The Virgin Suicides: Secluded Lives in 1970s Detroit - Essay Sample

Introduction

Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides is an impressive film that represents the plight of five girls who ended up committing suicide in some circumstances that would not be understood. It presents five Lisbon sisters who are Therese (17), Mary (16), Bonnie (15), Lux (14), and Cecilia (13), who seem to live a life that is secluded from other girls of their age. Using the aspect of narration, the Coppola showcases their lives in the Detroit Suburban during the 1970s. Born to strict Catholics, and their father being a teacher, the parents expect them to lead the most impeccable and pure lives. But when one of them commits suicide, their parents resolve to enclose the remaining four and seclude them from the rest of the world. Coppola uses narrative in his movie to make the viewer understand the plight of the Lisbon girls and their parents' which led to their unprecedented suicides.

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It is undebatable that the film is majorly a record of events that are made by a group of men who Coppola showcases to have been in their middle ages by then. Since the movie was released in 1999 and was supposed to represent the girls' lives in the 1970s, the director makes a logic appeal to the audience. By first reflecting on the narrators who supposedly had close relations with the girls, the audience feels that the information they are provided with is reliable and worth considering as adequate. Additionally, the director builds the narrators as people who have since grown into dependable individuals in society and the film as just a recollection of the incidence that shocked them (Bordwell 4). Often, the aspect of narration from a firsthand experience tends to appeal to the audience. Therefore, the author makes use of this aspect to attract viewers and get their attention.

Among the major themes the director wants to communicate with the listeners, is that of seclusion. Through narrative, Coppola is able to bring out the theme to the listener comprehensively. She does that by presenting the narrators as free and enjoying lives as children. They have bikes, go to school without being controlled by their parents, and even meet to call the girls. The narrators, also show the girls as secluded since all they do is spend time at home (Shostak 182). The profound thought of seclusion that gets into the mind of the viewer when they see the young men roaming around, and the young girls secluded at home is more expressed when the narrators themselves explain their dissatisfaction with how the young girls were treated by their parents. Therefore, the narration is an effective way that the director utilizes to showcase the plight of the Lisbon sisters.

Additionally, showcasing the lives of the young Lisbon sisters needed individuals who were close to them. As a result, Coppola does not just use the aspect of the narrative with its reasons. The director models the men as having been interested in the Lisbon sisters. Occasionally, she showcases the young men as having struggled even to write letters and call the sisters and send them songs as well ("Virgin Suicides"). What features in the mind of the viewers is that the relationship between the sisters and the boys that could have been stronger if they were not locked down. Through the use of narrative, the director affirms the credibility of the content shared in the movie-making the readers view the story from the perspective of something that happened in reality. As a movie that reflected the lives of Lisbon sisters in the 1970s, the viewer conceptualizes that the plight of all girls during the time must have been hard, all because of narration.

Besides, the use of narrative introduces the issue of religion and its effect on societies. The young men describe the parents of the five sisters as people who believed in religion. They were strict Catholics who would not even want to think about their girls being defiled by even boys. However, the boys describe themselves as having realized the mysteries of womanhood. Besides, the only girls that they could get are the Lisbon sisters who strangely are enclosed at home by their parents (Jane n.p.). The narrators depict the aspect of religion as having had different two opposing views. One is that it was used by parents during that time to oppress their children while, on the other hand, it can be utilized as a tool that was used for protection. This, the aspect of the narrative brings the effect of religion by effectively showing how religion played a role in the seclusion and, ultimately, the suicide of the Lisbon sisters in the film.

Strikingly, the director of the film, sought to use narrative solely but with only a male voice attached to it. Observing the film and its context critically, there could have been scores of narrators who would have been utilized. Even so, the narrator chose to solely use male narrators with an ideal focus in mind, which was to showcase the space of the woman in society then. Critically evaluating the narrators, the viewers observe that it was possible that the girls were enclosed by their parents just because they were women and were considered weak (Jane n.p.). The use of the male narrative and in consideration that the film focused on the 1970s showcases an oppressed society of women that made even girls to be enclosed and not allowed to enjoy life like their male counterparts. The narrative in the story by solely using male characters as a single tool that Coppola uses to make the viewers understand that the Lisbon sisters only represented the real plight of women across the nation.

Lastly, the narrative efficiently showcases the helplessness of the parents after they lose their children and the disconnection from the external society. People who were considerably in living in a middle-income locality and who were happy with life considerably gave up and sold the house at the end of the film as they do not want to have memories of their children ("Virgin Suicides"). Whereas the parents are disturbed by the death of their children, the rest of the society except the boys are not concerned about the children. Through narration, a critical understanding of the relationship between the family and why the society was not involved in helping the girls before they committed suicide can be observed instrumentally. The use of narrative instrumentally helps the readers understand the theme of disconnection as the Lisbon family is left to suffer alone without the society offering any help.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides, in a significant way, utilizes the narrative aspect to showcase the plight of the Lisbon girls and their family as well as the events that led them to kill themselves. The story of the young girls is narrated by a group of men who were friends to them and understood them. During the narration, Coppola represents them as middle-aged men to make sure that the viewers carry their sentiments with weight. Through the use of narration, the men effectively bring out the lives of the young girls, as representatives of the entire population of youthful women during the time, the influence of religion on their life, and their position in society. In the end, narration shows the disconnection of the family from the larger society and the hopelessness as well as how it could have contributed to the death of the girls. In entirety, the narrative aspect is effective in showing the plight of the Lisbon sisters, their parents, and their unprecedented deaths.

Works Cited

"The Virgin Suicides." YouTube, 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2k55W_sqMU&list=PLdeW-WN5uDuTiuNVoS3JgQ2uFTCg1tbS0. Accessed 21, 2020.

Bordwell, David. Narration in the Fiction Film. Routledge, 2013. http://libgen.li/item/index.php?md5=E73B49FCD976BCD3627256012F2F1A42. Accessed 21, 2020.

Jane, Sarah. "Suffocated by Isolation: Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides." 2016. https://talkfilmsociety.com/articles/suffocated-by-isolation-sofia-coppolas-the-virgin-suicides. Accessed 21, 2020.

Shostak, Debra. "Impossible Narrative Voices": Sofia Coppola's Adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides's the Virgin Suicides." Interdisciplinary Literary Studies 15.2 (2013): 180-202. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/intelitestud.15.2.0180. Accessed 21, 2020.