Carrie | Anatomy of a Franchise

In today's video, we are looking at the 1974 horror novel by Stephen King, Carrie, and the 1976 Brian De Palma adaption that cemented King as a mainstay in horror genre fiction. As well as some more attempts at sequels and reboots that came along the way.
Thank you so much for watching.
PATREON:
/ praiseofshadows

[@TetsuShima]

One change the 1976 film made that I really liked is that, while in the novel everyone laughed at Carrie when the pig's blood fell on her, in the film it is implied that Carrie is simply hallucinating said reaction due to her damaged mind. It was a change that made the scene much more tragic and relatable.

[@cannibalisticrequiem]

I think the only people who were actually laughing was probably Chris and Billy - unseen under the stage but assumed that they would be, and Norma - the only person we actually see laughing outside of Carrie's hallucinations. But yes, I always liked that aspect of the '76 movie, as we get to see a literal break in Carrie's psyche.

[@doyleharken3477]

iirc, the novel clarifies that most students started laughing awkwardly as a shock reflex, something you do when you're confronted with a startling situation and don't know what to do. so king doesn't imagine the student body as uniformly malign.

[@someonerandom8552]

Never considered that before. But you’re right. That’s interesting

[@fightvale57]

​@marshalmarrs3269 really? That's wild,I love that

[@fightvale57]

​@someonerandom8552 I hadn't considered that either!

[@renatocorvaro6924]

A big thing that made Carrie so good was that, while the psychic powers are a fantasy, the depiction of high school bullying is terrifyingly real. King's more psychotic and cliche bullies in future stories are a bit of a caricature, but in this one, he nailed it.

[@poindextertunes]

great point. the were hellaciously cruel. such is the real world

[@ajkraven]

It's even more relevant today too. All you have to do is replace Carrie's powers with a gun and it turns into a story of a school shooter.

[@tamiwatchesstuff]

I agree. I would love a remake where Carrie is not only being psychologically abused in life, but the abuse doesn’t stop at home and happens online on her smartphone and laptop. Mother doesn’t want to give her “sinful” technology but wants to “protect her soul” at all times. She would still be a telekinetic, because it’s a King story, but modernizing how kids are bullied by their peers would resonate with the younger generation.

[@johnindigo5477]

​​@tamiwatchesstuff there could also be students who pretend to be empathetic for clout. Also when the blood drops there would be people recording and going live. So it's not just the school but feeling the world is watching. Worst case imagine a girl filming Carrie in the shower, or a bunch of girls talking about it online.

[@AndrogynousTroll]

I know it’s not a 1:1 adaptation of Carrie, but I love the season of “I’m Not Okay With This” and how it brings a different kind of angle to the story. Sad that it got canceled.

[@Sibylle-gr6we]

It is? I didn't know that, still enjoyed it very much.

[@banquetoftheleviathan1404]

prob needed to just for now given all the actual school shootings. felt too much like a power fantasy at points

[@Nanda-ku2yw]

I love this show 😢

[@not_briana]

I was thinking the same thing lol,, amazing show

[@fionahunter1669]

It's definitely good but be prepared to be left with questions. They thought they were gonna get another season to explain shit that gets set up but with it being canceled there's never any answers. Which is unfortunate cause I really enjoyed a lot of it.

[@LeoFieTv]

King is one of the few authors that really gets bullying. The randomness, the levels of cruelty only children and teenagers are really capable of and the impact it can only really have on another child/teenager. Carrie is an ode and a power fantasy too all the survivors. I'm glad to finally learn that this was King's actual intention and not just me reading into it.

[@i_tell_u_hwathill8089]

R.L. Stine is pretty decent at it too honestly.

[@ashleightompkins3200]

Carrie is the King book I've read more than any other and it's the one I identify most with. I was the 'Carrie' of my school, except my mother wasn't insane. What I was, was an undiagnosed autistic and the students around me could smell it like sharks smell blood. I thank Mr. King for creating this and I thank Tabitha King for encouraging him.

[@noctap0d]

I'm also autistic and I also felt so identified with Carrie 😢 This was one of the first unpopular girls I saw in fiction who felt more like me, less secretly cool and more like... A freak, I guess 😂 Without trying to offend of course, but that was how I felt. I'll love King and Tabitha for ever for having put that story out in the world ❤

[@ashleightompkins3200]

@@noctap0d No, I’m not offended at all because that’s exactly how I felt. The school was a circus and I was the freak.

[@DownTrodded]

I saved a few dozen Carrie’s and avoided becoming one myself I was actually pretty socially intelligent and had a good amount of charm I just refused to go along with what people thought was normal because it seemed insane and beyond unreasonable to me. But the rest of the school everything that wasn’t the students was hell I never went to first grade I got help back in second 2 times and didn’t know how to read till I was 12 never got to go to high school. In fact the teachers just straight up bullied me and called me a retard and said I would never learn anything and that I would also probably be better off dead. Besides my teacher and the lunch ladies my teacher was completely done with this nonsense she had a friendly demeanor and pretended to care but was clearly tired and practically dead behind the eyes most of the time she mumbled to herself about all sorts of nonsense she was quite good at hiding all of this I doubt anyone besides me and the Asian kid with some other from of autism noticed or cared. The lunch ladies were just really good people one was quite never said anything and smiled for the most part the other was cherry and friendly starting up casual conversations with the kids and always laughing to herself she clearly was having the time of her life at her job of all places. Oh yea I almost forgot the teacher that worked in the special Ed class was also just a straight up normal person nothing more nothing less she was kind to a point stern to a point mostly bland one note. I liked her a lot because she was very honest with us and our predicament she refused to dumb it down or lie every about anything we ask a question she gave it straight forward head on. Really my problem wasn’t with anyone but the system I was trapped in. When I got to go to a school for people “like” me it got a decent amount better but if I’m honest school was never a place I should have been forced to go to I was always upset by something when I was in school and can’t remember most of anything from that time period because of the clear trauma I experienced in fact all of what I just said I’m not to sure ever happened or existed. I’m now paranoid of being paranoid.

