Carrie
When I found out that the movie Carrie was based on the book by Stephen King, it made perfect sense. Carrie is played by thin actresses in all three versions of the film, released in 1976, 2002, and 2013 respectively. In the book, Carrie is described as being overweight with acne, which is a precursor to why she was bullied. Even though I never read the book, when I watched the 2002 version of the movie, Carrie’s predicament seemed oddly familiar. I know now that this is because Carrie’s treatment in the movie is fatphobia coded. Apparently, in the book the other kids taunted Carrie by calling her a pig; this is why the final cruel prank was dousing her in pig’s blood.
Carrie being fat was so integral to the book’s plot and yet the film’s creators still chose to cast a thin actress. The irony is that this is the epitome of fatphobia. In a country where fat women or women sizes 14 and up make up 70% of the population (Forbes), the dearth of fat women on the big screen is just plain bizarre. The absence of any people that are not thin on the big and small screens is bizarre. The real horror of Carrie lies in the mundane or everyday terrors of the world. I would argue that the horrors of the real world are the scariest of all. Fatphobia, child abuse, religious fanaticism, bullying, poverty. Power and the people who wield it tormenting the vulnerable.
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The scene in which Carrie is bullied after getting her period in the girl’s locker room is an analogy for the horror of misogyny and being a woman in a misogynistic society. This scene paves the way for popular girl Sue Snell to have a change of heart and ask her boyfriend, Carrie’s crush, to take her to the Prom. Carrie is understandably skeptical at first, thinking that it’s another prank. However, Tommy Ross (Carrie’s crush) successfully convinces her that he is the real deal. By the time Carrie goes to the prom with her crush, I found myself hoping that nothing bad would happen. Everything was so perfect, I was happy for her. As she slow-danced with her date, I remembered the desires of so many teenage girls: exactly this. Just like in Cinderella or Muriel’s Wedding (1994), we have a reversal of fortune where a bullied outcast gets a perfect night with the guy of her dreams.
But this is a horror movie after all. Long-suffering Carrie’s perfect night is ruined. The temporary toppling of the social order is soon reinstated. Carrie and Tommy are voted Prom King and Queen due to a rigged election. When they go up to accept their accolades, mean girl Chris Hargensen douses them with pig’s blood from the rafters with the help of her boyfriend. The moment afterwards is truly horrific: the audience is stunned and Carrie is shocked and humiliated. She becomes catatonic and loses control of her telekinetic powers, which destroy the building and everyone in it. In the 1976 version of the film, the audience begins laughing and that’s when Carrie’s humiliation leads to the destruction. All I could think was, how could anyone find that funny?
Carrie’s story is truly tragic. But what is the moral of the story? That you shouldn’t step out of your place in the social order or else there will be dire consequences? Or that society needs to be better and people need to stop being so cruel. I prefer the latter.
