The Mist
MarkA
was pretty dumb, but it did have a little sub-plot of interest to the
denizens of AA.
The story revolves around a group of 20-30 people trapped in a grocery
store my a mysterious fog that descends on the town. Fog itself isn't
bad, but this fog has creepy, carnivorous things in it, that you can't see
coming because, well, it's foggy. As with most of the King movies I have
seen, there was about 30 minutes of plot crammed into a 2 hour movie, with
lots of people reacting very slowly to emergency situations.
Anyway, one of the women in the store is a bible thumper, who sees their
predicament as a sign from God. She starts out just being mildly
annoying, but as things deteriorate, she starts winning more and more
people over to her side, until it winds up with the hellfire-and-brimstone
evangelists outnumbering the people who can still think straight.
--
MarkA
Keeper of Things Put There Only Just The Night Before
About eight o'clock
Enkidu
Isn't Stephen King an atheist?
--
Enkidu AA#2165
EAC Chaplain and ordained minister,
ULC, Modesto, CA
"We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and
to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and
his children smart."
-- H. L. Mencken
Tim McGaughy
> On Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:24:03 -0400, MarkA wrote:
>
>> I just watched the Stephen King movie, The Mist, last night. Overall,
>> it was pretty dumb, but it did have a little sub-plot of interest to the
>> denizens of AA.
>>
>> The story revolves around a group of 20-30 people trapped in a grocery
>> store my a mysterious fog that descends on the town. Fog itself isn't
>> bad, but this fog has creepy, carnivorous things in it, that you can't
>> see coming because, well, it's foggy. As with most of the King movies I
>> have seen, there was about 30 minutes of plot crammed into a 2 hour
>> movie, with lots of people reacting very slowly to emergency situations.
>>
>> Anyway, one of the women in the store is a bible thumper, who sees their
>> predicament as a sign from God. She starts out just being mildly
>> annoying, but as things deteriorate, she starts winning more and more
>> people over to her side, until it winds up with the
>> hellfire-and-brimstone evangelists outnumbering the people who can still
>> think straight.
>
>
> Isn't Stephen King an atheist?
Does it matter? The religious freaks weren't portrayed in a very good
light at all.
Never been a big fan of King, though. And the movie was rather
cartoonish, and featured quite possibly the worst ending I've ever seen.
Tim McGaughy
> MarkA wrote:
>
>> I just watched the Stephen King movie, The Mist, last night. Overall, it
>> was pretty dumb, but it did have a little sub-plot of interest to the
>> denizens of AA.
>>
>> The story revolves around a group of 20-30 people trapped in a grocery
>> store my a mysterious fog that descends on the town. Fog itself isn't
>> bad, but this fog has creepy, carnivorous things in it, that you can't see
>> coming because, well, it's foggy. As with most of the King movies I have
>> seen, there was about 30 minutes of plot crammed into a 2 hour movie, with
>> lots of people reacting very slowly to emergency situations.
>
> series like the Twilight Zone would be good for those.
>> Anyway, one of the women in the store is a bible thumper, who sees their
>> predicament as a sign from God. She starts out just being mildly
>> annoying, but as things deteriorate, she starts winning more and more
>> people over to her side, until it winds up with the hellfire-and-brimstone
>> evangelists outnumbering the people who can still think straight.
>
No, that was the heroes. The zealots all just stayed put.
MarkA
The heroes correctly decided that it was better to take their chances with
the foggy beasties than to stay cooped up with a bunch of bible-thumpers.
--
MarkA
Keeper of the Butter Dish of Balshazar
MarkA
> On Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:24:03 -0400, MarkA wrote:
>
>> I just watched the Stephen King movie, The Mist, last night. Overall,
>> it was pretty dumb, but it did have a little sub-plot of interest to the
>> denizens of AA.
>>
>> The story revolves around a group of 20-30 people trapped in a grocery
>> store my a mysterious fog that descends on the town. Fog itself isn't
>> bad, but this fog has creepy, carnivorous things in it, that you can't
>> see coming because, well, it's foggy. As with most of the King movies I
>> have seen, there was about 30 minutes of plot crammed into a 2 hour
>> movie, with lots of people reacting very slowly to emergency situations.
>>
>> Anyway, one of the women in the store is a bible thumper, who sees their
>> predicament as a sign from God. She starts out just being mildly
>> annoying, but as things deteriorate, she starts winning more and more
>> people over to her side, until it winds up with the
>> hellfire-and-brimstone evangelists outnumbering the people who can still
>> think straight.
>
>
> Isn't Stephen King an atheist?
This movie certainly didn't portray religion in a very good light. There
was one little old lady though, who could think straight. She clobbered
the thumper with a soup can, then quoted a scripture about it being OK
to stone people who piss you off.
Tim McGaughy
Yep, it would seem so.
In the movie, someone goes for the cars, but more out of panic and the
need to get help. They're tied to a rope, and the rope doesn't save them.
Later, the religious freaks force the others to leave for their own safety.
