The Changing Nature of Video Production: What to Consider to Stay Up to Date

Technology is always growing and changing, just like the people who use and rely on it. For the medium of video, there has been quite a ‘digital video revolution’ in terms of technological change, video practice, and the very nature of video.

Technology of all kinds is changing and improving at an exponential rate, transforming the practices and content produced by the media industry. Due to the rate and range of change in these new technologies, the methods in which we can create media content must also adapt to stay current. Creating video media is no exception. As well as influencing the content itself in terms of quality, length and overall choices that effect the mise en scene, the power relations between the professional mediators and their audience of consumer also shifts between increasingly blurred lines of authority. This ‘digital video revolution’ that has arisen in the past decade is continuing to occur in more ways than one, changing the way video is created, distributed and experienced.

The production and post production stages of making video content can take time if you want the quality to be good and if you are using professional equipment. However, because of the increasing quality and ease of use of phone cameras and laptops, making and editing films is quicker and easier. As pretty much anyone can operate devices such as iPhones, technically anyone can be a mediator without the need of university or film school training or the expensive professional equipment. A famous example of citizen journalism is Jafar Panahi’s Iranian documentary film, This Is Not a Film (2011). While under house arrest, the filmmaker Panahi awaits his punishment for making material that spoke against the current political regime. He was facing the possibility his passport being confiscated, a long prison sentence and ban from filmmaking. During this time, he and a friend filmed in his apartment revealing his everyday experience, thoughts and also what was happening outside of his window. The film was smuggled out of the country to France on a USB memory stick within a birthday cake. The film was an international success, receiving high critical acclaim as a creative protest piece. In 2012, it was shortlisted as one of 15 films considered for the Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards. 

Becoming a ‘citizen journalist’ is even easier again when the publishing of the piece is practically instantaneous thanks to broadcasting platforms like YouTube and even FaceBook. According to Benson, “The production of YouTube texts is also closely bound up with their distribution, in that the process of production takes place at the point of distribution. YouTube users produce texts of YouTube pages as they are viewing the site, using tools that they access on the video page, and these texts are redistributed within seconds of their production. This has important implications for the nature of the user-generated content on the site.” (Benson, P. (2016), p.79) While consumers are participating in this new culture, the film industry has also experimented with the use of mobile devices to make short films or even feature length productions. Korean filmmakers, Park Chan-wook and Park Chan-kyong won the Golden Bear at the 61st Berlin International film festival for his fantasy-horror short film, Night Fishing (2011). This film was shot entirely using an iPhone 4.

As media professionals, it is also important to remember that with the increase of technological devices comes a constantly increasing number of platforms in which videos can be viewed and experienced from. Snickars and Vonderau “...use the term ‘relocation’ to denote the process through which a media experience reactivates itself and offers itself and offers itself elsewhere with respect to where it originated, via different devices and in other environments. Relocation involves repetition: at its foundation, in fact, there is something that returns, that multiplies itself, that makes itself more available to the point of stripping itself of its exclusivity, if not of its uniqueness.” (Snickars, P. & Vonderau, P. (2012), p.25) As a consequence, while a video may look wonderful on your computer, it is also important to consider the display on an iPhone, whether it will be watched vertically or horizontally, as widescreen or fullscreen and if fullscreen, what screens in particular will be filled as displays on different devices can vary greatly. Especially due to the tough to keep interested modern audiences, if the video does not look great, they will turn off as fast as someone would reading a news piece without a catchy grab.

The digital video revolution has spurred significant change in the production process, practices and style of visual content. Propelled forward by the exponential changes to major technologies, this revolution has indeed transformed the entire video production industry. Video has been relocated and innovated to suit the globalised market that digital processes have allowed. In order to facilitate this new technology, power relations within the video industry also made great changes. The advent of digital video and mobile personal communications technologies allowed for the citizen journalist to have the ability to produce meaningful content of similar to that produced by professionals.