[@onojioboardwalk9748]

Yet proceeds to contradict himself by later Admitting that films arent g00d anym0re

[@Ranixo286]

​@onojioboardwalk9748 huh??? Dear lord what are you talking about?

[@alexredell5046]

The quality of these videos is always so high, it’s staggering. Legitimately the best doc/video essay content creator I’ve ever found. You pick topics or media I’ve seen maybe dozens of times and always offer a new perspective, new comparisons, and always offer me some new introspections to look at within my life. I can’t praise this channel enough.

[@minako10]

I think Pino Donaggio's score for the 1976 film is not talked about enough. It's so unique for the genre and it elevates everything so much. The fact that he scored the film thinking of it as an opera was a genius move on his part. On another note, I wonder what happened to the FX miniseries adaptation that was announced back in 2019. I was really looking forward to that one.

[@devinmorse9112]

His score for Tourist Trap (1979) is god-tier as well.

[@scientistservant]

I personally think the reason the book takes place in the future is because King is saying how bullying will, sadly, never truly stop. That there will always be more Carries. EDIT: I also gotta say I ABSOLUTELY agree with the last 30 minutes where you talk about Hollywood having this obsession with beauty and everything having to be perfect and unrealistic, characters included, because "things can't be ugly". I never really noticed it before until now, and I hate it.

[@oscarvanschijndel4989]

What Hollywood is doing to movies, is what overuse of autotune is doing to music, overuse of Photoshop to women magazines and doping to sports. They create a setting that cannot be reproduced for normal persons using normal means.

[@johnbarrie447]

My feeling on why King set Carrie in the near future is so that readers who were in high school themselves when the book came out could envision that the goat in their class was a Carrie, that this was something they were building up to in their own lives if they didn't learn to accept the Carrie Whites in their lives.

[@RX-12]

I think that was more for the telekinesis aspect. For all he knew it was possible that by 1979 it would actually be real.

[@bonlynx]

I'm so glad you touched on how she differs from the book in the films. I could never really connect with or enjoy the films because I was the Carrie. I was the fat, ugly, poor, weird, outcast who nobody liked & everyone bullied. I so desperately want a film where she looks how she's supposed to. The people who have played her look more like the girls who tormented me than they do me or people like me so the films always felt like a sick joke to me. I feel like it's hard to really get it when she still looks thin and pretty and conventionally attractive.

[@DownTrodded]

She’s the opposite of everything a young woman is thought of to be in this society.

[@smittywerbenjagermanjensen99]

yes! so often the "ugly" women cast for a lot of movies are just conventionally attractive it makes no sense and takes you out of the story

[@coolbeans5911]

Same here. I'm still waiting patiently for chubby acne riddled Carrie cuz i saw so much of my own body insecurities in her and still do. Maybe if they make a next gen Carrie they will go that route.

[@lainiwakura1776]

At least Sissy Spacek is weird looking, so the original film gets credit for that. But yeah, I'd like a more book accurate Carrie too.

[@mothma_am]

​@@lainiwakura1776i mean, i guess so, but she's still really pretty.

[@frostyproductions6716]

You mentioned the fact that Carrie takes place 5 years in the future, I always theorized it’s King commenting on the timeless quality of the archetype of Carrie, especially since she was inspired by his own past

[@jazdonaire2347]

I also think it could be a matter of working backwards like he wanted the actual events to take place during certain years and the ages of the characters had to reflect that

[@shaunmoore681]

Really late to the party here. After watching this I went and listened to the novel, read it 40 years ago. Ouch!. Anyways I think it might be set on the future because after the Carrie White incident telekinesis is seen as a real and measurable thing. The book as many chapters looking back at the events ,interviews etc. King setting the novel in 1979 might be is way of saying "hey, in the near future this might happen."

[@yerabbit]

The literary depth you bring to your youtube documentaries is unmatched. You can analyze the heck out of a thing.

[@SamanthaCZimmerman]

i really liked your digression on menstrual blood as a storytelling device. it's something i always identified w/ at a visceral, emotional level but weirdly never identified how it was a trope utilized largely by male writers. it's an interesting thought to chew on the next time i come across it.

[@zenbrandon]

It's always a good day when In Praise of Shadows uploads.

[@mbowsher76]

100%

[@parzemis7145]

Oh yes

[@coltonmartin5057]

True true

[@DownTrodded]

“MORE!”

[@GabrielTheMagolorMain]

Seriously!

[@mordaciousfilms]

The original film has a lot that makes it the gem it is - there's this sweetness and charm that really has you feeling for Carrie, so the emotional impact of the dance scene hit me really hard. The little 70s love ballad playing, the dreamy cinematography, her utter happiness is heartbreaking so that when shit hits the fan, it's simultaneously horrifying, sad and cathartic in such an impactful way. It's the weird "lightning in a bottle" combo of the direction, the time period it was filmed in, the cast, every little thing. And IMO, you can't "re-capture" that same vibe. You can remake a film adaptation of the book, but the DePalma film is in and of itself a work of art. 🤩

[@abject_ladder]

I know it's a relatively minor aspect of your videos, but I just wanted to say I really appreciate this presentation style. It's very unique.

[@alexandermckay9521]

Constantly cutting to unnecessary footage of him talking? No it isn’t lol. No matter how he tires to dress it up to look unique. Same vain nonsense that every big channel does. All those empty compliments he got from doing it in the last video really got to his head it seems.

[@abject_ladder]

​@@alexandermckay9521Well, I don't know the guy, but considering how long it took for him to add this kind of thing to his videos, I'd be surprised if it was motivated by vanity. And in my opinion, there'd be nothing wrong with it even if it was. He's providing you with hours of free entertainment, and that kind of pessimistic take just seems really petulant.

