New ‘Carrie’ Raises the Question: When Every Villain Gets a Backstory, What Becomes of Evil?

This ain’t your parents’ “Carrie.” Or even your grandparents’ “Carrie.” This week, Amazon’s Prime Video released a new eight-episode TV show based on Stephen King’s debut novel that was first published over 50 years ago.The new “Carrie” series was made by prolific show runner Mike Flanagan, who in recent years has given us creepy, critically acclaimed TV shows based on Edgar Allan Poe’s “Fall of the House of Usher” and Shirley Jackson’s “Haunting of Hill House.”The main characters, once again, are Carietta White and her disturbed and disturbing mother, Margaret, but this latest version of Carrie takes place in the age of vaping and social media. This time around, Margaret is no longer merely a religious nut. She also dabbles in conspiracy theories and paranoia related to school shootings in particular, and guns in general.Her isolated daughter, meanwhile, is again publicly embarrassed when she gets her first period. Now, a pack of girls is not only there to bully her, but they also grab their cell phones and record every moment of Carrie’s shame.We also get a peek inside the home lives of these bullies. And that’s where things are getting more complicated in some recent Stephen King adaptations.Last year, the eight-episode series “Welcome to Derry,” based on King’s 1986 bestseller “It,” premiered on HBO Max. It’s a fair question to ask. After a 1000-page book, then a TV mini-series starring (recently-deceased) Tim Curry, and then the two-part theatrical adaptation (2017 and 2019) starring Jessica Chastain, do we really need a deep dive into the town that produced a murderous, sewer-dwelling clown?Jessica Chastain at the premiere of ‘IT Chapter Two’ European Premiere at The Vaults on September 02, 2019 at London, England. Via Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty ImagesMaybe, maybe not. But there’s a deeper philosophical question here. How many origin stories do we really want to explain or provide context for, what were once just terrifying, evil, characters?“Welcome to Derry” builds an entire past for arguably the most malevolent force in the whole King universe: Pennywise the Clown. Back in 2019, the second season of a Stephen King- Hulu collaboration, “Castle Rock,” created a similar origin story for the main character of “Misery,” Annie Wilkes.Both of these shows are compelling and entertaining. But part of King’s allure has always been the inexplicable nature of his bad guys and gals. At what point do these iconic evil characters become “hurt people who hurt people”? After all, the Stephen King universe is certainly not the only one looking at scary old characters in new ways.Later this week — just in time for Halloween — Peacock began airing a show called “Crystal Lake,” which explores the origin story of the hockey-masked killer Jason Voorhees, from the “Friday the 13th” movies along with that of his mother Pamela,In recent years, other TV shows have given us back stories for other famous, frightening characters from Norman Bates and his mother in “Bates Motel” to the nasty nurse from “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in “Ratched.” Maybe the contemporary ur-text in this sub-genre is “Wicked,” the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire, later turned into a smash hit musical and movie, all of which show us that one of the scariest villains in 20th Century storytelling — the green witch from “The Wizard of Oz” — is really not so wicked. At what point does this suggest that there may be no such thing as wickedness itself? There’s a temptation to see this as a right -wing critique. Conservatives tend to be more comfortable talking about good and evil. Progressives prefer to analyze and understand different social influences and are open to moral relativism.But are they really? Consider Pennywise the clown. In Mr. King’s book as well as later adaptations, Pennywise tends to target the socially vulnerable — a black and Jewish boy, as well as an abused girl. They are part of a group that comes to call themselves “The Losers Club.”In other words, whatever else Pennywise may or may not be, he seems to represent violent persecution of the marginalized.Are there many progressives out there who really want more context about bigots and brutes? Or to get to the “root cause” of why they persecute non-conformists, and others they consider weak or just different?That’s a lot to ask, especially when it comes to the latest outrage circulating around the angrier, leftist corners of social media. But as more streaming services look to make something new of old characters, we’re going to have to ask ourselves: How many people are willing to understand, or even forgive, hurt people who hurt people?

New ‘Carrie’ Raises the Question: When Every Villain Gets a Backstory, What Becomes of Evil?

New ‘Carrie’ Raises the Question: When Every Villain Gets a Backstory, What Becomes of Evil?

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