References

Benson, P. (2016), The Discourse of YouTube: Multimodal Text in a Global Context, Routledge, New York, NY

Bordwell, D. (2017), Film Art: An Introduction: Eleventh Edition, McGraw Hill Education, New York, NY

Scott, A.O. (2012), ‘A Video From Tehran: It’s Not What It Isn’t, but What It Is: 

He’s Jafar Panahi, but ‘This Is Not a Film’’, Retrieved 1st October, 2017 from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/movies/hes-jafar-panahi-but-this-is-not-a-film.html

Snickars, P. & Vonderau, P. (2012), Moving Data: The iPhone and the Future of Media, Columbia University Press, New York, Chichester, West Sussex

Media and Technology in Night of the Living Dead

George A. Romero’s American independent horror film, Night of the Living Dead (1968) highlights how both the media and technology, when things go wrong, can have a hand in the demise of humanity.

In the film, the catastrophe in the form of the zombie outbreak is directly caused by technology, being the space probe that had returned from Venus. Its re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere caused radioactive contamination of unexplainable proportions, despite if not especially because of its purposeful explosion by the military once it was detected. While the central characters hideout on the remote farmhouse, media through the radio and the television become their only connection to the outside world. Without it, they seemingly would not be able to make any sense of the situation they are in. However, listening to the radio and the television does not save them. Their time listening to these devices causes them to be passive listeners and viewers. The media, rather than being a source of authority and knowledge is only really making guesses about what is happening and how people can survive the ordeal. Instead of calling people to action, the media encourages people to hide and wait until help arrives. Although, especially in the case of our characters, this is not a viable option. Zombies are surrounding the isolated farmhouse in droves, making it impossible to get away and to board up the house for much longer. In the end, the only way that offered any real hope and chance of survival was to get physical and fight. Ben, the hero of the narrative, approaches the enemy with resourcefulness and strength but even his victory is short lived, as police with guns shoot him down. This action again emphasises the triumph of technology and the media over even the strongest of human beings. 

While the monster in a horror film is an essential figure, due to the narrative needing a catalyst of fear, almost every one of them connects to and reflects a degree of real world anxiety. For example, the robot, Maria in Fritz Lang’s German expressionist epic science-fiction drama, Metropolis (1927) projects the fear of robots made in the image of man due to their ability to control or destroy us through infiltration. The dream predator, Freddy Kruger in Wes Craven’s American slasher, A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) plays with our childhood fears of the dark and creatures of the night who can come for us when we are sleeping and are at our most vulnerable. Haunted object films such as John R. Leonetti’s American supernatural horror, Annabelle (2014) highlight that darkness can be lurking anywhere and in anything. Like these films, Night of the Living Dead can also be related to many real world issues and fears. According to Fojas, “Zombies are racialised figures that signify a past of violence, genocide, and slavery, and that will not stay dead, repressed, or forgotten. Zombie stories evoke anxiety about disruption to the U.S. racial order based on white supremacy in a post–civil rights era… Zombies are useful tropes in antiracist storylines that show how to survive the recurrence of violent histories of racism and genocide within vengeful plots that transform race relations in the present…but remains fundamentally patriarchal, heterosexual, and white.” (Fojas, C. (2017), p. 62) The idea of the zombie as a racial metaphor comes more into play when considering that the most capable and strong person within the group of characters hiding in the farmhouse is African-American, the hero, Ben. Unlike the white people forced into his company by the bizarre zombie outbreak, he is the most willing and capable to fight. Viewing the figure of zombie in this film as representative of America’s dark past of slavery can certainly be a way of understanding the actions of the characters. Ben, being a black man is aware of the existence of the issue and that something must be done while the others want to hide from it or, in Barbra’s case is silenced at the mere sight of it and its ramifications, the bloodshed and mindless logic behind the events.

