Carrie-an Analysis of Novel and Film

Stephen King’s novel Carrie not only gained notoriety through his words, but also through the film version as well. There have been several versions produced cinematically, each one slightly altering certain aspects of the novel and producing their own variation and interpretation. There are always going to be certain variances between the novel and the film version unless the author of the book is perhaps brought-on as a creative consultant or producer of the film. Even still, there are times when this is the case, and the author chooses for various reasons, to still portray certain aspects of the novel in a different light for the film adaptation. In regards to Carrie, there are a host of differences from the novel to the film. Taking into consideration the time in which the film version was released, there are certain portions which may have been viewed as “racy” or “sexually perverse” the director chose to eliminate. The shower scene, although brutal in both forms, was slightly less “graphic” in the film than the way Stephen King presented it in his novel. Another example of a difference is the form in which the entire novel is written. The epistolary version of the novel and the frame narrative form of the film is yet another difference between the two forms of Stephen King’s work. The last difference this paper will examine deals with the physical representations of both Margaret and Carrie White, and how they differ greatly from the novel and film versions.
The decision to open both medias with the shower scene is one that not only forces the readers and watchers to attempt to identify with Carrie, but it also does an amazing job of setting the scene and events that are to transpire. The graphic depiction of the brutality and social isolation Carrie faces when she publicly begins her first menstrual cycle is much more shocking in the novel then we physically see in the film version. King’s descriptive language provides a much better source of understanding...