Stephen Kings Carrie - Moral Question

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I have suddenly become obsessed with the film/story Carrie by Stephen King. Ive read the book but have only seen the 1976 Brian De Palma film, not the more modern remake.

For anyone who has seen it, or knows the story, I have a question. I find myself feeling a lot of sympathy for Carrie: she is picked on by her peers and has no friends. However she has a pretty cool gift.

The film rather cleverly made it ambigous until almost near the end about whether Carries date to the prom, and his girlfriend, were or were not involved in the plot to blood her.

Anyway after you realize this and see that only a small number of people were 'in the know' about it I find myself wondering why I still sympathise with Carrie at the end. Because she has killed virtually everyone at the prom for this act of humiliation. I ask myself shouldn't I really sympathise with the dead?

And did those involved in the plot really deserve to die? Surely Carrie would have been ruthless in killing just them, never mind everyone.

In the book it is worse because Carrie goes on to kill most of the town.

Is it just Stephen King being clever and making us sympathise with someone who reacted so ruthlessly to a horrible prank?

No, they didn't deserve to die, but this is Hollywood: No blood, no movie.

I've never read the book, but I have seen the movie. As I recall, when the bucket of pig blood was dumped on Carrie and William Katt, virtually everyone at the prom laughed at her. No, they didn't deserve to die, but all that rage she had pent up from all the bullying and humiliation she had lived through for her whole life was released by means of her psychic power at her tormentors. And in her dissociative state at that moment, her tormentors included Everyone laughing at her.
Back when I was in junior high and high school, and I took a lot of s**t, the people I felt angered at were not just my tormentors, but also those who just stood by and laughed at "the ret*d."

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

I wouldn't really look to a guy who created Randall Flagg and Cujo for stories with uplifting morals. Although The Stand did have a good vs evil theme, but Cujo was pointless carnage.

Just enjoy the story and be glad that none of that's real.

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Now I have a deeper understanding of SHED.MOV.

Haha Sweet Revenge and anger!

Well, I haven't ever read the book but I've seen the movies lots of times. I always thought her powers started without her being able to control them when she got mad. Almost like an evil twin living inside of her that she couldn't control.

Great movie! I think the point of Kings work is to make people feel squirmy.

I think Stephen King was showing us we are all capable of being monsters and doing horrible things.
If we had such powers what would restrain our anger? We normally think about revenge but usually contain it
but what if just thinking about made it happen what then?

The killing scene was an awesome scene, and wether they did deserve to die, I don't know but it was a pleasurable thing to watch, the 2002 movie's killing scene was pretty cool.

Logically, we all know that most of Carrie' classmates didn't deserve to die (except those sociopaths Chris and Billy), but, because this movie taps into our own adolescent insecurities as well as resurface painful memories of high school, we probably can't help but root for Carrie as she's killing everyone.

That said, I don't really think Stephen King intended for it to be a moral. All he probably wanted to do was write a thriller involving an abused girl with destructive powers.

I don't even think Chris should have died. Carrie could have just embarrased her back in loads of ways. Like made her shorts fall off in the middle of the field in front of the school, or made her trip up when she is out with her friends feeling all 'grown up and gorgeous'.

I think something like that is comparable to a hurricane or natural disaster. Partly because I think Carrie was not in a normal conscious state while all her power unleashed itself like a wild animal.

I think Firestarter was similar in that is was a power difficult to shutdown.

It might be like asking if Bruce Banner is morally responsible for anything The Hulk does.