And you thought
your prom night was bad. Had it happened in real life, the tale of Carrie White
(Sissy Spacek) and what she did after a horrible prank during her big moment at
her prom would have become an urban legend to scare high school students for
generations. Fortunately it is only a work of fiction envisioned by horror
master Stephen King and first brought to the big screen by Brian De Palma in
1976. It is an undoubtedly scary film, but also one that deals with important
themes such as bullying, kindness, and acceptance.
This is one of
those stories where I really did my homework. I have given myself the goal to
read all of Stephen Kings’ oeuvre and Carrie
is one of his earliest novels. In addition to seeing De Palma’s adaptation
on Netflix have also seen the 2013 remake directed by Kimberly Peirce with
Chloe Grace Moretz in the Carrie role. Both movies tell pretty much the same
story with different budgets, but I must conclude the original is bleaker and
much more in the horror vein. It is also very difficult to beat Piper Laurie’s
performance as Carrie’s overly deliriously religious mother Margaret.
Religious
extremism is one of the sources of fear in Carrie’s bloody tale. When she has
her period in the shower Carrie has a panic attack and is ridiculed by her
fellow high school students. Her mother never gave her any basic sexual
education since in her deranged mind menstruation is caused by sinful thoughts.
When Carrie gets home humiliated, instead of receiving comfort from her mother
she is forced into a closet and told to pray for forgiveness. One can only
imagine how Margaret White would feel about a gay or transsexual daughter.
The inciting
incident in the shower is disturbing and infuriating, but also foreboding as it
leads to something intriguing for Carrie. As she grows angry she begins to be
able to move objects with her thoughts, first an ashtray in her principal’s
office and later a boy’s bicycle while on her way home. Unfortunately the boy
is on the bicycle at the time. Normal kids of Carrie’s age take classes on
sexuality and puberty in order to cope with the changes happening with their
bodies. Over time Carrie finds herself drawn to books about telekinesis in
order to teach herself about the changes happening with her mind.
Carrie’s growing
powers could be her way out of her abusive relationship with her mother and a
way into a happy life, but King reminds us children can be cruel. One student,
Sue Snell (Amy Irving), feels sorry for the way Carrie was treated and
convinces her popular boyfriend Tommy (William Katt) to be Carrie’s prom date. Unfortunately
Chris Hargensen (Nancy Allen) feels Carrie should be further humiliated and plans
the mother of all pranks. It will involve a bucket of pig’s blood, a sabotaged vote
for prom queen, and having Carrie stand at just the right place at the right
time. Talk about a mean girl.
I guess there is
no spoiling what happens in the film’s third act. The image of Spacek standing
in front of students and staff covered in blood, wearing what used to be a
beautiful white prom dress, is one of the horror genre’s most iconic images. What
makes De Palma’s version more horrific than other adaptations is that Carrie
shows no discrimination in her wrath afterwards. She even kills kind gym
teacher Miss Collins (Betty Buckley) who only wanted to help. The pig’s blood
and humiliation transform Carrie into a walking natural disaster with no pity
for whom it swaths.
I believe one of
the reasons why the story of Carrie White has spawned not only a classic movie
adaptation but also a sequel, a TV remake, a big screen remake, and even a
musical, is that the conditions that lead to her outburst still exist today.
Bullying is on ongoing problem in schools across North America, with social
media making it extremely easy to taunt and ridicule students anonymously. Of
course telekinesis is at most a myth, but some students still react violently
to bullying either by hurting themselves or others.
It is easy to
paint Carrie as the monster in Carrie,
but you cannot forget who created her. There are the students who chose to
laugh at her, the school staff who did not do enough to help her, and of course
the mother who saw her only as a product of the devil. Whether you read the
great book or watch any of the movies (start with the original), you end up
asking yourself: who is the real monster?
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