"Words are his power," the frontpage of Steven King's novel Carrie proclaims, praising it's author's writing skills. And one must agree that Steven King, although apparently not too modest about it, does stand out as a spectacular master of writing sophisticated horror and suspense novels.
But what happens then, when these successful novels are brought onto the movie-screen, where images and actors take on the roles of the written word? And how does one ensure that this "power" of his words is preserved in a movie? In this assignment I will be looking at the movie version of Carrie and some of the steps that have been taken to turn Steven King's written word into a movie.
Summary of the Movie
The opening scene in the movie is set in a girls' changing-room. The air is hot and humid with the steam from the showers. As the camera moves around the changing-room, we see girls chattering as they get dressed and comb their hair, and we are left with the impression that everything is like it is supposed to be.
Carrie
Carrie (novel)
Carrie TuranskyThe camera then moves slowly through the heavy fog towards the showers, where a girl appears. She is standing alone under the shower, seemingly in her own thoughts. The camera pans around the girl and changes angle a few times, before ending up focusing on her legs. At first we just see the water running down her thigh, then a crimson colour appears in the water, and soon it is evident that the girl is bleeding. When she notices this herself, she panicks and screams to the other girls for help. Realising that Carrie is menstruating, the other girls are disgusted. They push her back into the shower, where she crumbles up in a corner, and they start throwing sanitary...