As well as the film being undeniably racially charged, it is important to note what caused the zombie outbreak to begin. Monsters in horror films rarely just appear out of nowhere. They almost always are created because of a very human mistake made by a human catalyst. Again, using the above examples, Maria in Metropolis was conjured by a human man who dabbles with both mad science and black magic for the sake of bringing the woman he loved back to life. Kruger in The Nightmare on Elm Street was a child abuser in life and born of a nun who was raped hundreds of times by mad men however he was only able to become an immortal threat after he was burned, vigilante style for the sake of bloodlusting revenge, by the parents of the now teenaged victims. In Annabelle: Creation (2017), the first film’s prequel, the doll was just a doll however became a vessel for a demon when the parents of the dead little girl, Annabelle Mullins mistook the entity for their daughter’s spirit. Just as a vampire is believed to be unable to step inside a human home without first being welcomed in, as shown in Let the Right One In (2008) and its remake Let Me In (2010), the doll, while being lifeless and empty could not become a place for the demon without first being allowed access and consent by the human owners. Mayo describes Night of the Living Dead as “Several people-with nary a stereotype in the bunch-are trapped in a farmhouse by these stumbling zombies. Over the course of a day and a night, they try to survive, making one wrong decision after another as the horror and suspense steadily increase...Though the film has been copied, imitated, remade, and parodied countless times, it remains an intense experience.” (Mayo, M. (2013), p. 251-252) As the film lived on as references and parodies and is becoming older and older, it may seem a bit cliched however it is important to remember that it started so many of the since proliferated ‘cliche’ trends. In the case of the zombies in Night of the Living Dead, the cause is also human, through radiation from a man made space rover. Even though this radiation could have come from another planet, it arrived on Earth as a direct result of human curiosity that may have gone too far. While people did the best they could to defuse the problem by exploding the probe, it may have either already been too late or even exacerbated by the use of firepower technology.  

In the case of this film, it is important to note that everything that goes wrong for the characters is due to technology and spurred on by the media. While the radiation caused the outbreak, it was the media which held them captive in the farmhouse. When the group joins up and watches the television and listens to the radio, they do so at first with desperation, hoping that these technologies could provide a window to the outside world and that the media coverage could help guide them through the messy situation. While the radio and television reports work to explain some of why the outbreak happened, the advice to stay inside and wait for help is incredibly unhelpful. As well as fuelling their fear with details of the creatures and encouraging them to cower until the men with guns arrive to save the day, the reports are not personalised. They do not take into consideration the fact that the group is far away from other people and surrounded by a large number of zombies which only continue to gather. Jackson “...suggests that we are in a state of social, cultural, political, economic, and philosophic limbo, characterised by the following: a sense of still being tied to certain symbolic structures and mythic narratives that we no longer believe in, that we mistrust, or that have lost the ability to effectively ground meaningful relations and practices; a corresponding inability to locate the sources of or effectively manifest figures to represent power and dominance, though oppression is clearly alive and well; and a sense of having left our “humanity” behind, ending ourselves in unmarked territory, in bodies and environments we are no longer sure how to inhabit.” (Jackson, K. (2013), p. 2) Especially when strange things occur, people struggle to connect with a sense of normalcy. The media through their available devices provided this however also leads them to overestimate how much help those things really could offer. 

According to Williams, “Night of the Living Dead broke many taboos. It lacked a ‘happy ending’ and left none of its central characters alive at the climax. No hero or heroine walked into the sunset after the cessation of the monstrous threat. Also, well before the emergence of the so-called ‘blaxploitation’ genre, Night of the Living Dead’s leading character was black, a fact Romero still ascribes today to mere coincidence...Unlike most of his heroic predecessors in horror films, Night of the Living Dead’s leading character, Ben, does not survive but dies a death which is absurd in nature.” (Williams, T. (2015), p. 26-27) The way in which every central character dies highlights the futility of the media and technologies which seemingly connects us to the rest of the world and to other people. The fact that Ben died in the end does raise some race questions. Was this a way to bring back order through taking the power out of the black man’s hands and back into the white man’s? However, while he was killed by a white man, the thing that killed him was a gun, making technology not only start, prolonger but also end of the tale of the unfortunate group of characters, forced together under dire circumstances. 