[@sierotkamarysia4199]

@@alexandermckay9521 we get it, you have a hate boner for him, move on

[@DownTrodded]

So you can see his emotional reaction as he says these words it’s not just about what’s being said it’s how it’s begin said and who’s saying it. It’s important we see his face dressing style and background choice he’s talking in it let’s him play a character version of himself. Imagine the twilight zone without the talk show host it’s going to take a while but when he gets good at this it’s going to become his own version and iconic thing he does. You have to be bad, decent or mediocre before you can be ,good grand and excellent. It puts a face to this channel and will now allow for interesting commentary to happen which I hope he does at some point.

[@lainiwakura1776]

@@DownTrodded This isn't the Twilight Zone and you shouldn't need to see his face to know what emotions he has.

[@natahliazaring5291]

One of the things that I think has largely held Carrie adaptations back is the fact that studios are less interested in exploring feminity and its relationship to otherness, compared to just...the aesthetics of the '76 version. So the artists making the adaptations have to try and wrestle against that, and therefore only get so far. And, you mentioned King's limitations towards queerness and non-whiteness, but that extends in a lesser degree to his depictions of female characters as well. The novel of Carrie pushes really hard on the cycle of trauma being specific to Carrie and her mother there...but what the '76 adaptation got right was that the cycle is systemic, and women are often in a simultaneous position of abuser and abused within this system. There's tons of room to lean into even further with that...but yet once again this is more space that doesn't get the focus it could in order to elevate an adaptation into it's own.

[@nintendianajones64]

Abusive women are NOT victims some are just evil. Go read about the female guards in Nazi concentration camps if you're having trouble comprehending this. Specifically the ones they hanged using the slow drop method in Poland.

[@lolal2099]

I'm so glad you brought up the prettiness factor of the actresses who play Carrie. I remember watching the trailer for the 2013 one (I was 10), and thinking "she's too pretty to play Carrie". Sissy is attractive, but not necessarily conventionally pretty, so I buy the ostrization. I really wish Hollywood would cast an actress that fits the book description, but I don't think they'll ever do it.

[@ianmeadows6941]

Eh I get what you’re saying but I think it would be pretty hard to get a 100% correct Carrie. In books author becomes her fairy godmother as her physical appearance changes from ugly to supermodel all of a sudden. So I think having actress that has a minor physical flaw like for example Anya Taylor Joy’s eyes being a bit far apart would be closest we can get to realistically pull off.

[@TetsuShima]

*Fun fact:* Believe or not, the part of the book in which a child Carrie causes a meteor shower was filmed for the 1976 film. However, said scene was never included because the technology of the time didn't allow the special effects to look convincing. Even though said scene is considered lost media (like the alternate ending of the Shining), you can find some photos online

[@DownTrodded]

Alternate ending of the shining?

[@TetsuShima]

​@@DownTrodded Yeah, there are some footage that show Danny and his mother in the Hospital and meeting the owner of the Hotel there

[@DownTrodded]

@@TetsuShima Huh yea he did that a lot with his movies constantly making and changing things on the fly so it’s not surprising he filmed a whole thing then went no nope not doing that anymore.

[@TetsuShima]

@@DownTrodded There are actually more curious deleted scenes of that movie considered now lost media. For example, there's one in which Jack finds and reads a book about the disturbing history of the Hotel

[@DownTrodded]

@@TetsuShima For his other movies I’m sure he did this as well if not in action then on paper.

[@TetsuShima]

The 2002 tv adaptation had many faults, but I have to admit the girl who played Carrie was a pretty good casting decision, not to mention it even portrays parts of the book not adapted for the De Palma' film, such as the meteor shower scene or the whole town being destroyed

[@thedorkone1516]

To be fair to DePalma, he was working on a shoe string in the 70s. The meteor shower would have looked pretty bad and almost certainly broken the immersion in the worst possible way.

[@moonchildmonster1]

Carrie is a book that arrived in my life in the perfect moment in time. I read it just as i was gonna graduate highschool, i was an ugly, fat, closeted, acneic and autistic little girl who had been bullied my entire life. I related a lot with Carrie and was very disappointed when i saw the 2014 movie and noticed most of the traits i related to were gone, but i still keep Carrie's story deep within my heart. It was also one of the only instances i had ever seen of someone panicking and getting traumatized with the first menstruation, so i related to her in that aspect too. It's one of my favorite books i find myself coming back to again and again.

[@dannyholt1780]

This continues to be one of my favorite KZbin Chanels. Your on-camera appearances have been adding a lot to these last few videos. It feels great when someone expresses a vague notion that you’ve been struggling with. And your point about how modern films are unwilling to show things which, “Aren’t beautiful” hit home so perfectly. My own art is nothing to write home about, but I’m beyond tired of the clean, assembly-line look that’s taken over movies. Great work as always!

[@frogurtcremebrulee5252]

When we needed him most, he returned. Seriously tho, I think you’re my favorite horror youtuber and these franchise retrospectives are some of the best things on the internet. Thanks for everything you do man :)

[@orsoa800]

When you mentioned the two girls that inspired King for the character, I immediately thought about being neurodivergent. It fits much better than the queer reading in my opinion. Having that uncanny vibe that other kids can pick up on no matter what you do, the awkwardness and otherness, that's a big part of my experience growing up undiagnosed...

