The Stephen King Megathread

[Starbreaker]

There are two things that King dislikes that are universal though... airport security and Sarah Palin.

[label]

Ubik wrote:

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Oh, I dunno...it felt pretty "slam right-wing" to me. Or, at least, Bush and Cheney-era right wing. If you're a huge fan, let's say, of Bush and Cheney politics, you may find the main bad guy in the book too cartoonish. If, however, you think Cheney WAS a cartoon, then you'll enjoy the villain immensely.

Well, I was not a big fan of Bush Jr's second term for sure and I was never a big fan of Cheney. Course, I'm really not a big fan of most of Obama's administration either. In any case, perhaps I'm forgetting some aspect to the book, but what exactly was anti-right wing?

[timothy]

wow finaly stephen king thread great.
this is what i have read so far.

1) carrie 9) misery
10) road work
11) thinner
2) salem's lot 12) running man
3) the deadzone 13) cycle of the werewolf
4) firestarter
5) the shinning
6) the stand
7) gunslinger
8) pet symmetery

[JediKnightButler]

I've read some of his books. The Stand was the first major story that I read of his (and my personal favorite) but I saw the miniseries first. I've seen the movie/tv adaptations of a lot of his novels, which I've mostly enjoyed. I do like to go back and read the novels upon which they're based when I have the chance.

Firestarter (saw movie and spin-off miniseries "sequel")
The Stand (seen miniseries and read book)
The Shining (seen miniseries and read book)
The Mist (seen movie- based on novella)
The Langoliers (seen miniseries and read novella)
It (seen most of the movie)
Needful Things (seen movie)
Hearts in Atlantis (seen movie)
The Green Mile (seen movie)
Misery (seen movie)

Most of his stories are overall pretty good and have an interesting and often compelling combination of the normal and paranormal. Although not religious per se, he does seem to work in a small amount of spirituality into most of his stories as well that make the stories and characters slightly richer.

[label]

butlerd wrote:

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I've seen the movie/tv adaptations of a lot of his novels, which I've mostly enjoyed.

I dunno.....I've seem almost all his movies and so far none of them come close to doing the books justice. That's not to say the movies are all bad though......just that as is the norm, the books are usually much better.

I will say the Shining was good and the ending to the Mist was a nice addition I enjoyed. Movies like The Stand and It start off reasonably well but both lose their way somewhere along the line.

[timothy]

what about the shinnig remake? also, was the golden years a book or a novella. and , if it was a novella what short story book was it in? and rose red and kingdom hospital were excellent. does anyone know a complete movie list ?
want to have a stephen king movie library by end of this
year . and, is anyone reading locke and key by joe hill aka stephen's son . and did anyone watch son's of anarchy he made a special guest star as a cleaner? and what about dc's american vampire

[Ubik]

label wrote:

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Well, I was not a big fan of Bush Jr's second term for sure and I was never a big fan of Cheney. Course, I'm really not a big fan of most of Obama's administration either. In any case, perhaps I'm forgetting some aspect to the book, but what exactly was anti-right wing?

Maybe you have to be a liberal to notice it.

But the main bad guy, Big Jim Rennie, is basically a liberal's view of a typical Republican leader. He hates the current president because he thinks he's Muslim, he hates government interference in people's lives but seems to have no problem being a lying, stealing, businessman. He eats too much and would resent some government person telling him what he's allowed to eat. He convinces people of his good intentions not by logic but by emotion, by using popular canned slogans about family values and America and power of the people, just to distract them from how evil he is. He uses fear tactics to create mobs.

All of that sort of thing. His entire character is a liberal's nightmare of a Republican. That's why I say the whole book is a political commentary.

[label]

Ubik wrote:

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But the main bad guy, Big Jim Rennie, is basically a liberal's view of a typical Republican leader.

Hmmm.....I guess I never associated him with any party personally. I saw him as the proverbial big fish in the little pond type guy who wouldn't want big Govt. interfering with him in any way shape or form.

He hates the current president because he thinks he's Muslim, he hates government interference in people's lives but seems to have no problem being a lying, stealing, businessman.

Yes, the comments against Obama were definitely present, but I think it was more about Jim being a small town redneck who a bit racist and I certainly didn't think that had a thing to do with which political party he aligned with. I think he'd be happy with no govt. and just let him run his own show his own way.

He eats too much and would resent some government person telling him what he's allowed to eat.

So only republicans eat too much and liberals enjoy the govt. telling them what they're allowed to eat?? I think you're painting with a pretty great big stereotypical brush here my friend.

He convinces people of his good intentions not by logic but by emotion, by using popular canned slogans about family values and America and power of the people, just to distract them from how evil he is.

I'm confused......are we talking about Rennie or Obama here.... (I'll hand this to Obama, he's an incredibly good speaker and very popular with my generation and below because he does make such a good celebrity.........there's absolutely no denying his appeal.)

