Maria Daniella B.

Santos 153847
POS 100 - K December 11, 2018

The Ateneo Blue Repertory’s stage play adaptation of the novel Carrie was able to
more or less feature the original plotline envisioned by Stephen King. It followed the
same story of Carrie, an outcast living with her religiously fanatic mother in the town of
Chamberlain who, through a turn of events, discovered that she possessed telekinetic
powers which eventually led to her downfall. Despite staying true to the original plotline,
this adaptation by its very nature, focuses more on the dramatization of the plot. In using
the format of stage play, the importance of using different perspectives in reading literary
texts is greatly emphasized. Moreover, this adaptation was able to bring forth the events
that occured in the story into a new light. It enabled for the audience to see the events
unfold through Sue Snell’s eyes and to experience the same story through her
perspective. Thus, in employing this element of perspective, there is an evident shift in
the overall focus of the stage play.
In lieu of simply providing an exposition of who Carrie is and what happened in
her life, as what can be seen in both the novel and film adaptation, the format of the
stage play allows for such to focus on an overarching message and/or theme of
marginalization. Moreover, this story being one of Stephen King’s horror creations
bring elements of “other-ing” to the table. Instead of solely focusing on the horror aspect
of the plot, through the musical, the cast was able to provide a more personal reflection.
Furthermore, by generally focusing the theme of marginalization and discrimination
against Carrie White through the exposition of the story, this play was able to feature a
moral reflection on the part of the characters of the importance of how kindness can go a
long a way, and the lack thereof could prove to be detrimental eventually. Cliche as it may
be, the cast tackles the matter of isolation in the form of bullying. In doing so, the
production is able to zoom into this particular phenomenon that most people look over
or simply let happen. The use of an interrogation format to feature Sue’s feelings of
torment and victimization played a role in the dynamics of the play. As such, this further
enabled for the reinterpretation of an otherwise classic story plotline.
Provided that this play may not be explicitly political in its context, the presence
of marginalization is highly emphasized even in this micro-level set up of a school.
Looking deeper into it, these dynamics are also prevalent in larger, real-life cases of
marginalization. The torment that Carrie experienced for being the outcast or the outlier
of the group could be said to be parallel to that of the torment and ridicule experienced
by certain groups in society. An example of such is how there still exists a prejudice
against members of the LGBTQ+ community in some countries which leads to swarms
of discrimination that may come in the form of verbal attacks such as derogatory callouts
and of physical attacks such as fistfights. Another example would be that of societal
views on women. Admittedly, compared to other groups, there has been much progress
over the years for women all over the world. Despite this, concepts such toxic
masculinity and the white-man mentality still continue to exist. Similar to the experience
of Carrie, society in general exhibits a certain prejudice towards those who are deemed
different from the norm. Those who are vocal about their ideas, which could be said to
be in contrary to the notions of society, are doomed to be subject to ridicule of society.
More than that, there is evidently a certain carrying over of such manner of thinking and
acting. When introduced to such attitudes at a young age, individuals have the tendency
to exude and project attitudes that reflect those which were pushed upon by familial and
educational institutions. Therefore, it is inferred that if there is no further development of
the individual, may it be in the means of formal schooling and personal experiences, they
are stuck to a limited perspective on various issues and topics of discussion.
In line with such, the themes of body politics and gender inequality were also
highlighted in the stage play adaptation. As depicted in various scenes, Chris Hargensen,
Carrie’s longtime tormentor, as well as Sue Snell, have conversations with their respective
significant others. In such scenes, both girls are asking for the help of Billy Nolan and
Tommy Ross respectively to achieve their plans. For Sue’s case, it was on the topic of
Tommy asking Carrie to go to the dance instead of her. This was brought about by her
feelings of guilt towards the ordeal of what events occured when Carrie had her first
menstrual period. On the other hand, for Chris’s case, this was her opportunity to plot
out her revenge on Carrie having been reprimanded for her actions, specifically by not
being able to attend their prom. Despite the difference of intentions that these girls had,
what remains the same between both situations is the means they had to go through to
convince their respective partners to agree to help them. Although it was merely implied
in both the stage play and the movie, these girls utilized their assets to
Bearing in mind these circumstances and situations that people have to bear
through, some ways in which these may be addressed are categorized by existing
institutions. In a micro level, with regards to what individuals could do to alleviate these
would be to make a conscious effort into understanding different societal groups, not
only identified through their gender but also through culture and identity. Going further,
it would also prove to be beneficial if these ideals, viewpoints, and realities were brought
up in familial discussions. Being the basic unit of society, it is evident that the family can
greatly affect the ideals and convictions that are imbibed by the individual. Considering
that culturally speaking, it is imbedded in the Filipino culture that there is a great value
towards the family, thus it is the responsibility of the members of the family to be able
to . Possible points for discussion could be news headlines or even technological
breakthroughs. In a macro level, government institutions and non-government
organizations alike have the responsibility to put ensure that the welfare of such groups is
also protected. It is one thing to possess human rights, but it is a different topic
altogether when considering that there are little to no provisions in the Constitution
which protect and uphold such.

I. Story plotline
A. The stage play is adapted from a Stephen King novel (later adapted into
films) portraying 20th century rural American society.--especially the context
of American adolescents.
B. Is there a visible difference from the original source material, and/or were
there explicit attempts to adapt it to a Philippine setting?
C. What might be similar/different in the language, content and narrative flow of
the production in the process?
II. Body politics and Gender Inequality
A. What, in your opinion is needed for women and children (or, for that
matter, other sections of society vulnerable to abuse) to advance/be more
equal in their position in society?
 B. Take into account what women and children had to do within the narrative
to be taken seriously/eventually get to do what they think needs to be
done.
III. Macro-level, looking deeper
A. What insight might the play/story give you about the reality of bullying and
marginalization, how does it happen, and how might it be prevented from
occurring?
B. How do you see yourself potentially being vulnerable to such--and how do
you see it possibly being addressed (above and beyond current anti-bullying
campaigns)?
C. How do we respond, in turn, to alternative perspectives suggesting that
bullying is a "normal" aspect of growth and social dynamics that we simply
need to "survive"