[@Marshmallow_Trees]

Same. 😕

[@cannibalisticrequiem]

Yeah, I kinda hate the "LGBT reading" for white/white-coded characters who are "different" and "outside the norm/society" (when it's not doing the cutesy manic pixie dream girl) because it's just such a lazy reading and seems like the one everyone goes to. Like, sure, of course LGBT folx are often ostracized by the community for being "different" in movies and real life - especially in school settings, but that ignores two major facts of there being other reasons besides q***rness for someone being shut out for being different (being neurodivergent, good old fashion depression, physical disability, having an "invisible/chronic illness" that might prevent you from doing things other people can just do without thinking about it, existing in a fat body... the list goes on), and for second, if your story or whatever is setting in school, children in any grade will harass other children for literally ANYTHING if the other child is considered even slightly outside the norm because kids can be horrible and often don't need a reason deeper than "I just don't like this person", "I think they look weird/are weird" to justify their harassment. Sure kids have harassed each other for being LGBT+, especially if they grew up in an anti-gay, anti-trans environment... but finding that out is essentially the icing on the cake for them, because in their heads, they now have a "valid" excuse for harassment. (I can guarantee you that the adults using Lizzo's "alleged" abuse of her dancers to justify their hatred of her for being a fat black woman, were once children that used her blackness to "justify" their harassment of her back then.) Also, I say that I hate the "character is LGBT+ because they're bullied/ostracized from the community for being 'weird' and 'different'" as someone who is a 36yo nonbinary asexual. For so many decades I have seen people trying to claim fictional characters as being LGBT+ because of vague hints and subtext they read into because of how long we had a lack of LGBT+ characters, let alone good ones, that I am positively burnout out on it. Now I'm seeing members of other marginalized communities falling into the same traps, and I really wish it would end because so often, these vague, hinted at "divergent" characters are what lazy people who call themselves "allies" throw into their books, shows, movies, etc in order to receive quick, easy praise for "representation" from communities that are starved for characters who are like them in some regard, while bad faith actors do a good job with silencing any detraction by shaming those who refuse to accept the scraps with finger-wagging and tone-policing about "Don't be so picky!" and "Um portraying ____ as abusive, terrible is GOOD representation actually, because we're not ALL good and it's more realistic" which is an absolute crock of shit weirdos who call abusive fictional relationships "Spicy Romance" say. Not to mention that it also causes unhealthy attachment to these properties to form and how we get situations like the cishet and non-trans q***r Potterheads refuse to come to terms with J.K. Rowling's blatant transphobia and transmisogyny because she said she had it in her mind that Dumbledore was gay while writing the books. That's all they cared about, and that's how Rowling was allowed to continuously avoid actually depicting Dumbledore's homosexuality in the Fantastic Beasts movies. It's because she's deeply uncomfortable with homosexuality, and she doesn't want to turn off her bigoted scumbag supporters and fans with "forced representation", because actually following through on making the character q***r inside the actual world she created was never her intention. Rowling just wanted the praise and head pats for appearing to be inclusive and an ally without any of the work and those dipshit Potterheads that refuse to let this children's book series go or acknowledge that Rowling has always been an insincere petulant child who could never handle criticism and has been actively doing harm to the Trans Community and will go in on the rest of the LGBT+ once trans folx have been eradicated, were content to lap up the scraps of her shitty "q***r rep". Fuck vague hints. Fuck subtext. Either make one of the main characters LGBT+ and SAY IT instead of beating around the bush or relying on "subtle implication", or just admit you're a cowardly hack that just wants to quick satisfaction of abundant praise now rather than putting any work or effort into earning it.

[@RX-12]

It really makes me wonder how King saw those girls. I doubt they'd like the implication that they would have killed hundreds of people if they could.

[@milkyeyez34]

@@cannibalisticrequiemi agree entirely. i always hated how things are in subtext. i think the same way of lgbtq hinting the same i think of neurodivergent hinting. you rarely find cartoons or media that directly says “so and so has ADHD/autism etc” and just keeps it as a part of them and not something that surrounds their entire personality as a shoehorn. like for the longest time the only character thats directly said to have ADHD was Ghandi from clone high. 💀

[@Badficwriter]

@@cannibalisticrequiem God yes. People are so desperate that they force identity where it is actively harmful. An otherwise intelligent author said recently that in the fantasy world of Dungeons & Dragons, dark elves (also known as Drow) represented black people. Now, most fantasy realms have humans of every hue. Black humans are already there. Dark elves were created to be a villain monster race, uniformly evil, and they were literally cursed with ebony skin. When they were allowed as character options, it was a common choice for Real Life black players. But the race was based on the ancient European goblin legends of the Trow. They looked that way because Europeans were scared of shadows and bumps in the night. They weren't demonized because the creator of the game was racist, he was translating myths, since to many continental Europeans, 'elf' meant GOBLIN. Elves looking like humans was an extremely localized idea (the Alfar of Scandinavia). A fey person might look human but they weren't called elves. They had their own names, like Sidhe in the British Isles. Tolkien took names and mixed them with other things, creating different ideas for ancient myths. Its so ubiquitous now that Americans are totally ignorant how insulting it could be. I have read screen media reviews that assured me that all nonhumans represented certain human groups. An orc is not an orc creature, ('orc' which is the word for 'UNDERWORLD RELATED BEING'/demon because the Latin 'Orcus' meant 'Hell' and became associated with ogre type creatures) no, it represents humans. Because everything onscreen represents something topical. Anyway. Yeah. Various monsters do not ACTUALLY represent various human groups. They represent human FEARS of things that could hurt them. Humans might be demonized into monsters, but those monsters aren't actual humans. They're just old ghost stories. This habit of sympathizing with imaginary things and taking ownership of them as if they were always meant that way is pernicious. There are marginalized groups outside of one's own.

[@midniteauthor]

It’s funny that the 2002 movie did so much to distance itself from De Palma’s version but then the poster is just the Scarface poster.

[@roswellnewmex]

Patricia Clarkson actually went on to perfect this type of character in the 2018 miniseries Sharp Objects. She's honestly incredible in that, and she pulls off the crazy manipulative hateful mother so well. Interesting to hear she struggled so much with this type of performance earlier in her career.

[@femmefilms]

God I love to see someone acknowledge Sharp Objects, fun fact Stephen King also loves the novel of Sharp Objects!