While the zombies are the monsters of the film, it is important to note that they are just as much victims as Ben, Barbra and the others. Hakola observed that “...the zombies outside are responsible for hardly any of the main characters’ deaths’. Most of the deaths occur because the survivors cannot agree among themselves. In what follows, the view is expected to become frustrated and confused with the offered positions, None of the main characters is innocent; each appears to have more weaknesses than positive characteristics… The survivors are unable to work together and become their own worst enemies. Although the killing of the zombies is easy in theory, it fails in practice, because the very existence of zombies has already shown that the core problem of American society lies in increasing diversities and mistrust.” (Hakola, O. (2015), p. 95) However, the problem does not stop at diversity alone. While they are all in the same situation, and have their differences in approach, it is technological devices which tear them apart. Ben and Harry, both being men with alpha attitudes are caused to fight even more because of the rifle, another technology which symbolises power beyond human physical capability. Barbra, the silent damsel when in front of the television set and radio seems normal, as it is usual for people to sit quietly and passively consume whatever the media spits out. The similarity between Barbra’s incapacitation due to the incident with her brother and how people act around broadcasting technology emphasises what it is turning us into and shows ‘what’ rather than ‘who’ is really in control. 

In conclusion, both the media and technology play an incredibly instrumental role in the film, Night of the Living Dead. While the zombies are the monsters, they are not the reason for all of the characters in the farmhouse dying. Rather, the zombies themselves are also victims, as they are caused to mindlessly commit inhumane acts without any say because of the radiation from the man made technology, the space probe. The central problem being the outbreak is caused by technology, being the space probe and possibly the destruction of the space probe with explosives, weaponised technology, after reentering the Earth’s atmosphere. The media plays a role in prolonging fear and raising hopes by continuing to report on the story, even though they have no real contribution in terms of helping people to protect themselves and survive. What they say is very basic and easily discovered after facing the zombies head on. Lastly, technology in the hands of a mistaken human ends the life of our enduring hero throughout the ordeal. This act reestablishes the power balance rationally as it is transferred from a black man to a white man but ultimately passes the power from Ben, a human to a machine, a work of modern technology.

References

Fojas, C. (2017), Zombies, Migrants, and Queers: Race and Crisis Capitalism in Pop Culture, University of Illinois Press, Urbana

Gigliati, D. (Producer), & Reeves, M. (Director). (2010). Let Me In [Motion Picture]. United States: Overture Films, Relativity Media.

Hakola, O. (2015), Rhetoric of Modern Death in American Living Dead Films, Intellect Ltd., Bristol, UK/ Chicago, USA 

Jackson, K. (2013), Technology, Monstrosity, and Reproduction in Twenty-First Century Horror, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK

Kawin, B. (2012), Horror and the Horror Film, Anthem Press, London, New York

Mayo, M. (2013), The Horror Show Guide: The Ultimate Frightfest of Movies, Visible Ink Press LLC., Canton, MI

Molinder, C. & Nordling, J. (Producers), & Alfredson, T. (Director). (2008). Let the Right One In [Motion Picture]. Sweden: Sandrew Metronome.

Pommer, E. (Producer), & Lang, F. (Director). (1927). Metropolis [Motion Picture]. Germany: UFA.

Safran, P. & Wan, J. (Producers), & Leonetti, J. (Director). (2010). Annabelle [Motion Picture]. United States: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Safran, P. & Wan, J. (Producers), & Sandberg, D. (Director). (2017). Annabelle: Creation [Motion Picture]. United States: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Shaye, R. (Producer), & Craven, W. (Director). (1984). The Nightmare on Elm Street [Motion Picture]. United States: New Line Cinema.