Bottom line, I saw Rennie as neither party and quite frankly I think he'd take exception to any govt. telling him what he can or can't do whether that be Right-wing, liberal, Tea Party or somewhere in between. He's just your average small town big fish from my perspective, but I'm not into politics and it's rare (outside of Avatar) that I notice political slants to things myself)

[Starbreaker]

I'm listening to The Drawing of the Three on audiobook today during my drive, and lo and behold Eddie Dean has to go through airport security. I had forgotten about this scene. That's three King stories this month where characters talk about going through customs.

[Admiral2]

Ubik wrote:

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Maybe you have to be a liberal to notice it.

But the main bad guy, Big Jim Rennie, is basically a liberal's view of a typical Republican leader. He hates the current president because he thinks he's Muslim, he hates government interference in people's lives but seems to have no problem being a lying, stealing, businessman. He eats too much and would resent some government person telling him what he's allowed to eat. He convinces people of his good intentions not by logic but by emotion, by using popular canned slogans about family values and America and power of the people, just to distract them from how evil he is. He uses fear tactics to create mobs.

All of that sort of thing. His entire character is a liberal's nightmare of a Republican. That's why I say the whole book is a political commentary.

And Stephen King is a liberal, as are the vast majority of fiction writers, so it's not surprising that the bad guy politician in any of his books would come across as a liberal's worst nightmare. But the book is more about the failings of humanity in general than political commentary. Is there anything really political about the actions of Above Politician's son, for example, or did he just give in to his raving lunatic tendencies?

I voted for Bush twice and thought Cheney was (and is) brilliant, and I'd follow Sarah Palin into hell, and in spite of all that I didn't find anything political to hate about "Under The Dome."

That doesn't make the ending any less silly, however...

[label]

Admiral2 wrote:

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That doesn't make the ending any less silly, however...

What was silly?

The whole thing was an ants under a magnifying glass experiment from some other species who viewed us as little more than insects. Just underlines all the pointless, self-inflicted suffering that went on there and paralleled nicely the story told in the middle of the book where those girls were picking on Julie, but one of them took pity on her and gave her something to wear to get home with. That bully and Julie didn't become friends or anything afterwards but she showed just a little bit of mercy. Same thing here.......one of the aliens took a little pity on the people left in the town and let them go.

[Ubik]

label wrote:

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Hmmm.....I guess I never associated him with any party personally. I saw him as the proverbial big fish in the little pond type guy who wouldn't want big Govt. interfering with him in any way shape or form.

Yes, the comments against Obama were definitely present, but I think it was more about Jim being a small town redneck who a bit racist and I certainly didn't think that had a thing to do with which political party he aligned with. I think he'd be happy with no govt. and just let him run his own show his own way.

So only republicans eat too much and liberals enjoy the govt. telling them what they're allowed to eat?? I think you're painting with a pretty great big stereotypical brush here my friend.

I'm confused......are we talking about Rennie or Obama here.... (I'll hand this to Obama, he's an incredibly good speaker and very popular with my generation and below because he does make such a good celebrity.........there's absolutely no denying his appeal.)

Bottom line, I saw Rennie as neither party and quite frankly I think he'd take exception to any govt. telling him what he can or can't do whether that be Right-wing, liberal, Tea Party or somewhere in between. He's just your average small town big fish from my perspective, but I'm not into politics and it's rare (outside of Avatar) that I notice political slants to things myself)

Just to be clear: I'm not saying Rennie is an accurate portrayal of a Rebublican leader. I'm saying he is a representation of how a liberal might view a scary Republican. He's sort of a cartoon version of one.

And as someone else said, Stephen King is intensely liberal (as most of his books show). I just think, given his politics, that it's impossible to view Rennie as anything other than a criticism of Bush-era Republicanism. Yes, Rennie is also a redneck, but a redneck IS part of the Republican stereotype. Some liberals tend to think of Republicans as rednecks.

Anyway, my point is that the political stuff is most certainly there, but it's subtle enough that the book can be enjoyed completely without the reader noticing or being bothered by it.

[timothy]

okay enough with the politics this is soppposed to be about his fiction and movies i thought . any way doing some digging in my nook and the only ones that are'nt there are pet symmetery christine and rage.

[SiorX]

The thing I love most about Stephen King is how he makes me feel so nostalgic about my childhood as a young boy in America in the '50s. There are at least three ways that ought to be impossible.

I've come to King quite late, so I've not managed more than a few of the more famous ones yet. What I'm discovering is that he writes an utterly fantastic first halves of books. I love the conceits, and the atmosphere he creates in It, Pet Semetary, Cujo and Carrie, but I wasn't much moved by the pay-off in any of them.

Can anybody recommend any of his short stories (not novellas)? It struck me that he might have written some really powerful ones, given his penchant for terrifying atmosphere. Any suggestions where to start?

[label]

Ubik wrote:

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Yes, Rennie is also a redneck, but a redneck IS part of the Republican stereotype. Some liberals tend to think of Republicans as rednecks.

I suppose so, though most all the republicans I know are all in the banking industry or are engineers......white collar type people............and are pretty well to do.

Anyway, my point is that the political stuff is most certainly there, but it's subtle enough that the book can be enjoyed completely without the reader noticing or being bothered by it.

I'd definitely agree with this.....other than Rennie's racist/anti-Muslim comments about Obama, I would have never caught any of the political overtones had you not said something about