I spent an entire day with King right after the movie was released. I thought Jack, a writer, was driven mad by a subject that he just couldn’t let go of until he understood, and had written about it to his satisfaction.
King said I was correct. I believed him because we were both still sober.
The opening line of the story in Paris Review brings to mind the opening lines of Charlotte's Web, one of the grimmest openings of any children's book I've ever seen:
"Where's Papa going with that ax?" said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.
As for the narrative and symbolic aspects of a human taking on the role of a dog, your essay opens up a goldmine of opportunities for comparison/contrast of Cú Chulainn's time as a dog within the heroic epic where it is indicative of his embodiment of honor and sacrifice with the many horror examples you brought up. I'm also reminded, in a different way, of how people substituted pets for children in P.D. James' Children of Men as another avenue open for comparison analysis as that was meant to be horrific as well.
I’ve got a note in my ideas doc for an article about actual dogs in horror so please send any ideas my way!
You’re so right about Charlotte’s Web, I remember Fern winning her dad over by comparing herself to the tiny pig and saying words to the effect of ‘I’m really small, but you wouldn’t kill me, would you?’ Such a great scene, it captures those moments when adults are reminded of the casual cruelties of the world through a child’s innocent horror at first discovering them.
Creep is excellent. I now need to see Good Boy
This is a great piece of writing. Funny as fuck.
Thanks Robin!
Yeee… creepy indeed, Rebekah! I immediately thought of The Shining dog/bear!
The first time I saw that scene is one of the most unsettling moments of any film!
Right??? shudder
I spent an entire day with King right after the movie was released. I thought Jack, a writer, was driven mad by a subject that he just couldn’t let go of until he understood, and had written about it to his satisfaction.
King said I was correct. I believed him because we were both still sober.
It’s funny how different the film and the book are. Kubrick definitely did his own thing!
Well... That was more disturbing than usual, and yet I couldn't quite say why, which is interesting in itself!
The opening line of the story in Paris Review brings to mind the opening lines of Charlotte's Web, one of the grimmest openings of any children's book I've ever seen:
"Where's Papa going with that ax?" said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.
As for the narrative and symbolic aspects of a human taking on the role of a dog, your essay opens up a goldmine of opportunities for comparison/contrast of Cú Chulainn's time as a dog within the heroic epic where it is indicative of his embodiment of honor and sacrifice with the many horror examples you brought up. I'm also reminded, in a different way, of how people substituted pets for children in P.D. James' Children of Men as another avenue open for comparison analysis as that was meant to be horrific as well.
I’ve got a note in my ideas doc for an article about actual dogs in horror so please send any ideas my way!
You’re so right about Charlotte’s Web, I remember Fern winning her dad over by comparing herself to the tiny pig and saying words to the effect of ‘I’m really small, but you wouldn’t kill me, would you?’ Such a great scene, it captures those moments when adults are reminded of the casual cruelties of the world through a child’s innocent horror at first discovering them.