Streiner, R. & Hardman, K. (Producers), & Romero, G. (Director). (1968). Night of the Living Dead [Motion Picture]. United States: The Walter Reade Organization, Continental Distributing.

Williams, T. (2015), The Cinema of George A. Romero: Knight of the Living Dead, Wallflower Press, London, England, New York

Doused in Blood: Carrie (1976) vs. Carrie (2013)

Remakes are not great because they are ‘new and exciting’ but because they are both ‘old and new’. They take us back to the past while also showing how the original story can pack a serious punch within the shiny vessel of the remake.

Remake films are often quickly judged to be made for the purpose of ensured profit and entertainment through ‘escapism’. They also tend to be judged based on their fidelity to the original source, and are met with scorn when they do not include details loved by the film’s original fans. However, I want to make a clear point not to base the film’s value on its loyalty to the film it was based on, but rather look at possible reasons why certain elements were left as is, altered, or omitted. By having a close look at how sexuality, intent of "the monster", and technology play a part and vary in Carrie (1976), and Carrie (2013), the main points of difference reveal to us changes in focus and concern for the new time period the film is being made in, and what the new team of producers and directors want to express to their audience. Unlike what Chuck Palahniuk suggests in Fight Club, not “Everything is [simply] a copy of a copy of a copy.”

Sexuality and Sexual Agency in Carrie

Sexuality in a film like Carrie is all about power distribution, and a literal case of whether ‘mind over matter’ really is a good method for taking control of one’s own life and destiny. Carrie, at least in the beginning of both films, is an innocent girl, as she has been coddled, and kept sexually ignorant by her mother. In the original film (1976), our first look at Carrie is on the volleyball field, as an ganguly, and awkward young girl who is still doing her best to involve herself with the other girls by attempting to immediate them. Her failure in sports however earns herself verbal abuse (“you eat S***”), and isolation. On the other hand, in the remake (2013), we truly see Carrie at the very beginning of her life. The first thing we see is a shot of a regular and even picturesque middle class American home. The painful screams of a woman dominates the sinister soundtrack in the background. The point of view camera takes us through the house, which is covered in religious iconography and sewing equipment. Those who are familiar with the original film know that this woman is indeed Margaret White, Carrie’s mother. The point of view camera takes us up the stairs, which are covered with blood and water. Margaret is rolling on the bed in agony, talking to god as she believes she is dying of “cancer”. Soon, her yelling stops and she discovers a baby under her nightdress. Margaret tells herself that “it’s a test. Cut it down. Cut it down.” She grabs a large pair of sewing scissors from the dresser and prepares to stab the baby, however stops herself as we see her moral dilemma play out through a shot reverse shot of the eyes of both mother and daughter. Carrie cries as the title slide appears. 

From this bonus scene in the remake, we clearly see that from the beginning of her life, Carrie has been treated as a product of sin. When this Carrie however attends gym class, she makes no attempt to participate with the other girls. There is a darkness to her character that grows throughout the film that is simply not there in the original. While this new Carrie could indeed be classed as “the freak” in terms of high school stereotypes, she is this in a scary way, rather than being pathetic and frightened. Spacek portrays Carrie from the beginning as wild eyed and ignorant, while Moretz, who had just come from doing the vampire film remake Let Me In (2010) is quiet, but in an insidious fashion, as a person who embodies untapped power, and has an underlying anger and hate for those around her. The shower scene where Carrie experiences her first period is different for both versions of Carrie as well, and has a different impact on their sexual maturity. In the original, after volleyball, all of the girls are made to shower communally. The girls run around, brush their hair, and get dressed, some of which have their naked bodies in full view. The combination of the sing song soundtrack, and slow motion camera fetishises the group of young girls, in a style reminiscent of Lyne’s 1997 film of Nobokov’s scandalous American novel, Lolita. While these girls are not fourteen years old like Lolita, they are all school girls, and possess a fresh kind of youthful beauty, and budding sexuality that is still in development. The way each girl moves also says a lot about puberty and growing up. Some strut around proudly, while others are still coming to terms with their confidence. We then see Carrie enter the shower, and watch as the young girl washes her body, unaware of her own beauty as a woman. As the water washes between her legs, it goes red. When she looks at her hands, the close up shows her confused, and afraid eyes. Her reaction is manic. She grabs onto the other girls screaming for help. She causes a light to break. This is the first instance of her power, however it is not intentional. When the gym teacher Mrs Collins comes, she tells Carrie to “grow up and take care of yourself.” and slaps her. Carrie is then made to sit outside like a naughty child while the Principal and Mrs Collins speak audibly about the ridiculous nature of the situation. While the girls did the wrong thing, this was her mother’s fault. 

