#AtoZChallenge The Dead Zone

THE DEAD ZONE

This Stephen King book has been adapted into a television series and a movie. The movie was more true to the book, but I enjoyed the television series more. I like the character Bruce Lewis, who is not in the book. Part of the reason for this is that Bruce plays a moral conscience role, keeping Johnny from dealing with his villain the way he intends to in the book. I feel that the other reason Bruce's character exists is to get the audience "out" of Johnny's head, saving the audience from "stream-of-thought" narration, which is rarely done well in a television drama. (Possibly because tv comedy has used it enough that we anticipate the voice-over to be funny.) While third-person-omniscient works well in books, it doesn't always work on screen. Bruce gives Johnny someone to talk to and also makes him less of a lone wolf. He can feel more like a "good" protagonist. 

The Dead Zone is the first time in a novel Stephen King featured the fictional town of Castle Rock, though the tv show tends to refer to the characters as living in "Penobscot County in Maine," which is a real place. In the book, Johnny is about 28-years-old when he wakes up from his coma. Christopher Walken, who plays Johnny in the 1983 film, was over 40-years-old when the film debuted. Anthony Michael Hall was 34-years-old when the television show aired in June 2002. 

In the novel, the "dead zone" is the part of Johnny Smith's brain that is damaged beyond repair, causing dormant parts to awaken in order to compensate, leading to psychic abilities; when information in his visions is obstructed, Johnny says it exists in the dead zone. In the movie adaptation starring Walken, a "dead zone" is a blind spot that only appears in precognitive visions, representing that the future can be altered. In the TV series starring Hall, the "dead zone" is not his brain damage but instead the previously dormant part of Johnny's brain that awakens and activates his psychic abilities.

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Smith_(Dead_Zone)

A major flaw in the book and television show is that there isn't actually a part of the brain that is dormant or unused. 

Magnetic resonance imaging shows that most of the human brain is active most of the time. In the course of a day, you use just about every part of your brain.

- https://www.healthline.com/health/how-much-of-our-brain-do-we-use#percent-of-brain-used 

Eighty years of studies confirm that every part of the brain is active throughout the course of a day. Save those who have suffered serious brain injury, we use all of our brains, all of the time.

https://nautil.us/heres-why-your-brain-seems-mostly-dormant-3611/ 

Is that what went wrong with the television adaptation? That a "dead zone" couldn't actually be a dormant part of a brain since there's no such thing? 🧠

No. It's that, behind the scenes, there weren't enough dedicated people to fight for it, and there wasn't enough money to keep it going as it could have and should have been. 
https://www.reddit.com/r/stephenking/comments/qduo06/the_dead_zone_tv_series_why_did_it_fail_a/

Proof that even if the adaptation is from a book by Stephen "best-seller" King, budgets can still be slashed, characters added or removed, storylines shifted, and story arcs altered. 

What do you think, should there be "bookslappers" to keep adapted stories closer to their print form?

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#AtoZChallenge Stephen King's The Shining

Time to visit the Overlook Hotel. Room 237 for fans of Stanley Kubrick, room 217 for Stephen King fans. 
(Oregon's Timberline Lodge, a hotel used for exterior shots, didn't want to scare guests away from room 217. Interior shots were mostly done at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, England. The Stanley Hotel in Colorado was the inspiration for King's book.)

It's called THE SHINING, but what is that? Basically, “shining” is a combination of telepathy and clairvoyance. (Though Clairvoyance is just about visions, and Danny seems to have a few more ESP/ Clair senses. Also, he sees mostly past events, but also psychic premonitions.) 

There are two big flaws Danny has to endure with this. One, he's a child, so getting people to believe he sees, hears, feels, or knows anything is basically impossible, much less when it comes to supernatural stuff. Two, he's a child, so his powers and senses are underdeveloped. Dick Hallorann's character is absolutely crucial to the development of Danny's character. (As far a character type, Dick is a Sage.)

Here's something to ponder:
Is failing writer Jack Torrance the main character? Or is it his five-year-old son Danny Torrance?
Give that a search, and you'll find the Internet is torn! Some say Danny is the protagonist. Others argue that Jack is the protagonist and the antagonist (person-vs-self). 

Jack starts off wanting to change into a better husband, father, and writer. By the end, he's about as bad as one can be at all three.
Kubrick was most interested in Jack's battle with sanity, which puts the focus on that character. But also made him more of an antagonist from the start, who is less interested in becoming a better person. In the movie, a bad guy turns into a worse guy, which isn't much of a change or transformation.

If a protagonist is required to change or transform, Jack certainly qualifies in the book. 
It's also argued that Wendy could be the protagonist because she's weak at the beginning (and especially in the movie), but becomes strong in the end by surviving and helping her son survive. 
Evidence that Danny is the protagonist is largely based on his defeat of the antagonist, his father. There is room to argue that Danny at the opening could not stand up to Jack and would not allow him to die (by fire or frost), which Danny at the end does, showing character growth as self-preservation.

If you've only read the book, you might wonder who Jack is. John Daniel Edward "Jack" Torrance is the full name, as Jack is a nickname for John. (President Kennedy famously went by both John and Jack.) He also doesn't type page after page of "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," instead writing a story about a family staying in a haunted hotel. (Hey, that sounds familiar... 😉)  And the "“Here's Johnny!”" line was from the actor as a nod to a late-night talk show. 

A big adaptation annoyance comes when the Overlook hotel manager tells Jack and Wendy that the hotel is built on an Indian burial ground. That doesn't happen in the book.  
👧👧 What about the Grady ghosts? Afraid the book doesn't have Danny seeing twin girls. 
Thanks to CGI, there is a bloody elevator in the movie that isn't in the book. Because of CGI, there is a hedge maze instead of animated topiaries turning into monsters. 

🪓 Axe the axe! The book has a croquet mallet. 

REDRUM is in both. 🔎 Grab a mirror if you don't know what that's about.

There's an interview (http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/interview.ts.html) in which Kubrick discusses why he decided the book and movie should have different endings. 🔥🧊

Do you like the book or movie more? Prefer King or Kubrick? Would you stay in Timberline Lodge's room 217 (if the number wasn't changed to 237 in the movie)?


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#atozchallenge The Green Mile

Book-to-movie adaptations can be hit and miss. In my opinion, this is a huge hit. The casting is absolutely fantastic. The effects aren't cheesy.
Can we give a big hand to Mr. Jingles? 👏🐁
How about a big ☕🖐🏿 John Coffey-sized hand... like the drink, except not spelled the same.

It seems like a drama about death row in a Louisiana prison. (That's right, Stephen King didn't set this one in Maine.) It turns into more of a fantasy/ speculative fiction with the reveal of Coffey's gifts. The dilemma for the main character is knowing a truth, a truth that would never hold up in court, and having to do what feels like the most wrong action. 💔 

Generally, Stephen King means horror and suspense. Here it's more drama and heartbreak. The "horror" comes from the way people are ugly to each other, nothing that can't be found in newspapers. Both the book(s) and movie will make you question your stance on the death penalty. 

When I was a young man in the 1990s, this story came out as mini books every few months. They were sold in a cardboard display in the ice-cream aisle of a local grocery store. The challenge was that King would have to publish without being able to go back and edit. Given the complexity woven in this story, it's really impressive that he pulled it off.
That's why we call him a master. 🎩 Hat's off!

  
Have you seen the original books or only the completed version?

Coming on M day at the @OpAwesome6 blog#AtoZChallenge 2022
Stephen King - The Green Mile pic.twitter.com/PInmKitOt8

— J Lenni Dorner (@JLenniDorner) April 13, 2022

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