Carrie Movie To Book Compariso Essay, Research Paper

Carrie

When a reader is fortunate, an author is able to construct a character in such a way that the reader is led through the events befalling a character, both positive and negative. A director can bring a character to life and give a character a personality that everyone is able to disguise. In the case of Stephen King’s “Carrie” terror is brought to the readers mind as they experience years of built up rage released through her telekinetic powers. Being able to construct a complex series of events and extreme detail in a novel then to have it transferred over to a film is rarely completed with accuracy. The film’s interpretation of Carrie is kept consistent with fine detail, along with an accurate series of events befalling the characters.

In the opening of a movie or a novel, a mood is created and attention is taken from a subconscious level to a conscious level of interest and attraction. The opening of Carrie is unusual, and therefore it is interesting. Carrie is in the girl’s shower room when she gets her period for the first time. The words used in the novel are mirrored by the very graphic scene created in the movie. There is much action as Carrie realizes that she is bleeding. Laughter roars from the locker room with the chanting of “Plug it up”p.7. Carrie believes that she is bleeding to death, when Miss Desjardin intervenes p.11 “I’m bleeding to death,” Carrie screams, “and one blind searching hand came up and clutched Miss Dejardins white shorts. It left a bloody handprint.” The scenes between the novel and the movie are identical. The laughter, screaming, and sound of the roaring shower are all used effectively in creating suspenseful action. A dramatic beginning leads the way to dramatic characters.

The characters created in the novel have sharp and detailed characteristics. Each one has an individual personality that is unraveled throughout a series of events. One remarkable character throughout the novel and the movie is Chris Hangensen played by Nancy Allen. Her cruel, unkind ways are captured in words, as well as in actions. Chris swears that she will get revenge on Carrie White, P.66 “I’m gonna get her! Goddammit! Goddammit! See if I don’t! If we all stick together we can” This is also captured word for word from the novel into the movie. Sue Snell, played by Amy Irving is a kind character, and the only survivor at the end of the terror. Sue’s character is captured in the novel by being sweet and popular. The movie completes her by having her soft spoken, yet strong when she needs to be. A great strength of Sue’s is shown in the novel and the movie when she asks her boyfriend Tommy Ross to ask Carrie White to the prom/spring ball. Tommy Ross “Wait. Just wait. Let me talk. You want me to ask Carrie White to the spring ball. Okay, I got that. But there’s a couple of things I don’t understand.” p.84. Carrie White, played by Sissy Spacek, plays a teenager with secret telekinetic powers that are slowly unleashed throughout her years of built up rage, anger, and suppression. Carrie’s anger towards her mother is suppressed up until her mother tells her that she is a sinner for getting her period. Carrie threatens her mother saying she’ll make the stones come again, p.58 “I’ll make the stones come again, momma.” Throughout the movie, Carrie’s actions are brought to life by slamming windows and doors through her telekinetic powers. Carrie’s confidence is slowly lifted throughout the novel and is crushed at the end. To be able to see facial expressions adds a greater effect to the closing scene when Carrie’s powers are truly unleashed.

The story takes place in a small town, Westover, at Chamberlain High School in the 1970’s. A mood is created, one of inner tension, from the moment that Carrie is introduced and described. All the ridicule and words written on doors “Carrie White eats shit” p.4 create disbelief and hope. Hope that Carrie will one day be rid of all the laughter and suppression that surrounds her. Suppression is all around Carrie when she enters her house. The bright light disappears and is replaced by dark brown shadows, coolness, and the oppressive smell of talcum powder. It is very gloom and depressing. At night, only candles light the house, and every room is covered in religious pictures and figures. The spring ball creates a new atmosphere and setting that Carrie has never once entered – belonging and freedom. With a slight tension of knowing something will go wrong. The atmosphere created is one of disbelief, tension, hope, and suppression.

A plot is a memory that will one day be recalled on. Plots should be intense, and keep a person wanting more. The novel’s plot is intense and suspenseful. The movie holds the plot with extreme accuracy, carrying us through a series of events. At the beginning of the novel, Carrie is showering in the girl’s locker room following gym class. The movie carries you through the locker room events all the way to Carries encounter with her mother after she has gotten her period. “Why didn’t you tell me,” She cried. “Oh momma, I was so scared! And the girls all made fun and threw things.” There are no sex scenes in the movie as they are in the novel, although the main conversation is still present. Sue Snell makes love to Tommy before she asks him to take Carrie to the prom/spring ball. Chris Hagensen also makes love to Billy Nolan before she asks him to get the pigs blood to play a trick on Carrie. The movie lacks sexual detail yet the main point is well stated. During the prom/spring ball, sarcasm is well used, as people are overly kind to Carrie, as if they know something will happen. The movie executes this quite well by showing girls giggling behind Carries back as she walks by. At the closing, when Carrie and Tommy Ross are crowned king and queen of the prom/spring ball, Chris Hargensen and Billy Nolan dump a bucket of pigs blood on Carrie. The rage and anger that she feels inside is unleashed, setting the school’s gym on fire. This action kills everyone except for Sue Snell, who was not at prom that night. The novel and movie both give a feeling of utter disgust and dismay, yet there is a sense of satisfaction when Carrie gets her revenge. Carrie then goes home where her own mother tries to kill her. Carrie’s powers take over once again as her house collapses, and Carrie and her mother both sink into the ground. The closing has great dramatic impact accompanied by an emotional and horrifying ending.

The novel Carrie has entertained many people. From the smallest detail of her mother calling breasts “dirty pillows”, to the catastrophic fire at the ending, there is not a dull moment. The director’s interpretation kept these details, and brought them to life. Having a novel like Carrie brought to the big screen is a difficult task, while keeping the author’s vision to keeping the audiences attention. Carries revenge is satisfying, yet uneasy due to the fact that innocent lives were taken, such as Tommy Ross. It is also uneasy because Carrie is now taken to the grave, as well as everyone else who died that night. Overall, the dramatic effects used in the film, and the fine detail in the novel, make them both interesting and intense pieces of work.

Constructing a character in a way that you can feel their emotion in a novel, or on screen, is a difficult task to be completed. By building a character who’s life is built around rage, hate and suppression will shake anyone’s mind. Being able to take a novel that has great recognition and appeal, and turn it into a successful and well known movie, while also staying true to the authors original plot and characterization, is one of the most difficult tasks to have ever been successfully achieved in novel to film transition. Carrie is a thrilling and dramatic novel, which has been successfully taken to the big screen.