears the color white. This was left out of the movie, obviously. It’s never explained why he only wears white but throughout the whole book, anytime he receives clothes that aren’t white he says something like “too bad it’s not white”. Foer makes the point that Oskar only wears white so many times in the book which means the author obviously believes it’s important or he had a reason for it.

One scene in the book that wasn’t important or essential for the movie is the scene where Oskar’s mom is laughing and talking to Ron. It’s not important because they’re not dating and it’s never really mentioned again after that scene at the beginning.

Another scene that’s not necessary for the movie is when Oskar’s grandma’s and grandpa’s stories explain that his grandpa dated the grandma’s sister. It’s not important because I don’t think that its relevant at all because it didn’t change or help the story line.