[@DeidreL9]

Stephen King is a genius. A really humane one, and he’s funny too, which a lot of people don’t notice. Carrie is a book that has changed so many women’s lives. I was a Carrie in terms of attracting bullying for being different. I had a brilliant mother but an emotionless father who degenerated into mental abuse. When I was thirteen we had a poltergeist. I understand it much more now but it was a terrifying situation. The whole menstruation aspect of the book is absolutely revelatory, it is not depicted as something abnormal or taboo, but as a rite of passage that’s an entirely real and vital part of women’s lives. I could hardly believe that a man, especially in the seventies when I grew up, had written this book and I’m not surprised that his wife helped inspire him with this development, to me that’s organic and shows the depth of their connection. Sissy was perfect for the role. Fragile as glass but strong as steel. Edit: regards your time question, I wonder if 1979 would have been a significant year in the lives of both the girls Stephen talked about, as in their ages? Or because it’s situated the end of the seventies? I’m not sure how old King was when he wrote Carrie but 1979 adds up to 26. The thing that’s always bugged me in the original film is how her mother describes her prom dress as red when it looks pale pink to me! That could be about Margaret’s perception of her “scarlet daughter”. Though it became red soon enough…

[@BoyNamedSue4]

I think I remember King saying it was set a few years in the future to make the idea of a telepathic seem more believable to the reader but I fully admit I could be confusing another story by another author. It was like 17 years since I read that.

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

I think you're right. I had this sense that this was actually the real answer when the question came up in the video. I've archived a lot of old popular science magazines as part of an (also old) project & the mid-70s was Peak Para-Plausibility. There was a real sense of "oh, Science will "discover" ESP in the next decade" & there were still swaths of territory cryptids could conceivably be living in, & a lot of fiction concepts that were "Science vs Religion, but Science discovers it's all real!" kicking around all the mediums. King was as avid a consumer of stories as he is a maker of stories, & it wouldn't surprise me at all if there was a "hey, this could happen in 5 years" vibe that was completely sincere then but illegible to current readers/watchers.

[@marrickvillian]

I think the reason King set Carrie in the near future is because, from memory, sections of the text are presented as news copy/after the fact accounts. By placing the story in the near future it feels more credible. And maybe King was trying to centre the story around 13/14 yr old Carrie. The events of the prom presumably take place when she is 17/18

[@Funnylittleman]

This was the first King book I read. I was 11 or 12 at the time. It was just after I saw the made for tv remake (Angela Bettis did an incredible job) and I loved what I saw. After that, I spent the next few years devouring his entire library of work. I was a bullied misfit myself and his books were a safe haven for me. Between school, my parents ugly divorce, stints in a teenage rehab, and three moves, I may not have made it past 16 without Stephen King.

[@BobDole1216]

I'm glad you're still here, friend.

[@theawesome925]

Ok, I would have absolutely watched a Carrie tv series where she coped with the guilt of what she did, sought out other girls blessed and cursed with her powers, and maybe even crossed over with "The Shop" from Firestarter, and playing with that Wild Talents sub-setting of King's fictional universe...

[@kinbarkly1165]

Loved that you mentioned the infamous Carrie musical. I love the original 1988 version of the show, it's so unintentionally campy that it's almost good. Debbie Allen's insane choreography paired with Terry Hands' avant-garde operatic approach to the direction has to be seen to be believed. Unfortunately, I really didn't like the rewritten version that was revived in the mid 2000s. It felt very afterschool special and took itself too seriously that it made the show real corny.

[@jeffreywillstewart]

The songs penned by the "Fame" songwriters were good. But the creatives didn't have a cohesive visions

[@giovannirastrelli9821]

The rewritten 2012 version aged worse than the 1988 original, I’ve noticed there’s been a sever drop in productions in the past few years, most likely because it looks and sounds like a bad High School Musical knock-off.

[@olivianeill5391]

One reason King might have set it slightly in the future was to show how issues like bullying, parental abuse and self hatred will continue to go on but kept it close enough to the publishing date to keep it still feeling current.

[@banquetoftheleviathan1404]

ruby franke

[@420southcitykid]

Im just here to shit on In Praise Of Shadows

[@briandstephmoore4910]

Should rebrand as in praise of of pdfiles seeing as you like running defense for them

[@amandakriss4244]

The book was so much sadder. I have only read it once because that last scene inside Carrie's head as she is dying, broke me. She never knew or had any peace or love in her life. She was an absolute product of that. Carrie 2 is the one I identified with as a kid and teen. I think I may have seen it before the first and I will always have a soft spot for it, watch it yearly, it holds up.

[@danielcrase8492]

Loving the extra time and work put into the video! Really makes it stand apart and feel like a full productions. Awesome! Also, I just want to say, I haven't always agreed with all of your takes, but you always bring a lot of passion, honesty, and care to each and everyone of your videos, and I really respect that man. Always great to see another upload of yours, and I really hope there are more to come!

[@LoganCrazyBoy]

With that intro, clothing, and background, you look and sound like the world's chillest horror host hahahaha

[@justinstewart1612]

I’ve never read Carrie but my first thought upon why it is set in the future is to say that we need to change the abuse inherit in our systems. It’s King going out of his way to stop people from saying that Carrie’s experiences were a reflection of the time and place. In reality, there are many Carrie’s in the world and there will continue to be until we do something about it.

[@joeturner9692]

A guy running focus groups for movies being depressed because he's making the movies worse: sounds like a great idea for a black comedy!

[@DJ-wl5qo]

“They’re all gonna laugh at you!”

