The Blood of Carrie: A Feminist Review of the Re-Make of Stephen King's Classic

[ismnotwasm]

An interesting analysis, although I've never considered "Carrie" to be feminist anything, either book or original movie. It is notable for mentioning menstruation as a body process and not something to make unholy hosts for devil worship. Kings wife was a feminist and feminism threads itself in the most patriartical of his works, such as "The Gunslinger". While this is a over analysis, it's kind of fun, and hits a couple of high notes

“Carrie is largely about how women find their own channels of power, but also what men fear about women and women’s sexuality. Writing the book in 1973 and only three years out of college, I was fully aware of what Women’s Liberation implied for me and others of my sex. Carrie is woman feeling her powers for the first time and, like Samson, pulling down the temple on everyone in sight at the end of the book.”
—Stephen King, Danse Macabre
Most feminist criticism of Stephen King’s Carrie has focused on the male fear of powerful women that the author said inspired the film, with the anti-Carrie camp finding her death at the end to signify the defeat of the “monstrous feminine” and therefore a triumph of sexism. But Stephen King’s honesty about what inspired his 1973 book notwithstanding, Carrie is as much an articulation of a feminist nightmare as it is of a patriarchal one, with neither party coming out on top.
The rise of Second Wave feminism in the ’70s posed serious threats to the patriarchal order—as well it should have. But even for those who think change is not only necessary but good, change can be pretty scary. This, with a hat tip to the universality of being bullied, is one of the reasons Carrie scares everyone.
While men in the ’70s felt threatened by the unprecedented numbers of women standing up for themselves and attempting such radical social changes as being recognized as equal under the law, women themselves must have felt some anxiety that the obstacles to fully realizing themselves might be too big to conquer. The story therefore resonates with men in terms of the fear of (metaphorical) castration prompted by changing gender roles, and with women in terms of the fear that no matter how powerful we become, social forces are still so aligned against us that fighting back might destroy not just the patriarchy but ourselves.

http://www.psmag.com/culture/blood-carrie-feminist-review-re-make-stephen-kings-classic-69535/

[LoveIsNow]

1. I remember my college film professor

took the position that the original film was a feminist epic and that Carrie's journey from being shamed by her mother and tortured by her peers, to anger and standing up for herself, to ultimately finding peace and a new life was a conscious parallel for the journey women are taking as a whole.

[ismnotwasm]

2. I'm better at books than movies

What this article did, was make me want to see the new one, which I haven't done. I actually used part of the original Carrie with my oldest grandson (didn't let him watch the whole thing) to show him that not all jocks in school have to be macho "bad boys"

[boston bean]

3. I wonder if there was a feminist meaning in "Misery"?

I don't think so, but when I first saw it, it freaked me out!

Kathy Bates was great in that movie.

[nomorenomore08]

4. Some of King's stuff - 'Gerald's Game' for one - does have a fair amount of commentary

on gender roles and so forth. Doesn't surprise me that his wife is/was a feminist - I'm sure her thinking has influenced his in some ways.

[ismnotwasm]

5. I just read a review

That said both Gerald's game and Misery were social commentary about women's issues.. Called Gerald's game the "anti-50 shades"

[Grateful for Hope]

6. I really like your comments. I also love Stephen King's books

He so much honors his wife in interviews, etc.

I think this one particular article is bunk.

[ismnotwasm]

7. Yeah--it's a little silly

Kind of fun, but silly