Prof Myrna Monllor English 124 All images taken

Prof. Myrna Monllor English 124 All images taken from www. google. com solely for educational purposes. ©Myrna Monllor Jiménez March 2016

Stephen King • Published Carrie in 1974 • One of the most frequently banned books in the USA • Threw out his first draft which was rescued by his wife • His shortest novel • Thinks it is not his best work • Based the character of Carrie on two childhood classmates • Meant originally as a short story

About Carrie • “One reason for [Carrie’s] success in both print and film, I think, lies in this: Carrie’s revenge is something that any student who ever had his gym shorts pulled down in Phys Ed or his glasses thumb-rubbed in study hall could approve of. In Carrie’s destruction of the gym. . . we see a dream revolution of the socially downtrodden. ” ((Stephen King, Danse Macabre p 174 (New York: Everest House Publishers, 1981). ))

Carrie • Inverts horror tropes because it’s a female who is seeking revenge and destroying her predators. You empathize with the killer, not with the victims • You empathize with Carrie’s empowerment.

Carrie • Became popular because not many books about contemporary teenagers were written at the time. • The book also includes a lot of sexuality which was not common at the time. • Unusual for a male writer to tackle the subject of female sexuality, specifically adolescent sexuality

King’s Writing Style • Epistolary novel • Constantly shifting point of view • Because of the unusual structure, the narrative seems disjointed. • Predated the slasher stories.

King’s Writing Style • Character based writing • Uses stream of consciousness through italicized sections • Uses run on sentences • Uses parenthetical asides Example: She looked back (old bitch hates my momma) over her shoulder

King’s Writing Style • Third-person narrative voice interspersed with extracts from other media • Internal monologue • Brackets or italicized thoughts inserted into the third-person narrative

King’s Writing Style • King makes the reader wait for something to happen. The reader knows that something bad is going to happen but doesn’t know why or how. • In the film Brian de Palma tried to capture this same feeling.

Carrie’s Multiple Point of Views • straight narrative • transcripts of hearings • excerpts from academic papers • eyewitness interviews • hospital admissions records • newspaper articles • excerpts from Sue Snell’s memoir

Carrie’s Multiple Points of View At the climax King abandons Carrie’s point of view. We’re in her head right until she gets crowned Queen. Then, the writer switches to other points of view. • Billy’s and Chris’ POV • an excerpt from Reader’s Digest • Tommy’s POV Until the narrative returns to Carrie’s head

Themes • How Carrie’s dysfunctional family and mother affect her vision of life • The effect of bullying • Teenagers and sexuality

The Beginning New item from the Westover (Me. ) weekly Enterprise, August 18, 1966: Rain of Stones Reported It was reliably reported by several persons that a Rain of stones fell from a clear blue sky on Carlin Street in the town of Chamberlain on August 17 th…. Mrs. White, a widow, lives with her threeyear old daughter, Carietta.

The Beginning Setting the Tone Nobody was really surprised when it happened, not really, not at the subconscious level where savage things grow. On the surface, all the girls in the shower room were shocked, thrilled, ashamed, or simply glad that the White bitch had taken it in the mouth again.

Carrie’s Description What incidents of violence had marked her? …a frog among swans. She was a chunky girl with pimples on her neck and back and buttocks, her wet hair completely without color. …she looked around bovinely…At sixteen, the elusive stamp of hurt was already marked clearly in her eyes.

Carrie’s Seventh Grade Poem Jesus watches from the wall, But his face is cold as stone, And if he loves me As she tells me Why do I feel so all alone?

Carrie • Blood is used as a symbol of humiliation and sexuality • Carrie’s telekinetic powers symbolize her sexuality. • Carrie has suffered the ultimate humiliation from her classmates. • At the end, by destroying them, she recovers her dignity.

Carrie • When Carrie uses her power she uses the words of her mother. • Even though she has rebelled against her mother throughout the novel, at the end of the she turns into her mother.