In the remake, the bathroom scene does not have any underaged nudity, or sensual slow mos, rather, all of the other girls are almost all dressed, and Carrie is the only one left to wash herself, making her the sole focus of our attention. As in the original, she stops when she sees the blood, however she focuses on her bloodied hands (an image which will be mirrored later), and immediately reacts in horror. While the new Carrie is also in an incredibly vulnerable position, she shows less mania. She speaks more than the word: “help”. She says “something’s not right” and “I think I’m bleeding to death”. Carrie also shows more power straight away. She makes the lights flicker, the items on the floor shake, then blows the lights out completely. The principal and teacher do not talk about her, but with her straight away in the office, causing less sexual humiliation on her part, and when asked about periods, she was comfortable to talk about it. She only resists when the Principal says he must call her mother. Carrie’s eyes are not scared as they are in the original, but more angry. Also, instead of just flipping a cigarette tray with her telekinesis like in the original, she smashes the large water cooler in the corner. Carrie’s increased telekinetic power could be a way to make the remake a larger version of the original, however it is also a source of increased sexual agency for Carrie. 

Creepy Carrie! Creepier Carrie? Carrie's Intent

The issue and question of intent is particularly interesting and relevant when looking at the two Carrie films. As mentioned before, from the very beginning, it is made clear that there is something different, stronger, and darker about the new Carrie. The most telling and infamous scene is the attack at prom, and the bucket of blood that started it. In the original, once the blood falls on Carrie’s head, the audio cuts out. A slow drum beat starts. One of Chris’ bully friends begins to laugh and soon everyone is. We see Tommy mouth “what the hell?” right before the bucket falls down and bangs him on the head, causing him to pass out. Carrie stands there while she sees everyone laughing in a kaleidoscope view as laughter, “They’re all gonna laugh at you” (Margaret White), “We’re all very sorry Cassie”(Principal), and “Trust me Carrie, trust me”(Mrs Collins) mix together as part of a dizzying audio visual experience. Carrie’s face goes blank. The screen is split into two views to show Carrie using her powers to shut all of the exits in the gym. The lighting is red, and everyone runs to escape death. Carrie controls the fire hoses which appear to come to life, as everyone is soaked. The camera shots alternate between the full screen, and the split screen effect when it is necessary to show reactions. Chris and Billy watch from outside. We see Chris react to a frame swinging down and killing Mrs Collins, a teacher who did her best to be kind to Carrie. Carrie makes things crush people, causes people to fly into walls, and uses live wires to electrocute people indiscriminately. As the Principal is electrocuted, a wall of fire rises behind her, making the scene look like an image of hell. She walks slowly off the stage and out of the door, using her powers to seal it shut behind her. Still in her trance, she walks home. Billy and Chris who are in their car spot her and drive straight at her. She is walking with her back towards them. When they are very close, she turns around to look at them, causing the car to spin, and then explode into flames on the side of the road. As Carrie approaches her house, She is back to normal. Her posture is more relaxed, and her eyes are no longer staring. The moment where her power completely overtook her is over. 