Olrik
> On Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:24:03 -0400, MarkA wrote:
>
>> I just watched the Stephen King movie, The Mist, last night. Overall,
>> it was pretty dumb, but it did have a little sub-plot of interest to the
>> denizens of AA.
>>
>> The story revolves around a group of 20-30 people trapped in a grocery
>> store my a mysterious fog that descends on the town. Fog itself isn't
>> bad, but this fog has creepy, carnivorous things in it, that you can't
>> see coming because, well, it's foggy. As with most of the King movies I
>> have seen, there was about 30 minutes of plot crammed into a 2 hour
>> movie, with lots of people reacting very slowly to emergency situations.
>>
>> Anyway, one of the women in the store is a bible thumper, who sees their
>> predicament as a sign from God. She starts out just being mildly
>> annoying, but as things deteriorate, she starts winning more and more
>> people over to her side, until it winds up with the
>> hellfire-and-brimstone evangelists outnumbering the people who can still
>> think straight.
>
>
> Isn't Stephen King an atheist?
Yes, and you should see what happens to the bible thumper! When I saw
the movie, everyone loudly cheered!
Olrik
Olrik
I liked the movie a lot, but like you I felt the ending was a bit cheap.
But one point for the guts to do it, though.
Olrik
Brian E. Clark
to...@nowhere.com says...
[...]
> Anyway, one of the women in the store is a bible thumper, who sees their
> predicament as a sign from God. She starts out just being mildly
> annoying, but as things deteriorate, she starts winning more and more
> people over to her side, until it winds up with the hellfire-and-brimstone
> evangelists outnumbering the people who can still think straight.
I haven't seen the movie, but I did read the story. In the
book, the religious woman begins to make some rather harsh
suggestions regarding the means needed to propitiate an
angry god.
--
-----------
Brian E. Clark
SkyEyes
Stephen King is famous for having proclaimed that not only does he
believe in a god, he believes in a *personal* god. All of his stuff
reflects that prejudice.
Brenda Nelson, A.A.#34
BAAWA Knight
EAC Professor of Feline Thermometrics and Cat-Herding
skyeyes nine at cox dot net
Syd
> MarkA wrote:
> > I just watched the Stephen King movie, The Mist, last night. Overall, it
> > was pretty dumb, but it did have a little sub-plot of interest to the
> > denizens of AA.
>
> > The story revolves around a group of 20-30 people trapped in a grocery
> > store my a mysterious fog that descends on the town. Fog itself isn't
> > bad, but this fog has creepy, carnivorous things in it, that you can't see
> > coming because, well, it's foggy. As with most of the King movies I have
> > seen, there was about 30 minutes of plot crammed into a 2 hour movie, with
> > lots of people reacting very slowly to emergency situations.
>
> series like the Twilight Zone would be good for those.
>
> > predicament as a sign from God. She starts out just being mildly
> > annoying, but as things deteriorate, she starts winning more and more
> > people over to her side, until it winds up with the hellfire-and-brimstone
> > evangelists outnumbering the people who can still think straight.
>
>
No, that was a neighbor of the main chara.
The church lady gets shot by the main chara because she was
threatening his kid and new girl.
In the story, anyway. Not seen the film.
PDW
Syd
> idiot insisted there was nothing to worry about so she and her lot were
> going to go to their cars. The smarter folks got them to tie themselves
> together with a long rope so they could be pulled back or shown to have
> left safely. In a few seconds the rope started whipping around and they
> dragged a bloody, ragged end back into the store.
>
>
No, that happened in the story. The first group was led by a neighbor
of the hero, who didn't buy what was going on. They went out, and the
rope went slack.
Didn't realize they changed the gender of the neighbor in the film,
though.
PDW
Olrik
Well, it looks like King is not an atheist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_atheists_(authors)
Oh well...
Maybe he does not like fundies, though...
O.
> Olrik
>
John Baker
wrote:
Actually, the BBB (Bible Banging Bitch) is shot by the supermarket
manager in both the story and the movie.
Frank Darabont is about the only director I've ever seen do a decent
film adaptation of a King story, and this one is no exception for the
most part. It follows the original story pretty closely - until the
utterly abominable last five minutes. The story left the fate of the
protagonists up to the imagination of the reader, and that's the way
the film should have ended. A lot of King fans, myself included,
didn't care for Darabont's "twist" ending.
>
>PDW
John Baker
You're far from alone in that. Darabont should have stuck with King's
ending.
>But one point for the guts to do it, though.
I hear King liked Darabont's ending better than his own - but most
fans of the original story didn't.
>
>Olrik
MarkA
They really should have taken her out much sooner than they did. Invite
her to show her divinity by taking a "walk thru the shadow of death" or
something like that.
Pink Freud
"SkyEyes" <skye...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:e77d2a21-dee5-4ada...@x1g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
cross-posted to absk
Ok, I need to admit I'm a Stephen King fanboy. I'm also a strong atheist, so
I get easily annoyed when religion butts its ugly head into my stories (or
at least where it is obvious that a key intention is to convert).
