Stephen King on the Small Screen

Mark Browning

Description

In this follow up to Stephen King on the Big Screen, Mark Browning turns his critical eye to the much-neglected subject of the best-selling author’s work in television, examining what it is about King’s fiction that makes it particularly suitable for the small screen.

By focusing on this body of work, from the highly successful The Stand and The Night Flier to the lesser-known TV films Storm of the Century, Rose Red, Kingdom Hospital, and the 2004 remake of Salem’s Lot, Browning is able to articulate how these adaptations work and, in turn, suggest new ways of viewing them. This book is the first written by a film specialist to consider King’s television work in its own right, and it rejects previous attempts to make the films and books fit rigid thematic categories. Browning examines what makes a written or visual text successful at evoking fear on a case-by-case basis, in a highly readable and engaging way. He also considers the relationship between the big and small screen. Why, for instance, are some TV versions more effective than movie adaptations and vice versa? In the process, Stephen King on the Small Screen is able to shed new light on what it is that makes King’s novels so successful and reveal the elements of style and approach that have helped make King one of the world’s best-selling authors.

Sujets

• Power Resources
• Public Policy
• Sign Language
• Disciplines
• Language Arts
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Lettres et linguistique
• Screenwriting
• General officer
• Television
• Media studies
• General

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 27 mai 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781841504551
• Langue: English

