Girl, Interrupted

Question: According to the counsellor at Susanna's school, she is the only student who isn't going to college. In the 1960s, wasn't it still common for female students not to attend college? And also young men who came from low-income families? Surely Susanna would not be the only one.

Answer: In that era, college was less common for middle-class females and also males. However, the movie is based on author Susanna Kaysen's memoir. She was raised in an affluent, well-educated New England family and attended private schools. Girls who grew up in that socio-economic environment generally attended college. There was a prevailing joke at the time that girls attended college for the "MRS" degree, meaning it was a pathway to marriage. It was also generally expected that upper-class professional men had educated wives.

raywest

Factual error: The movie is set in 1967-1968 (69?). The Doors song, "Roadhouse Blues" was not released until 1970, on the album "Morrison Hotel". The song, however, plays at the party the two girls (Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie) go to, when they "escape" from the hospital.

More mistakes in Girl, Interrupted

Susanna: Has anyone ever watched you shave your legs?
Valerie: I got two kids and one bathroom, what do you think?
Susanna: I think you should lock the door.

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Trivia: Marilee Rush's "Angel of the Morning", featured in the film's soundtrack, was written by Angelina Jolie's uncle, Chip Taylor.

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Question: I don't understand Georgina's fondness for the "Wizard of Oz" series. Was it somehow connected to her being a pathological liar?

Answer: I think it does play a part. She prefers the fantasy worlds to real life. Look when real life happens, or they hear about something... She looks so distraught and unable to really cope. Telling lies lets her create her own reality that she CAN deal with and be happy in with a sense of control.

Answer: I got the impression that she was presented as a "bookworm" (or bibliophile). When Susanna first entered her room, Georgina was reading "The Patchwork of Oz" and had four other books on her bed, plus a notebook with a pen (apparently to take notes for comparison/contrast purposes and/or remember passages). Soon after their introduction, Georgina returned to reading (and ignored her new roommate, for a while). Georgina probably found comfort in reading what might have been her favorite books and reading may have been a way to deal with loneliness, fear, distress, etc. in such an institution. Whether she was obsessed with or fixated on "The Wizard of Oz" series is questionable; having favorite books is not necessarily pathological! But, no, I don't think it was related to pathological lying.

KeyZOid

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