[@Sharauni]

I read Carrie as a teen, deep in my own self-loathing and depression and I saw myself in Carrie. I didn't have the crazy mother or absent father, but the torment in school? I had that in spades...so many days I wished either I would disappear or that I could make them disappear. So Carrie was kind of my guilty pleasure, I saw myself as her, and her bullies were mine. It was catharsis when she wrecked vengeance on them for me. Nowadays I'm doing much better but I still enjoy re-reading the book and re-watching the first film. As for why King wrote it in the future, I think it may have been an unconscious effort to further distance himself from it in a way, since Carrie was a combination of those two poor girls he knew that he did nothing to help. I don't think he should blame himself for not helping, he was a child too and children have a high self preservation drive so if he had helped he might have been the next target. But that guilt was probably still very present when he wrote the story and unconsciously he might have placed it in the future to push it away from himself and his guilt. That's just how I see it though.

[@cyrneco]

Stephen King seems to be an extremely empathetic person. Started reading him in the eighties with the dead zone and he rarely disappoints.

[@ericjanssen394]

“Franchise”? It was ONE MOVIE, remade too frequently because it was a MGM/United Artist movie from the 70’s, and therefore cheap to get one’s hands on in the 00’s-10’s after the studio went bankrupt. We got the sequel just because, we got the 00’s remake because MGM was trying to dig their way out of Chapter 11, and we got the 10’s remake because Wokehouse was trying to come up with “reasons” for pointless girl-horror remakes: “It’s about the ISSUE of BULLYING!”

[@jello4835]

I wonder if maybe King wrote it a few years in the future because he was expecting it to take longer to be published. I doubt he would have expected a film at that point in his career but if he had reason to believe a film would be made in a few years, he might have moved the dates for that too, just to keep it more current.

[@coolbeans5911]

Exactly what i was thinking. Personally, i also feel a bit more connected with a story's characters and events if it's set in a time i live in; like i don't have the luxury of distancing myself from the story because it happened too long ago/ too futuristic. Maybe King, as you said, knew the book would take a while to get published, but he wanted the story to feel current to the reader, especially maybe even young readers, to strike a chord with them more, in a way for them to face the reality of the traumas Carrie-like outcasts experience in their day to day lives, and how they should take accountability for how poorly they treat these individuals. As King said in the interview, he was 14 when that girl was bullied in his class and he did nothing to stand up for her. Maybe if 14yr old King read a novel like Carrie at that time, it would've propelled him to take initiative

[@charlesdexterward7781]

@5:50 "There is a goat in every class, the kid who is always left without a chair in musical chairs, the one who winds up wearing the KICK ME HARD sign, the one who stands at the end of the pecking order. This was In Praise of Shadows"

[@Nicolas.Vincent]

Haven't read the book, but am I seriously the only person who ever got a very strong sense that Mrs. White is a Psychic? She knows exactly what is going to happen to Carrie. "They're all gonna laugh at you!". Ultimately given the same wounds as her St. Sébastien effigy she forced her daughter to repent to all her life. Carrie's powers run in the family!

[@missdebbie8131]

That is an interesting take, but here's how I saw it, maybe we are both right. I think Margaret was trying to manipulate Carrie and tried shaming her into thinking that because her "dirtypillows" were showing and she was going into a situation she was unfamiliar with, Margaret was desperate to hold on while Carrie was desperate to let go.

[@Nicolas.Vincent]

@@missdebbie8131 Has nothing to do with Carrie's powers!

[@kujo4388]

Using Brendan fraser as an example of “conventionally attractive” is hilarious considering the fact that he hasn’t been for 20 years….

[@Horseofhope]

While we were watching this, I asked my wife to look up how many of school shooters were ever girls, and it turned out only about 6 out of 150+, of which 2 were teamed up with a boy. So my main takeaway from Carrie is that society is lucky telekinesis isn't real?...

[@bridgetmadden5716]

I have to politely disagree with the finishing statements, you can be the most gorgeous girl on the planet, but once that pack mentality kicks in, you still become the target regardless of who you are

[@jonmcneail]

Once again, you've made an incredible documentary. Both the novels and the adaptations of Carrie have always stuck with me since childhood. The way King wrote it and the way Depalma directed it is absolutely masterful. That's why I am so honored that you made a deep dive on this franchise, because, I feel that Carrie is a horror movie that I can relate to the most.

[@WuHongLee]

I heard on the internet that this guy is on the registry. 😮

[@danielhainline8882]

Brian DePalma and George Lucas were both in one big room looking for young people to be in the movies "Carrie" and "Star Wars." The late Carrie Fisher was almost considered for the role of Carrie White but she didn't want to be naked.

[@cannibalisticrequiem]

Aaahhh!! I'm so excited for this!! I absolutely love the story of Carrie - how it was written and became the novel, and of course the Brian De Palma movie, but when I hear that a video will be a look at the entire Carrie franchise, I know that the musical will be talked about! (Which is why I love Wait in the Wings documentary about the production of the musical and revival!)

[@apizzathatgiantforthesimpl5191]

OOOOOOH I am excited for this video! Carrie is one of my favorite books and De Palma's version is my personal favorite horror movie. If anyone is still looking for a good book that adapts Carrie while still keeping it fresh, I highly recommended "The Weight of Blood" by Tiffany D. Jackson. It updates the story in a way that doesn't cheapen it while keeping the best elements from all iterations of "Carrie".

[@apizzathatgiantforthesimpl5191]

Also I think King wrote Carrie as something to happen in the near future to kind of distance the story from the present day since it's meant to feel like a story that could potentially happen. The novel is made up of articles, vignettes, book excerpts, etc. and King wanted the story to stand on its own rather than have people comparing it to other sources or articles. Also I think setting it in the near future makes it so that all the studies, articles, and previous understandings of telekinesis are suddenly irrelevant. Suddenly this monumental event has happened and everything we knew or understood has gone out the window, hence King wanted to distance it from any modern science/articles of previous years while still keeping it socially relevant. As the book says "if Carrie White is the truth, then what of Newton?"