Extrait

Stephen King on the Small Screen
Stephen King on the Small Screen
Mark Browning
First published in the UK in 2011 by Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2011 by Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright 2011 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Cover designer: Holly Rose Copy-editor: Emma Rhys Typesetting: Mac Style, Beverley, E. Yorkshire
ISBN 978-1-84150-412-4
Printed and bound by Gutenberg Press, Malta.
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Vampires
It (Tommy Lee Wallace, 1990)
Salemf s Lot (Tobe Hooper, 1979)
A Return to Salem s Lot (Larry Cohen, 1987)
Salem s Lot (Mikael Salomon, 2004)
The Night Flier (Mark Pavia, 1997)
Chapter 2: Stalk and Slash?
Children of the Corn (Fritz Kiersch, 1984)
Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (David F. Price, 1992)
Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (James D.R. Hickox, 1994)
Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering (Greg Spence, 1996)
Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (Ethan Wiley, 1998)
Children of the Corn VI: Isaac s Return (Kari Skogland, 1999)
Children of the Corn 7: Revelation (Guy Magar, 2001)
Children of the Corn (Donald P. Borchers, 2009)
Chapter 3: Monsters vs Aliens
The Tommyknockers (John Power, 1993)
Needful Things (Fraser C. Heston, 1993)
The Langoliers (Tom Holland, 1995)
The Mist (Frank Darabont, 2008)
Chapter 4: Sometimes They Come Back
Sometimes They Come Back (Tom McLoughlin, 1991)
Sometimes They Come Back Again (Adam Grossman, 1995)
Sometimes They Come Back For More (Daniel Berk, 1998)
Ghosts (Stan Winston, 1997)
Rose Red (Craig R. Baxley, 2002)
Kingdom Hospital (Craig R. Baxley, 2003)
Riding the Bullet (Mick Garris, 2004)
Chapter 5: Apocalypse Now
The Stand (Mick Garris, 1994)
Storm of the Century (Craig R. Baxley, 1999)
Desperation (Mick Garris, 2006)
Chapter 6: Tales of the Unexpected
Quicksilver Highway (Mick Garris, 1997)
Nightmares Dreamscapes (2006)
Battleground (Brian Henson)
Crouch End (Mark Haber)
Umney s Last Case (Rob Bowman)
The End of the Whole Mess (Mikael Salomon)
The Road Virus Heads North (Sergio Mimica-Gezzan)
The Fifth Quarter (Rob Bowman)
Autopsy Room Four (Mikael Salomon)
They ve Got One Hell of a Band (Mike Robe)
Golden Years (Kenneth Fink, Episode 1; Allen Coulter, Episodes 2, 4 and 6; Michael G. Gornick, Episodes 3 and 7; Stephen Tolkin, Episode 5, 1991)
Thinner (Tom Holland, 1996)
Chinga (episode of The X Files , Kim Manners, 1998)
Conclusion
References
Introduction
What I know of other places I have gotten mostly from three sources: the television, the radio and my imagination.
(Scott Landon in Lisey s Story ) 1
Goals of the book
T his book arose naturally out of Stephen King on the Big Screen (Browning 2009), which dealt with those filmic adaptations from King s works that have been given a theatrical release. This however left a substantial number of television versions and it seemed logical to consider them too - hence this book. The first book was underpinned theoretically by notions of genre theory and structured accordingly and this book will follow a similar pattern but with a key distinction. Consideration of auteur and adaptation theory are set out in the first book and unnecessary to repeat here but what became obvious quite soon in researching this book is the relative lack of theoretical consideration about what precisely makes television different from film. There are plenty of individual chapters in books covering media history, which set out the development of television, its rivalry with cinema and its technical nature. Similarly, there are an overwhelming number of studies, more recently especially, setting out studies on particular TV genres, issues of representation and the splintering of the market into subgenres such as cult TV, or so-called reality TV . Reception Studies, particularly around issues of violence, is also a standard part of most Television Studies courses. What is largely neglected is analysis of the precise nature of the difference between television and film - how would it feel for example to be sitting in a cinema and for an episode of Lost (ABC, 2004-present) to appear on screen? What is the difference between a film made for cinematic release and a made-for-television product? The questions may sound simple but in the case of television derived from Stephen King literary works, we have a unique example in the history of modern adaptation, of a large body of work that has been converted to both big and small screen.
Ironically, in Hollywood s Stephen King (Magistrale 2003), Tony Magistrale shows little sign that he is aware of the academic disciplines of Film Studies and more particularly Television Studies. His coverage of King s work on TV is limited to a catch-all chapter at the end of the book. This is especially unsatisfactory as he has organized his comments thematically up to this point, explicitly ghettoizing the TV mini-series as unworthy of equal time and critical space.
He usefully explains the process of the sweeps season and the ratings mechanisms but he only sees features such as commercial breaks as a negative concept rather than considering precisely what effect they have on the programmes themselves. Earlier studies, such as Jeff Conner s Stephen King Goes to Hollywood (1987), Michael Collings The Films of Stephen King (Collings 1986), Ann Lloyd s The Films of Stephen King (1993) and even Stephen Jones more recent Stephen Jones Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide (2002), also all relegate TV work to final, fairly brief chapters and analytical content is overwhelmed by generalizations (such as the intrusive nature of commercials). Furthermore, even if their initial exhibition context featured advertising, for audiences outside the United States, these texts may not be experienced primarily as TV but on video or DVD (i.e. without commercials). Given the global nature of the TV market, generic factors, especially relating to mainstream horror, are ultimately more influential upon content and style than narrowly American institutional factors.
This book will discuss adaptations either purposely made for television or which went straight to video or had such a limited global release that they were virtually unseen (i.e. that their prime viewing context is on the small, rather than the big screen). It will seek to answer a number of questions. Is there something particular about King s work that makes it suitable to television? Does analysis of King s TV adaptations tell us something about the distinctive features of televisual narratives? Are there certain kinds of narratives which television can convey more effectively than film? How might we categorize the Children of the Corn series (1984-2009) and indeed, why would we want to? This book is concerned with what makes programmes like The Stand (Mick Garris, 1994) effective when viewed on DVD today on a small screen. Why does Pennywise still continue to unsettle viewers of It (Tommy Lee Wallace, 1990)?
For the purposes of manageability and partly quality control, the so-called dollar babies , those films produced by film students for a nominal dollar fee, are not discussed in this book, although interested parties should seek out the growing number that are appearing on YouTube and other video-sharing portals. The reduction of size and cost of light-weight cameras and digital technology means that amateur films can be produced relatively cheaply and via the Internet reach an increasing audience, especially via mobile phone screens.
The first book discussed the notion of cultural status linked to particular genres, particularly horror. It raised the issue of how you might approach a so-called horror narrative that is not (nor even trying to be) horrifying. In this book, many of the adaptations represent a coming together of certain generic elements, such as horror and science fiction (a particularly-contested term), television for mass audiences and Stephen King. For some viewers and critics this constitutes a perfect storm of low status indicators. Add further elements in the horror sub-genres, such as stalk and slash , and it is possible to partly see why there has been a scarcity of critical work on these works.
The importance of genre
Stephen King on the Big Screen viewed King s cinematic adaptations using genre theory and intertextuality as its primary theoretical approaches. This book continues this but develops the argument to focus on televisual genres, a relatively under-theorized area of Film Studies. Genre is inherently intertextual. Audiences are being asked to place a narrative within other known narratives - it is often the means by which we make sense of the experience of watching a film. Difficulty in doing so often leads to a range of emotions, very occasionally surprised pleasure but more often disappointment, confusion and possibly even anger. This book is looking at a very specific sub-genre, televisual adaptations derived from the work of Stephen King, but its considerations have wider ramifications for the operation of genre and the use of literary properties on television, such as whether generic hybrids foreground their generic credentials more strongly than purer examples, for their blending to work effectively.
Genres are a key mechanism by which expectations are managed. In different contexts, the managers of these expectations might be networks, producers, writers or even ourselves as viewers. It is often said that programmes find their audiences as if th