King Dethroned
I was amused to see this piece:
The 15 worst Stephen King movies and miniseries, ranked
Given King's stratospheric standing among popular writers, I've always felt that a lot of his books don't necessarily translate well on the screen.
I read him avidly when I was a teenager, but stopped after TOMMYKNOCKERS (1987) and never went back. I won't say I outgrew King, but merely that I moved on.
It always gnaws at me that one of my favorites is THE SHINING (1980), which he detests. Having read the book, I still think Kubrick masterfully conjured up a superior horror movie out of King's work.
And, in fact, the King-approved version of THE SHINING just aren't very good. King, having mastered success in popular fiction, doesn't quite translate onscreen (yes, there are exceptions -- another one I think that excelled was THE MIST [2007], which was full of King-isms but still managed to be legitimately excellent).
I'll have to think about which of his movies I thought were best (or at least the ones I enjoyed the most). There is an apples and oranges kind of scenario with his work -- what might play in a novel can be ludicrous onscreen.
His huge success as a writer likely gives him the feeling that he can push any story of his to the screen and have it work, but it's just not so.
Another thing about King is he's SUCH a Baby Boomer. His books are like an archive of Baby Boomerism, so, as a Generation Xer, I see that so clearly. When I was a teen, when the Boomer dominance of our culture was on the high ascendant, it didn't jump out at me so much, but these days, yeah.
And maybe that's a measure of his success -- he was a Boomer who spoke to Boomers in a language they understood and related to, at a time when novels were still a central part of popular entertainment (think about it -- King's rise was when there was no Internet, no cable TV -- books were still windows on the world back then).
Anyway, just musing. I'm not slagging King; I'm only observing that even hugely successful authors don't necessarily write stuff that effectively translates onscreen. For every critical and popular success he's had, there were tons of clunkers.
I may do more posts on this, pondering why, so stay tuned...
The 15 worst Stephen King movies and miniseries, ranked
Given King's stratospheric standing among popular writers, I've always felt that a lot of his books don't necessarily translate well on the screen.
I read him avidly when I was a teenager, but stopped after TOMMYKNOCKERS (1987) and never went back. I won't say I outgrew King, but merely that I moved on.
It always gnaws at me that one of my favorites is THE SHINING (1980), which he detests. Having read the book, I still think Kubrick masterfully conjured up a superior horror movie out of King's work.
And, in fact, the King-approved version of THE SHINING just aren't very good. King, having mastered success in popular fiction, doesn't quite translate onscreen (yes, there are exceptions -- another one I think that excelled was THE MIST [2007], which was full of King-isms but still managed to be legitimately excellent).
I'll have to think about which of his movies I thought were best (or at least the ones I enjoyed the most). There is an apples and oranges kind of scenario with his work -- what might play in a novel can be ludicrous onscreen.
His huge success as a writer likely gives him the feeling that he can push any story of his to the screen and have it work, but it's just not so.
Another thing about King is he's SUCH a Baby Boomer. His books are like an archive of Baby Boomerism, so, as a Generation Xer, I see that so clearly. When I was a teen, when the Boomer dominance of our culture was on the high ascendant, it didn't jump out at me so much, but these days, yeah.
And maybe that's a measure of his success -- he was a Boomer who spoke to Boomers in a language they understood and related to, at a time when novels were still a central part of popular entertainment (think about it -- King's rise was when there was no Internet, no cable TV -- books were still windows on the world back then).
Anyway, just musing. I'm not slagging King; I'm only observing that even hugely successful authors don't necessarily write stuff that effectively translates onscreen. For every critical and popular success he's had, there were tons of clunkers.
I may do more posts on this, pondering why, so stay tuned...
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