On the other hand, the attack in the remake is completely intentional. Whether she regretted it later or not, the murder was clearly revenge against all of the kids and adults who were cruel to her. When the blood falls on Carrie, it is replayed exactly as is, then happens again as a close up low angle shot, showing the bucket flip over, then a low angle point of view perhaps as a kid looking up at the stage, then as a regular mid shot, showing the whole stage, and the aftermath of the prank. A point of view shot shows us Carrie’s perspective as she looks at her bloodied hands, a shot which mirrors when she had her first period in the shower. The camera swings up to show the audience staring at her. Tommy audibly yells: “what the hell?” Everyone remains silent until the video of the bullying is played. Carrie steps forward and watches herself in the video, writhing with anger. The gym teacher calls out to her while approaching the stage, only to be pushed away by Carrie with her powers. The bucket then comes loose and hits Tommy on the head, not only causing him to pass out, but killing him instantly. Everyone is shocked. There is no chorus of laughter and jeering. Even so, Carrie stands up from Tommy’s body, causing the lights to flicker. Blood flies up from her body into the air, a modern horror technique that has been used in The Ring series to highlight supernatural occurrences, and her eyes go black. Even though she seems to be in an attack mode of sorts, her actions are conscious. After shutting the doors, she causes the whole crowd to suffer, but also picks people out for especially painful deaths. The twin bully girls are forced onto the ground while they are trampled and stabbed by  the stiletto heels of the terrified crowd. She wet everyone with the hoses and whipped people with the live wires, causing electrocution. Chris’ best friend has her dress set on fire, causing her to burn alive. A boy who is carrying a girl and trying to help another person has a flaming moon decoration hauled at him. Carrie choke holds the gym teacher in the air with her powers, but lets her live. She then flies over the wreckage and out of the gym. Rather than just wanting to go home, Carrie goes after Chris and Billy. Rather than Carrie having her back to them, she is soon behind their car. She causes the road to crack and curl up in order to trap them. In retaliation, they drive straight for her, but crash into an invisible wall head on. This kills Billy, but Chris survives. Carrie circles the car like a predator. As Chris reaches for the door, she causes it to lock. She proceeds to choke her with a seat belt, but Chris escapes the hold, and gains control of the vehicle. She drives as fast as she can towards Carrie, however, her power is too strong, causing the car to stop in its tracks, and lifts in the air. In a shot reverse shot, we see Chris look at Carrie clearly afraid, while Carrie smiles wickedly. Carrie then lets the car go, and it flies into the gas station behind. Chris’ face smashes through the windshield in slow motion, and is alive for a few seconds for Carrie to be the last thing she sees. As Carrie walks away, she also makes a lamp post explode and fall onto the car, also causing it to burst into flames.  

Looking at Chris’ death alone, it is clear that the new Carrie wanted this to happen, at least in the moment. After being in a position of weakness for her whole life, she had power over every life in the room. In comparison, the original Carrie is traumatised by her experience. There does not seem to be any anger or hate of her own, rather that the ridicule and hate she was receiving was being internalised until it exploded at random. While she certainly has the power to move things if she wants to, in relation to the massacre, that was an instance of her power controlling her rather than the other way around.

The Terror of Technology in Carrie

As this remake is set in modern day circa 2013, technology is one of the biggest differences between the films. While Carrie in both films is humiliated by the other girls when she gets her first period in the shower room, the new Carrie has the event filmed by Chris on her phone. While Carrie, in her religious extremist household is off the grid, she finds out straight away about the video, as Chris shows Billy and her group outside the school when Carrie has to be picked up early. The following day, everybody knows about it. As she walks through the hallways, other students ask each other “is that Carrie White?” Even something Chris said to her at gym class: “Carrie White eats S***” is spray painted across the lockers. While bullying has occurred before modern technology, the ‘he said, she said’ gossip culture is not the main method for spreading hate. In the modern media age, if something is not mediated, it might as well not have happened at all, however once an event becomes a piece of viewable or audible data, it can be disseminated and experienced by many more people, not just those that were there in real time. 