Carrie Mrs. White Sue Snell Chris Story About Women Miss Desjardin

Margaret White “Margaret White was before my time, for which I am profoundly grateful. She told Mrs. Bicente, God rest her, that the Lord was reserving a special burning seat in hell for her because she gave the kids an outline of Mr. Darwin's beliefs on evolution. She was suspended twice while she was here—once for beating a classmate with her purse. Legend has it that Margaret saw the classmate smoking a cigarette. Peculiar religious views. Very peculiar. ” Mr. Morton

Sue Snell “She was a get-along girl, and it was the first fight she had been in, physical or verbal, since grade-school pigtail pulling. And it was the first time in her life that she had actively espoused a Principle. And of course Chris had hit her in just the right place, had hit her exactly where she was most vulnerable: She was being a hypocrite, there seemed no way to avoid that, and deeply, sheathed within her and hateful, was the knowledge that one of the reasons she had gone to Miss Desjardin’s hour of calisthenics and sweating runs around the gym floor had nothing to do with nobility. She wasn't going to miss her last Spring Ball for anything. Not for anything. ”

Other Characters Mrs. White Sue Snell Tommy Billy Chris Hargensen John Hargensen Mr. Morton The school principal, Henry Grayle • Miss Desjardin • • • Ralph White Estelle Horan Thomas K. Quillan Sheriff Otis Doyle

Ending …and so we must conclude that, while an autopsy performed on the subject indicates some cellular changes which may indicate the presence of some paranormal power, we find no reason to believe that a recurrence is likely or even possible. Excerpt from a letter dated May 3, 1988, from Amelia Jenks, Royal Knob, Tennessee, to Sandra Jenks, Macon, Georgia

Deleted from the Film • Background Information about Carrie as a little girl creating a rain stone out of anger • Chris’ father and his abuse of power • The fact that Carrie’s mother wanted to kill her when she was an infant. • The investigations with Sue Snell’s testimonies • Journalistic structure of the book. • In the book Carrie destroys the whole town.

Deleted from the Film • The psychic connection between Sue Snell and Carrie. Although at the end of the film in Sue Snell’s dream, Carries reaches out for her. • The 409 deaths and 49 missing persons • Miss Desjardin survives but resigns from school • Carrie’s mom dies from a heart attack.

Brian de Palma • Carrie • Scarface • The Untouchables • Carlito’s Way • Mission Impossible “De Palma’s approach to the material was lighter and more deft than my own — and a good deal more artistic. . . ” Stephen King

Carrie (1976) “what you ultimately take away from Brian De Palma's adaptation is a sense of growing frustration with a world that allows good people to be tormented and then turned into monsters themselves. Carrie was so harried, so abused by everyone in her life that she finally retaliated with the very force of hatred she despised so much in others. In charting this story, Stephen King and Brian De Palma chart a cycle of violence. They remind us how children turn to us -- adults -- for guidance and compassion. How they turn to us as role models, and how they sometimes fall through the cracks and find themselves lost, rudderless. . emulating only the worst angels of human nature. ” John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Cult Movies and Classic TV September 11, 2009

About the Film Meant as social satire Shot in fifty-two days Budget of $1. 8 million Went on to become De Palma’s first mainstream hit. • Piper Laurie and Sissy Spacek received Oscar nominations for their acting • •

About the Film • Hollywood’s first major Stephen King adaptation • De Palma reinterprets King’s angry, heavy text • the director’s approach considers with great care the emotional state of his maligned main character • “Carrie’s horror comes not from the unknown or some fantastical abomination, but from the worst suspicions and contempt for women, realized through religion, social cruelty, and supernatural elements that have a direct connection to the film’s metaphor for the misunderstood and feared feminine prowess. ”

About the Film • “the subject of Carrie is not an inhuman monster. Carrie White is a protagonist worthy of our sympathy, whose supernatural abilities give her a unique opportunity to be seen as a monster, and later to resort to horrible acts of violence. ” http: //www. deepfocusreview. com/reviews/carr ie. asp

The Film’s Popularity • We tend to accept what the popular kids do in school so that we are accepted • We are marked by our experiences in high school life.