[@erinvertreace1419]

I second your excellent book suggestion!! I loved The Weight of Blood, TDJ is a great author :)

[@MandyMan24]

That's one super cool thumbnail. For the 1979 setting, I think it was simply that it was King's first book. When he started writing it, he didn't know when or if it would ever be published, and in case it took a while for it to be published, he wanted the story to read 'current.' And the second reason would have been that by setting it a few years in the future, he wouldn't have had to worry about all his facts.

[@MogwaiToboggan]

I never thought of the queerness of the Carrie story, being an outcast in general I've always gravitated towards those stories, I wonder if I was subconsciously picking up on those themes as well because the book always resonated with me.

[@SakuraAsranArt]

I find it both interesting and kind of hilarious that menstrual blood is a motif used almost exclusively by men. To men periods are something strange and almost mystical, "that which bleeds but does not die". But to women it's just a part of life, an annoyance at times but something we just put up with because we don't really have a choice so why would we write about it? It would be like dedicating an entire novel to taking a dump. You don't always like it but you just have to get on with it.

[@coolbeans5911]

27:27 "where women would come in and read for both Carrie and Princess Leia in one audition" (whilst showing Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia😂😂) One another note, if they were to make a next-gen Carrie, i think the actress from Eighth Grade would make an interesting casting choice, since she's not particularly seen as the most conventionally hollywood attractive, and because when i watched her playing the role her quiet outcast energy really resonated with me. She's not petite and clear-skinned as teen girls are usually depicted, and her hunched over and pitiable posture kind of reminded me of Carrie. I think she could pull it off, but then again the role of Carrie is very emotionally demanding, and it takes a certain skill to really embody. One the other hand, the actress who played Charlie from Hereditary has experience playing the freaky oddball in a horror film. Her empty blank stare and body language especially is very Carrie-like. I think the readers of Carrie who connected with her body self-esteem issues are all kind of waiting for an adaptation of the character being more faithful to the book counterpart. A character with a less ideal silhouette, with acne, oily hair, slumped over non-confident posture, stained crooked teeth etc etc. I could see myself in her as a teen. The scene where her prom date thought of her as pretty has always stuck with me ever since reading it over a decade ago. If you have viewed yourself as the undesirable ugly slow hog for most of your life, a "frog amongst swans", and finally someone comes along and thinks of you as a beautiful swan, only for that moment to be taken away, makes the pig's blood scene all the more horrific and the final destruction of he school more sympathetic. In short, give us frog girlies a frog Carrie and not a swan posing as a frog. Edit: i can't believe Stephen King invented female rage, what an icon

[@bilboofbagend443]

Zane, thank you. You, the channel and these videos are very much appreciated.

[@jennmoslek921]

The original "Carrie" is one of my top 5 King adaptations. I loved the interview he did with De Palma where he talked about how they filmed that final scene of Sue walking to Carrie's grave backwards to make it appear more dream like & dramatic.

[@jeffreywillstewart]

I've read a lot of King since my sister found a paperback of Carrie in a supermarket in 1974. My theory of his 79 setting was to put it in a science fiction framing and keep it being from the Linda Blair feeling and more into the Harlan Ellison/ Ray Bradbury genre. Nice post thanks.

[@hotaru8309]

I'm so excited. I'm going to go rewatch the movies, then watch your breakdown. It's always really fun to see if we notice and appreciate the same things. It's great sharing the genuine love of something and you clearly love these stories, as well as the comment section, full of fans with their own notes and excitement to share.

[@Brodyody]

Great video! Honestly the most interesting idea for a remake felt like the one using it as a metaphor for Columbine, which would take focus off Carrie, but likely give it that fresh take it needs.

[@Mondomeyer]

"She failed as a parent; to prepar Carrie for what the world has in store for her." Actually, in that regard; it sounds like she did a very good job.

[@lesliemartin3]

Ridicule and embarrassment seems to stick with people sometimes more than their first love and even death and grieving. Im happy that there are so many stories that begin with a character being bullied bc they provide so much catharsis for me and probably many others. Everyone knows how it feels to be caught off gaurd and have people exploit that surprise when you weren't expecting confrontation.Its part of growing up and it instantly makes stories like Carrie a classic.

[@NaturalHypertrophy]

Excited to listen to this tomorrow during leg day. Thank you for your hard work!

[@williamdamm1258]

Literally the best KZbin channel of all time

[@crnosloven]

Damn. I waited for your new content for so long. You are the best there is man. Keep going. Remember that there are people from all over the world that admire and support this. Thank you!

[@jackhageman9983]

Carrie is my favorite horror movie of all time and it always brings me to sobbing, uncontrollable tears

[@markengle2199]

“So backroad you could cry” is a great line

[@blueberrypanquakes]

Great video overall. I do feel like you've overstated the impact the film had on King's career slightly, though. You have to figure, by the time the film was released, Doubleday had already sold the paperback rights to Carrie for $400,000, he'd already published 'Salem's Lot, and the paperback rights to that one sold for over half a million. He was already a wildly successful novelist and rapidly climbing the ranks of horror writers before the movie came out. Did it help? Sure. Would he have still been incredibly successful without it? Absolutely, especially with The Shining being the next book.

[@vaszgul736]

Honestly the themes of parents hating you, religious trauma, others bullying you, and your puberty being the start of things changing in that direction are super relevant to the gay and trans community. I can see why it gets read that way.

[@-Carlisle-]

One thing that bothered me so much about the 2013 version was the triple slo-mo shot of the pig's blood falling. If they wanted to show multiple angles, they should have done a split screen like in the original movie! It looked really cheesy the way they did it, and the answer was RIGHT there. Would have been a cool homage to one of the most unique characteristics of the 1976 movie.

[@bensneb360]

I would also recommend the audiobook where they got Sissy Spacek to do the narration, it’s a fun and interesting listen

[@Jleebar]

Make friends, go outside, exercise for once

[@brendanchild1653]

King setting the story 2 years in the future could be his hopes that horrible outcomes can be avoided by present actions. The audience of the time would get the impression that something bad could happen in the near future if they don't consider how they treat people in the present

[@angelluna5930]

Yes! This was my first thought too!