While the ease of use for technology is increasing, it also becomes easier to do awful things with it. At Chris’ house, she proposes to Billy and Jackie that “We should post it” and use “Jackie’s email!” Jackie refuses at first not because it is nasty but because “[she’s] in it”. While it is easy to do, there is also a sense of accountability that comes from being watched by technology. As the gym teacher brings up later, “I think a video like that would be pretty damning to anyone in it and to the person who made it...a video like that would probably affect college admissions, possibly a lawsuit. Tons of bad publicity. I wonder what the Today Show would do with a video like that…” The existence of the video becomes a problem for Chris, due to this new consideration, one’s ‘digital footprint’, one must think about after doing something wrong. The most problematic use of the video for all of the characters in the remake is the replaying at the prom. After Carrie is covered in blood, the students are silent, however once the video plays, the ridicule begins. Carrie also has to listen and watch herself go through the incident again, despite coming so far. While the blood alone was enough to trigger the original Carrie’s attack, in the new Carrie, the incorporation of the video is a main contributing factor to Carrie’s revengeful rage, that fuels her deadly power.

While the original Carrie is ‘low tech’, the technology that are the books in her library aid Carrie in her quest to understand her powers. Carrie goes to the library and begins by looking up “miracles” in the filing cabinet. The titles of the books she flips through say a lot about her knowledge progression. 1) A Miracle a Day Keeps the Devil Away, 2) Cosmic Consciousness, 3) A Miracle, 4) Hidden Powers of the Mind, and lastly 5) Secret Science Behind Miracles. The titles start as more religious, then become more focused on scientific scepticism. One could even say that suggesting there is a science behind miracles is sacrilegious, however once she sits down with her books, she reads the definition of telekinesis in that book. As Carrie was homeschooled by her mother, her main knowledge would be a twisted form of Christianity so it is interesting that she is completely ready to abandon those ideals for other perspectives, in order to get the answers she needs. When she exercises her power on her mother for the first time, Margaret calls her a witch, and that her power is the Devil working through her. Carrie however says “No mama. I’m not the only one. Other people can do it. I read about it.” She says “read” with complete confidence. With her new knowledge, she is not afraid to stand up to her mother, and won’t let her tell her she is evil. 

In the new Carrie, during the research scene, she begins on a lab computer. Carrie stares in amazement as the boy next to her types very quickly, before typing “magic powers” into the search bar slowly. It is interesting that she did not begin with “miracles” as the other Carrie did, as this exemplifies her lack of trust in her mother’s understanding of things. When Carrie collects her pile of books and places them on her desk, you see one entitled “telekinesis”, and another is called “miracles”, however she did not automatically think her powers were from God. Carrie also watches a YouTube video of someone displaying their telekinesis, by turning a page in a book without touching it. While this could be a hoax, Carrie stares in amazement. The fast typing boy from before nervously shows her how to make the video fullscreen, reinforcing her lack of technological understanding. Carrie’s new knowledge in the remake also gives her courage to face her mother, but also becomes a bit more of an information drop, and a power demonstration. Instead of making all of the windows close, Carrie causes her mother and all of the furnitature to rise into the air and fall down at the same time. Margaret cowers on the floor, but after refusing to stand up once, she is lifted into the air by Carrie’s powers. She says: “Mama, it's inherited. It was passed down from grandma and it skipped you. You know that. Maybe it came from Daddy.” Rather than emphasising that she had done her research, she highlights how her mother is denying the truth. Even though she has grown up with it, she knows her mother is crazy, and not like anybody else. This could be to do with the technology she is around at school. While the original Carrie was mostly homeschooled by her mother and only recently began to attend regular school, Chris says to Sue in the new film that “[Carrie] has been begging for [the incident] since the sixth grade!” While her exposure to the modern world is ambiguous, the new Carrie is certainly more confident and knowledgeable than the original due to this increased access to information.