Thing is, I don't think King is guilty of this at all. In fact, some of the
most disturbing, flawed and 'evil' characters in his books are the religious
folk. This is a recurring theme in a lot of his novels: eg Mrs Carmody in
The Mist, Carrie's religiously fanatical mother in 'Carrie', Johnny's
mother in The Dead Zone, the Warden in Rita Hayworth and Shawshank
Redemption, Father Callahan in Salem's Lot fails to face down the monster
when challenged, heck in Cycle of the werewolf the vicar turns out to be the
werewolf. In fact, the only overtly religious character I can think of in a
King book that gets a decent write-up is Mother Abigail in The Stand. All
the others get total character assassinations as far as I remember.
King has religious leanings:
http://www.salon.com/books/int/2008/10/23/stephen_king/index2.html
But apart from Salem's Lot and The Stand (vampire story and apocalypse
story, so I consider him excused!), there isn't that much obvious religion
in his work. If anything, his characters in particular suggest a deep
mistrust of organised religion. Take 'The Mist' as a case in point. Mrs
Carmody and her followers were for my money far more chilling than the
horrors in the fog.
Sorry for the brain-dump. Just my two cents. And as I say, I am a big SK
fan, so definitely prejudiced myself.
Syd
> On Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:57:42 -0700 (PDT), Syd <pdwrigh...@yahoo.com>
Ah, ok. Like I said, I read the story, but not seen the film.
> Frank Darabont is about the only director I've ever seen do a decent
> film adaptation of a King story, and this one is no exception for the
> most part. It follows the original story pretty closely - until the
> utterly abominable last five minutes. The story left the fate of the
> protagonists up to the imagination of the reader, and that's the way
> the film should have ended. A lot of King fans, myself included,
> didn't care for Darabont's "twist" ending.
>
Hmmm... That's interesting.
I read that story years ago, and in the introduction to the volume he
criticizes the ending for it's ambiguousness. Well, criticizes prolly
isn't the best description- He didn't totally like it, but then, you
know 'Hollywood'... They just have to screw over 'something' in the
adaption process...
PDW
ald
wrote:
>But apart from Salem's Lot and The Stand (vampire story and apocalypse
>story, so I consider him excused!), there isn't that much obvious religion
>in his work. If anything, his characters in particular suggest a deep
>mistrust of organised religion. Take 'The Mist' as a case in point. Mrs
>Carmody and her followers were for my money far more chilling than the
>horrors in the fog.
>
>Sorry for the brain-dump. Just my two cents. And as I say, I am a big SK
>fan, so definitely prejudiced myself.
Well, yeah, *except* for "Desperation", one of King's better stories
in the last few years IMNSHO. In that one, God, if not organized
religion, plays a big part.
--
ald
reply via email to ald_007_1999 at yahoo dot com
RVG
There's also the two clerics fighting each other in Needful Things.
> Sorry for the brain-dump. Just my two cents. And as I say, I am a big SK
> fan, so definitely prejudiced myself.
--
Jazz up your life!
Jazzez-vous la vie!
http://rvgmusic.bandcamp.com/
http://rvgjazznstuff.jamendo.net/
"La premi�re arme de la R�sistance c'est l'information." Lucie Aubrac
Trevor Holyoak
Desperation had some good religion in it.
- Trevor
Tigers692
> "SkyEyes" <skyey...@cox.net> wrote in message
>
> - Show quoted text
I don't think religion is and of it's self negative, and I take a more
Ben Franklin view on it, just to be understanding of all religions.
They base themselves in good ideas. But some horrible things have been
done in the name of religion, and people seem to cloak themselves in
good intentions to ignore these things.
I don't think King is trying to Damn all religions, but instead he
takes a realistic look and aproach to it in his stories. I mean what
is worse a single person saying that you are sinning against god and
they think they should damn you.....or a whole group of your family
and friends burning you at the Charyou tree? You start to understand
with Kings books that the scary part isn't the monster or the
supernatural entity....it's humanity and how much of a razors edge we
all are to falling into this kind of behavior.
On the flip side, I like the use of the turtle in many of his stories.
As a Cherokee, my greatgrandfather beleived that the world was on the
back of a turtle! You may think this silly, but is it much sillier
then beleiving someone was stuck for a long period of time in a whale?
I feel that all religion has a basic teaching of being good to each
other, but most folk miss that point. King's stories kind of hit that
home at times. Even if they are technically sinning, some of the best
charicters only show goodness and survie at the end of the story.
Misanthropic Curmudgeon
[snip]
> I don't think religion is and of it's self negative, and I take a more
> Ben Franklin view on it, just to be understanding of all religions.
> They base themselves in good ideas.
What is good about:
- supersticion?
- willful ignorance of fact?
- promotion of doctorine above all else?
Note that the above are not 'done in the name of religion' but are
core essential values.
SkyEyes
Hallelujah, brother, I'm a King fan, too.
King is defiitely anti-organized religion. But that doesn't keep him
from believing in a personal god.
Brenda