[@theapocalyvid]

Whatever happens with this channel and your life professionally, I hope you continue to find a way to do this, because the perspective you have on art is something I and thousands of others consider valuable and unique. I hope you never let yourself be run in by the bullshit of internet life.

[@Nightman221k]

I loved the 2013 version most. I wish the director’s version would be released. Something about that portrayal of Carrie broke my heart the most.

[@minako10]

Try reading Roberto Agirre-Sacasa's original screenplay. We were truly robbed of a great adaptation there. The final film is not that bad but executive meddling did it so dirty.

[@jaredporikos2197]

@@minako10 It was a great screenplay !

[@nyahanan]

Your comments and script and moderation really well and eloquent, great sophisticated!

[@charlottesnedden8514]

Another fantastic video!! Fingers crossed you one day to a full video on Phantom of the Paradise, it's such a gem :) Or even the Phantom of the Opera adaptions - keep up the amazing work!

[@ToylandChairman666]

JENNIFER (1978) is one of those post-CARRIE knockoffs, about a college student with a telepathic link to snakes. It's been pretty well forgotten, but I actually love it. Watched it for the first time almost a year ago and it's become a serious guilty pleasure. I've probably watched it more than CARRIE, honestly.

[@kingkaiiius]

If in 10 or so years they adapt a new Carrie, I’d like to see the actress be a bit chunky and curved which would have added more to her being a relatable powerless outcast in high school

[@julianblatt9630]

Another thing I wish the adaptations touched on is how at the end of the book it's revealed that Sue also has powers that only manifest after she has her period, which occurs after the prom (blood begets blood)

[@TheFilmFatale]

Oof…yet another deeply thoughtful, meticulously edited and flawlessly delivered video meditation. Well done, sir…once again!

[@KevinFrost]

Stephan King is a hack-which must have inspired you.

[@giovannirastrelli9821]

You think you’re Carrie, but you’re actually Chris with a healthy dose of Margaret White.

[@finley8360]

He knows he lost

[@neglectedrat]

if I had to speculate why the book might have been set in the future, I'd suggest perhaps King intended it to serve as a cautionary tale. As if he's saying: at the time of the story's publishing, there is a girl growing up just like Carrie White, and if the reader chooses not to heed that warning, the cycle of violence will only continue.

[@BigPapaClaire]

if sue snell had a nickel for every bullying-induced telekinetic high school prom massacre she witnessed in her life she'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice right

[@julias.7534]

I think an interesting natural side effect that comes from casting the actresses that they do -- with the exception of Moretz -- is that at worst, Carrie is generally just slightly unconventional looking in a realistic way. Not a model, but certainly not ugly. It reminds me of how Hyde is written in the original story of Jekyll and Hyde where despite having no physical "wrongness" to his appearance that a Victorian person may consider off-putting and upsetting, there's still just something utterly repellent to him that people just cannot help but despise, even without knowing him or his potential for cruelty. I think this idea that there's almost something supernaturally repellent about Carrie that not even other children, but teachers tend to want to stamp out is fascinating.

[@julias.7534]

Also, my theory for why it was set in 1979 has always been more. Pragmatic? I more or less assumed that HE assumed that 1979 would be the year he got the book published, because he did truly seem to lack faith in it, so I just assumed that he made the year 1979 to keep it contemporary with the audiences of the era. To be fair, I've never heard of an author or artist considering this a reasonable course of action in the slightest.

[@nikkiespinosa8854]

To be fair to Look Away, even pretty girls are somtimes gaslit about their looks when people want to humble them or keep them down. Take all the men calling Margot Robbie "mid" for example. Just because the men didnt like the "woke" Barbie movie. I thought that kind of gaslighting was depicted in a very interesting way in Look Away.

[@DarinRWagner]

Great video! These things just keep getting better in detail and production value!

[@kristophergarcia199]

I always get excited when I see an new uploaded video by you. Keep on keeping on, you do stellar work and put so much passion into it. I always recommend you to all my horror buddies!

[@TouchDirt]

Oh fuck ya got a flight tomorrow and this is what my boss will have to sit next to.

[@BeastNationXIV]

The one thing I love about the original Carrie is how much of it seems to have inspired the introduction and debut of *Kane* in October 1997 (along with the references to Jason and Michael Myers) creating the ultimate tortured soul and monster. Even to the character development of Paul Bearer at the time. This could potentially be better realized in 2003, when wrestling fans realized Kane's scars were psychological. Especially the climax of the movie with the eerie red lighting at the promo. I'm only half way though this video and it's a great analysis.

[@AFarmerCalledChicken]

The thing I wish they would do if find a girl who LOOKED like Carrie does in the book. She’s a chubby, poorly dressed girl. Get someone who isn’t conventionally attractive, no plus sized models, just some average chick who isn’t gorgeous or hideous. Just… normal. Give me the Carrie that I read about. I love Sissy’s Carrie because she is a bit odd looking. She has those big eyes and tiny frame that does work for an oddball character.

[@thedorkone1516]

I admit that it's been a LONG time since I last read Carrie, but my recollection is that the telekinesis was a trait previously displayed by her *maternal* grandmother or great-grandmother. As an aside about the girl in Carrie 2: The timeline doesn't match up. Carrie's father died BEFORE she was born. The only way that girl could be Carrie's half sister is if she was damn near the same age.

[@KasifelVT]

The entire video falls apart in the last 3rd as it devolves into whining about "pretty people" and implying that only ugly people are bullied, meaning that if you are bullied you are ugly. The whole last section is a disgusting and indulgent screed. I've wanted for months to address this in some kinda way, but I'm so generally grossed out by this whole vibe of this.

[@JoJoPotatoWedge]

BABE! WAKE TF UP!!!! In Praise of Shadows uploaded! Love your channel, every video makes my day/week :D