FITA… books, movies and god-forbid… opinions.
I’m a mother of 4 yet, I can not forget one of my first book series which I was completely, wholeheartedly obsessed with as a young adult. I’m starting this post from bare bones - for the benefit of those who have not devoured every word of the books, and absorbed themselves in every minute of the movies (at least the 1987 version). There shall be ‘spoilers’ abound, however, if you’ve come to this particular blog, I really hope you at least know /some/ of the story.
Yes, the god-forsaken Dollanganger series, started with VC Andrews’ masterpiece, Flowers in the Attic.
First published in 1979 (before I learned to read, thank you very much), Flowers in the Attic is the story of Christopher, Cathy, Carrie and Cory - four children who were locked away in an attic so that their mother could inherit her father’s vast fortune. How could someone make such a selfish, terrible decision? What could four kids possibly do in this situation? This book also introduced - for YEARS to come - everything that VC Andrews would come to be known as - crazy family sagas including people with utmost incredible artistic abilities, succumbed to sadistic situations by religious fanatics, and of course. Incest. Why? I don’t know. This website does tackle that concept and everything else about VC Andrews you may ever want to know.
In 1987, Kristy Swanson, Louise Fletcher and Victoria Tennant were cast to play Cathy, Olivia, and Corrine. When this movie finally made it onto the HBO lineup, I was officially introduced into this saga. I remember my dad briefly telling me the gist of the story that I had not quite understood (I was only 10-11 at the very least), and I was Enthralled. Evil grandma, locking kids in the attic - oh wow! That’s just crazy! Let’s watch it again! Needless to say, the movie stuck with me.
It wasn’t until a couple years later that I discovered through some friends of mine: the Books. This was probably the ONLY good thing from Junior High that happened to me. My friends and I loaned each other the books, and I finally had the brainiac idea to watch the movie and read the book at the same time.
Talk about a crushing blow.
I have held firm over the years that Cathy ‘is’ Kristy Swanson, Corrine ‘is’ Victoria Tennant, and the Grandmother ‘is’ Louise Fletcher. That’s how I originally saw them, and that’s how I envisioned them as I read the books. However, thanks to this atrocity, I realized (as many of us do at some point) that movie adaptations Are Vastly Disappointing. It was from this point on, that I found myself having Very Strong Conclusions on how book adaptations should be made. First of all, don’t cut out the WHOLE POINT OF THE STORY. You will have many a disapproving fan in your audience. I don’t care that VC Andrews had a cameo - I am ENTIRELY grateful that the poor woman did not live to see the movie completed especially seeing as how ‘Hollywood” massacred her masterpiece. How could the producers decide to cut out the incest and to top it off - KILL the mother? (I’m not worried about spoiling anyone on a movie that’s over 26 years old) That’s not how it was in the books - you don’t f*ck that up in the movie.
Now things they DID have right on:
- Foxworth Hall - that sprawling manor had me convinced and totally creeped out
- Creepy music
- The swan bed
- good chunks of the story-line… even some lines were straight from the book
However.
EAT THE COOKIE, MOTHER!
When I was a kid, and didn’t know any better - it was crazy. After reading the books, well, I was just absolutely f*cking insulted.
To this day, I admit, I still have this on DVD. In fact, when the husband purged our GREAT collection of DVDs, this was one (of many) that I had gone out behind his back to weed through as many boxes of our movies as I could bear - salvaging what precious movies I had personally collected, over his crap of crap. I will never get rid of this one. I watch it up until they finally decide to leave during the ‘wedding’. I’m done there.
I guess Victoria Tennant was done at that part too. Legend has it that she pretty much left the production once that ending was revealed to the cast. If that was the case, then good for her. Sticking up for one’s VC Andrews morals and sh!t.
The good news, is that last night I ‘forced’ my friends (one of those who understood my ‘need’) to watch Lifetime last night, holding off RockBand/Guitar Hero for a couple hours so I could watch the 2014 movie. And Thank Goodness I did. VC Andrews, they served you proper. FINALLY.
I hadn’t known this movie was coming out until a former co-worker alerted me to it on Facebook a few weeks ago. My first concern was, “Really?! Heather Graham?!” She’s just too sweet - Ms Felicity Shagwell, Roller Girl… But after seeing it… She did a good Corrine. Really played up the ‘young, sexy Momma’. I do admit that there were a few parts where I did say out loud, “seriously? was that the best you could say that line?” However, my friend who normally likes Heather Graham, was getting pretty disgusted with her - as we should be. So. I’m going to conclude that she played the part well.
The first thing I noticed though was the font. Oh. My. GAWD, they GOT THE FONT RIGHT!!!! The font that matches my BOOKS!! At that point there was VERY LITTLE they could screw up in my opinion. (For the record, my day job is graphic design - so that should hopefully explain why I would attach to the font thing.) Second thing - I was so glad they did a little more scenes with the Dollanganger family at “home” - it really helped build the story to the point when they were on the train.
More things:
- Kept in the 1950s - clothing, the TV… Thank you!
- Acting was great from the kids. I know there are already many naysayers out there, but I thought they all did a great job.
- the grandmother’s warning about not eating the doughnuts. I dare ANY fan of the books to challenge that one, because I was so damn glad that made it in!!
- the escape to the lake. THANK YOU!!
- the stolen ‘kiss’ as well as the the John and Livvy ‘scene’… a little changed, but more importantly, thank god it was there.
Christopher. omg. To be honest, Christopher was one of my first ‘romantics’, meaning he was one of the first male characters that I recognized having a true romantic passion about him - WITHIN him. This did not disappoint me at all. There’s a scene in a later book where Christopher does talk about his relationship with Cathy to another character, explaining with true remorse about how ‘it’ started but also with pure raw honesty about their situation, and how it was Cathy who had made everything bearable for him during the attic years. The way their scenes were played in this version of the movie, made my seeing this future scene completely justified. I cannot imagine anything done better.
Cathy. I admit, Kristy Swanson’s Cathy is Bratty. Kiernan Shipka played Cathy with the right amount of assertiveness and loving sister. Bravo, Kiernan. Krisyi - I will still always hold you in my mind as Cathy, and Kiernan just made you both look better. I don’t know how more to explain that, but there it is.
Oh, what else can I say… So many other little scenes that were in the books but not in 1987… thank you for those. Sure, there were a few things they left out, like Christopher’s dream to be a doctor, but they did focus on his painting, which was just as significant to Christopher anyways.
There were things that I was torn over, like the groundskeeper, or playing off the grandmother’s fear of enclosed spaces too much… But, the fact comes down to this: a little creative jaunt as long as the script stays TRUE TO THE STORY can be completely forgiven.
It’s been announced that Petals on the Wind has been ordered by Lifetime. Please keep the same writers, integrity, and actors. You all did very well with this remake. You’ve got my trust. Don’t break it now.
--scr.