This spring marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of the book that made Stephen King a household name. His first novel, Carriebecame a bestseller. In 1976, Brian De Palma made a critically acclaimed adaptation of the film. King’s story of a sensitive outsider with a deadly gift continues to resonate with new generations of fans and inspired two remakes and even a sequel. None of these films manage to recapture the magic of the original, but there’s clearly a reason why filmmakers can’t stop taking Carrie White to the prom.
It is ironic that a story about the world’s most unpopular teenager became so popular itself, but King’s captivating prose and De Palma’s compelling style ensured Carries Fame. The Oscar-nominated performances of Sissy Spacek in the title role and Piper Laurie as her fanatical mother are unrepeatable, and Carrie’s telekinetic takedown of her traitorous classmates is unbeatable. It’s easy to see why this moving, terrifying and endlessly quotable film has inspired countless imitators and would-be copycats.
Carrie’s descendants never conquered her crown
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Awards for Carrie (1976) |
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Before the remakes hacker Author Rafael Moreu and Poison ivy Director Katt Shea made The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999) about a modern-day telekinetic teenager (Emily Bergl) who is secretly Carrie White’s half-sister. Despite its modern take on toxic masculinity, The anger usually follows in Carries Steps: A well-meaning athlete takes the school’s outcast to a party where she is brutally humiliated by her classmates, triggering an explosion of psychological violence. It’s fun to see Amy Irving back as Sue Snell, the repentant teenager who schemed to get Carrie to prom in 1976, but it also makes the film seem more redundant.
The failure of the sequel made a remake seem perhaps wiser. In 2002, NBC commissioned a new Carrie as a backdoor pilot for a television series. Angela Bettis, star of the Weird Girl classic Mayis absolutely perfect as Carrie White, and writer Bryan Fuller hoped to give her a sharpness that Spacek lacked. However, he expressed concerns about the recent Columbine tragedy and the possibility of producing a more inoffensive drama overshadowed by what critics called an excess of cheap special effects. (Oddly enough, a scene in which young Carrie causes a rain of stones resembles a scene from the ABC miniseries King Rose red, which aired earlier this year.)
2013 promised more for the Carrie Legacy, when another remake was directed by Kimberly Peirce, famous for Boys don’t cryWith Julianne Moore as Carrie’s overprotective mother and Judy Greer as her sympathetic gym teacher, the casting is inspired, but Chloë Grace Moretz is a bit overconfident as the unstable teenager and the film as a whole feels muted. Critics rejected this Carrie as unnecessary as it does not add any new depth or nuance to the story.
The remakes are proof of Carrie White’s credibility
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Carries Mothers, ranking |
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Carrie may be a story that only needs to be told once (once on paper and once on screen, that is), but you can’t blame anyone for wanting to retell this powerful tale. Fear of being excluded and left behind is common, and the fantasy of proving everyone wrong is undeniably attractive. Stephen King himself has fought a tough battle for recognition, and one can argue that he I’m Carrie.
The author’s early life was marked by extreme poverty, and by 1973 he and his family were living in a trailer without a telephone. King was a high school teacher on the verge of burnout who had written three other unpublished novels, and he said that if Carrie he might have given up his career as a writer. Actually, he almost gave up Carrieand said in his memoirs About writing that he never really felt comfortable with the project. He wrote:
(I) didn’t feel comfortable with the environment or with my all-female cast of supporting characters. I had landed on the planet Female, and a trip (as a cleaning lady) to the girls’ locker room at Brunswick High School years ago hadn’t helped me much in finding my way around.
It’s possible, however, that King’s discomfort is exactly what makes Carrie White seem so authentic. His ostracized protagonist isn’t too comfortable on Planet Female, either, especially with a mother who believes puberty is a manifestation of evil. Even her nicest classmates are dishonest and condescending, and while few people have been bullied as badly as Carrie White, her story effectively exaggerates universal insecurities about belonging. Her final act of revenge may be cruel, but it also offers a catharsis that fans understandably want to experience again and again.
