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Carrie (Carrie)
FEAR: ACTING UNSEEMLY
Before there was 2004’s Mean Girls, there was Brian De Palma’s 1976 film Carrie. THIS film takes a turn that other’s in the teen-girl genre don’t. More on that later.
Many are familiar with the story. Carrie White is a social outcast at her high school, a constant target for the ruthless bullying of her classmates, mostly from the other girls. To make matters worse, her mother is a militant, even demented, Christian woman who emotionally and physically abuses her daughter for literally everything she does.
To make matters even worse, Carrie has telekinesis, which she tries desperately to keep under control.
The only staff member who seems to see Carrie’s torment is the gym teacher, Miss Collins, who punishes the girls who bully her with the threat of being banned from the upcoming prom. Angry at being punished, the queen bee of the mean girls devises a nasty prank- the now famous bucket of pigs blood hidden in the rafters above the stage, designed to fall on Carrie when she is jokingly crowned Prom Queen.
Throughout the film, Carrie displays an admirable level of self-restraint, probably because she realizes letting her anger show could literally kill people. It’s bad enough she’s teased for her appearance and her living situation… throwing a tantrum would be the final nail in the coffin.
Some of this constant humiliation she feels definitely comes from her mother, who believes that women are, by nature, sinful and should be ashamed of simply existing and having bodily functions. There is a constant pressure on Carrie to be quiet and modest in every facet of her life, despite the abuse coming from every direction.
Everything in the film comes to a head in the prom scene, where Carrie is crowned Prom Queen as a joke, and the pigs blood is subsequently doused over her.
As the audience stands shocked, then starts to giggle, then starts to laugh, Carrie stops crying and becomes still very suddenly, as if she’s just been hypnotized. The doors to the gym swiftly close, the hoses come off the walls and spray the ceiling lights, setting the gym ablaze. Carrie calmly leaves the venue, soaked in blood, as everyone inside perishes.
Female anger, while more openly discussed in this day and age, is still a somewhat taboo subject matter. I love films that indulge it and run with all the possibilities. Obviously I don’t condone homicidal behavior of any kind, and what Carrie does at the end of the film is morally wrong, but everything about this iconic final scene is spot-on in terms of capturing how it feels to be a young woman in the throes of rage.