King’s Carrie
Josh Marshall

Thursday, January 28th, Dr. Jodey Castricano, a professor of English at Laurier, will team up with the English Club for a literary discussion of Stephen King’s novel and movie, Carrie.

Carrie tells the story of sixteen-year-old Carrie White, who has telekenetic powers. Raised by her fanatically religious mother who has subjected her to years of mental and physical abuse, Carrie grows into an awkward girl who is ostracised by her schoolmates. According to Dr. Castricano, "Carrie becomes the scapegoat upon which they direct their disgust, as well as a representation of ‘otherness,’ which people are prone to reject and leave on the fringes."

As Carrie begins to reject her mother’s influence and abuse, and begins to tire of her classmates cruel and relentless teasing, she discovers her ability to move and hold objects suspended in air. She also opens a number of blocked memories from her painful childhood, including attempted murder by her mother, and the resulting telekenitic abilities which Carrie unknowingly employed to save herself. In the end, Carrie lashes out against the entire world.

The discussion on Thursday will investigate the role of gothic novels and of the horror genre in popular 20th century writing and filmmaking. Castricano believes these products of popular culture give voice to prominent social and political issues. She says, "It is not unusual to see a novel from pop cutlure display relevant isssues to be studied. Carrie is a good model of this."

In Carrie, these issues include feminism and the construction of gendre, as well as issues of otherness. Castricano explains that King recognizes the novel was a reaction to the rise of feminism in the 1970’s.

The feminist aspect focuses on the role of women in both horror novels and movies, as well as the way in which women are ostricized due to things such as menstration. This labelling and rejection leads to what is called otherness, the distinction between oneself and that which is foreign. In gothic and horror novels, otherness usually comes in the form of a monster or demon, a role which Carrie embodies in the story.

Castricano says she hopes to be a mediator for the discussion, present to bring up ideas and direct the flow of the conversation. Ultimately though, she says the direction is up to the audience. This event is the second in which Castricano has taken part. Last term, she moderated a discussion, along with Dr. Boire, entitled, "What is literature?"

Ultimately, that seems to be the issue here as well. In Castricano’s Narrative forms class, both Carrie and Ira Levin’s Rosemary’s Baby are examined. In some eyes, these hold no value above entertainment. However, Castricano makes a good argument for their relavence in today’’ society.

The discussion will take place in Wilf’s Den from 5:30 — 7:30 pm.