The Music • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=1 If. FWBA Sb 7 I • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=dudbsy 3 ni 4 o

Initial Scene

Initial Scene • God’s Eye View • her positioning at the back showing her isolation from the other characters. • Our first view of her marks her as weak because she has missed the ball.

Shower Scene • Shot in soft focus • full frontal nudity of fully fletched women, as contrasted to Carrie who is small breasted and doesn’t seem to have pubic hair • Scene makes the audience feel uncomfortable • The girls’ playfulness is then contrasted to Carrie’s fear at getting her period.

Slow Motion Locker Room Scene

Carrie’s Shower

Carrie’s Shower

Carrie’s Shower

Carrie’s Humiliation

Carrie’s Stoning

Telekinesis

Camera Angles

Mrs. White

Carrie’s Relationship with Her Mother • “And God made Eve from the rib of Adam. And Eve was weak and loosed the raven on the world. And the raven was called sin… The first sin was intercourse… And Eve was weak… And the Lord visited Eve with the curse, and the curse was the curse of blood!” • atone for her misdeeds by setting up Carrie with her own boyfriend, Tommy Ross

Carrie’s Relationship with her Mother

Carrie’s Relationship with her Mother/Distance

Carrie’s Relationship with her Mother

God’s Eye View

Carrie’s Relationship with her Mother

The Christ Figure

Carrie’s Sexuality/Mirror Images

Carrie and Tommy

Carrie and Tommy

Mirror Images

Mirror Images

Setting up the Scene At the Prom The camera orbits around the couple, but gradually gains speed and seems to spiral out of control, just as Carrie has lost herself in happiness and hope for normalcy. Dream like dance.

How de Palma Builds Tension De Palma uses our awareness of the bucket to drive us mad with equal parts anticipation and suspense toward the climax.

They’re going to laugh at you… From Carrie’s perspective, everyone begins to laugh in a kaleidoscopic nightmare.

Split Screen De Palma uses a split screen to show both Carrie’s expression and how she gets her revenge.

Carrie’s Catharsis

Her Walk Home

Carrie’s Cleansing

Her Mother’s Plans

Carrie’s Wrath

Her Mother’s Crucifixion

She’s young, she’ll get over it.

The End

Bibliography • Hendrix, Grady. The Great Stephen King Reread: Carrie http: //www. tor. com/2012/10/18/the-great-stephen-king-rereadcarrie/ • Hawking, Tom. Stephen King’s “Carrie” is even stranger and more radical than you remember • http: //flavorwire. com/420135/stephen-kings-carrie-is-evenstranger-and-more-radical-than-you-remember • Smythe, James Rereading Stephen King • http: //www. theguardian. com/books/2012/may/24/rereadingstephen-king-carrie • King, Stephen. How I wrote Carrie • http: //www. theguardian. com/books/2014/apr/04/stephen-kinghow-i-wrote-carrie-horror

Bibliography Analysis of Opening Scene “Carrie” 1976 https: //37 thriller 2013. wordpress. com/2013/02/19/analysis-ofopening-scene-carrie-1976/ Deep Focus Review, The Definitives: Carrie 1976 http: //www. deepfocusreview. com/reviews/carrie. asp John Kennet Muir’s Reflections on Cult Movies and Classic TV http: //reflectionsonfilmandtelevision. blogspot. com/2009/09/cul t-movie-review-carrie-1976. html Mind over Mother: Ecstasy and Cruelty in Brian De Palma’s Carrie http: //brightlightsfilm. com/mind-over-mother-ecstasy-andcruelty-in-brian-de-palmas-carrie/#. VXys. BOcy. VKo