mae
10-08-2012, 04:51 PM
http://www.examiner.com/article/how-about-all-that-stephen-king-imagery-on-revolution
Now, for the couple of generations that have grown up with Stephen King movies and the Stephen King catalog of books (not to mention his Book Club), the iconic speculative fantasy and horror writer is a living legend. And in name-dropping-crazed Hollywood, it is nothing to see a character or place fictitiously named after famous people or even people that writers and directors knew or grew up with (think: "Punky Brewster," a sitcom whose title character was named after late NBC president Branden Tartikoff's childhood friend). But J. J. Abrams and company have taken the King's road to names being dropped in the new post-power-outage-apocalyptic "Revolution."
To be more specific, the writers are name-dropping The Stand, King's lengthy 1978 novel (re-released in its even lengthier unabridged form in 1990) about a post-apocalyptic world rendered so by a man-made biological plague. For those unfamiliar with the novel, it is perhaps the best of King's books, with the debatable exceptions of The Dead Zone and Misery. It was made into a mini-series for ABC and released in 1994 and plans for a movie adaptation directed by Ben Affleck have been in the works for some time.
But about "Revolution," the J. J. Abrams series currently on NBC. Where's the name-dropping and imagery. First of all, we're in familiar King-ian territory -- a ravaged landscape where people are trying to survive after something catastrophic has occurred. In "Revolution," the power simply went out. King -- and Abrams as well, as "Alcatraz," "Lost," and "Fringe" all attest -- are masters of framing a story around an event and leaving the "why" of it lurking just out of everyone's reach -- observer, viewer, narrator, actor/player. Nobody knows why the power went out; it just did. But, as always, there is hope. Some were working on a different kind of power source when everything literally went to hell.
One of the people with knowledge of the new power source is Grace. In the second installment of the series, Grace, who lives alone out in the middle of Illinois, fearfully contacts someone on her computer as a monstrously large individual bursts into her house and makes his way upstairs. She typed that his name was "Randall."
For a Stephen King fan, it was an obvious reference to Randall Flagg, the "Walking Dude," from The Stand. Why obvious. In the novel, Randall was this shadowy dark type whose evil could be felt to precede him. On "Revolution," the director intentionally only showed Randall's slow and steady tread as he stalked Grace to her upstairs computer set-up. In short, they showed Randall walking... Enter: Randall, the evil walking dude.
Also in the second installment, as the headstrong and idealistic heroine Charlie (actress Tracy Spiridakos -- who wants to call her Katniss Everdeen with that bow? Everyone? But that's another dystopic future...) and her uncle, the professional-military-man-who-saw-the-error-of-his-ways Miles (actor Billy Burke), encounter some shady characters in their search for a possible ally to rescue Charlie's brother (captured by the draconian Monroe Militia and being transported for interrogation). Miles, when asked who they were, gave the informant aliases. He said his name was "Stu Redman" and the girl (Charlie) was named "Frannie."
Stu Redman was the lead protagonist in The Stand. Frannie (Goldsmith) was a co-protagonist. They became part of a small band of apocalypse survivors that travel together on their wandering quest to find Mother Abagail in order to resurrect a working democratic society, which ultimately culminates in a battle between good and evil when they eventually square off with Randall Flagg.
"Revolution" isn't The Stand (there is no overriding paranormal or metaphysical element guiding "Revolution"), but it does have its likenesses. And the writers definitely have a liking for Stephen King's post-apocalyptic work. There are probably more allusions to The Stand -- and perhaps other King works -- that a more attentive observer might have discovered, but the allusions are there, little nods of homage to the creative genius that built compelling story-worlds that thrilled and inspired millions (and continues to do so).
And who better to give a nod to in a post-apocalyptic piece of fiction than the genre's iconic King...
"Revolution" airs on NBC Television on Monday nights at 10:00 p.m.
Now, for the couple of generations that have grown up with Stephen King movies and the Stephen King catalog of books (not to mention his Book Club), the iconic speculative fantasy and horror writer is a living legend. And in name-dropping-crazed Hollywood, it is nothing to see a character or place fictitiously named after famous people or even people that writers and directors knew or grew up with (think: "Punky Brewster," a sitcom whose title character was named after late NBC president Branden Tartikoff's childhood friend). But J. J. Abrams and company have taken the King's road to names being dropped in the new post-power-outage-apocalyptic "Revolution."
To be more specific, the writers are name-dropping The Stand, King's lengthy 1978 novel (re-released in its even lengthier unabridged form in 1990) about a post-apocalyptic world rendered so by a man-made biological plague. For those unfamiliar with the novel, it is perhaps the best of King's books, with the debatable exceptions of The Dead Zone and Misery. It was made into a mini-series for ABC and released in 1994 and plans for a movie adaptation directed by Ben Affleck have been in the works for some time.
But about "Revolution," the J. J. Abrams series currently on NBC. Where's the name-dropping and imagery. First of all, we're in familiar King-ian territory -- a ravaged landscape where people are trying to survive after something catastrophic has occurred. In "Revolution," the power simply went out. King -- and Abrams as well, as "Alcatraz," "Lost," and "Fringe" all attest -- are masters of framing a story around an event and leaving the "why" of it lurking just out of everyone's reach -- observer, viewer, narrator, actor/player. Nobody knows why the power went out; it just did. But, as always, there is hope. Some were working on a different kind of power source when everything literally went to hell.
One of the people with knowledge of the new power source is Grace. In the second installment of the series, Grace, who lives alone out in the middle of Illinois, fearfully contacts someone on her computer as a monstrously large individual bursts into her house and makes his way upstairs. She typed that his name was "Randall."
For a Stephen King fan, it was an obvious reference to Randall Flagg, the "Walking Dude," from The Stand. Why obvious. In the novel, Randall was this shadowy dark type whose evil could be felt to precede him. On "Revolution," the director intentionally only showed Randall's slow and steady tread as he stalked Grace to her upstairs computer set-up. In short, they showed Randall walking... Enter: Randall, the evil walking dude.
Also in the second installment, as the headstrong and idealistic heroine Charlie (actress Tracy Spiridakos -- who wants to call her Katniss Everdeen with that bow? Everyone? But that's another dystopic future...) and her uncle, the professional-military-man-who-saw-the-error-of-his-ways Miles (actor Billy Burke), encounter some shady characters in their search for a possible ally to rescue Charlie's brother (captured by the draconian Monroe Militia and being transported for interrogation). Miles, when asked who they were, gave the informant aliases. He said his name was "Stu Redman" and the girl (Charlie) was named "Frannie."
Stu Redman was the lead protagonist in The Stand. Frannie (Goldsmith) was a co-protagonist. They became part of a small band of apocalypse survivors that travel together on their wandering quest to find Mother Abagail in order to resurrect a working democratic society, which ultimately culminates in a battle between good and evil when they eventually square off with Randall Flagg.
"Revolution" isn't The Stand (there is no overriding paranormal or metaphysical element guiding "Revolution"), but it does have its likenesses. And the writers definitely have a liking for Stephen King's post-apocalyptic work. There are probably more allusions to The Stand -- and perhaps other King works -- that a more attentive observer might have discovered, but the allusions are there, little nods of homage to the creative genius that built compelling story-worlds that thrilled and inspired millions (and continues to do so).
And who better to give a nod to in a post-apocalyptic piece of fiction than the genre's iconic King...
"Revolution" airs on NBC Television on Monday nights at 10:00 p.m.