Halloween is just around the corner which means horror movie marathons are in full effect. One of my favorite horror movies to watch around this time is Carrie! While I think it’s a film full of iconic moments and brilliant commentary, it is not beyond criticism. The most notable of critiques is their depictions of high school bullies.

The movie follows a high school outcast named Carrie who struggles with childhood trauma due to her home life. She lives with her deeply religious mother who has sheltered her from any knowledge of puberty and “the outside world.” Carrie’s inexperience with such topics leads to her causing a big scene one day, where she is screaming and begging for help when she gets her first period in school unexpectedly. Instead of someone offering her help, everyone proceeds to berate her and consistently bully her from there on out. The girls who harassed her were put in detention for almost the rest of the year as punishment. Her cartoonishly evil bullies devise a plan to humiliate her in front of the whole school as an act of revenge by voting her prom queen, and once on stage, will pour pigs blood all over her. The blood incident turned out to be the final straw and it releases a pent up rage in Carrie and in turn, her telekinetic powers, unleashing her powers on everyone in the school.

While bullying in school is an extremely real and serious situation, the probability of someone hijacking a school prom with absolutely no obstacles, and managing to pour an entire bucket of blood on a girl, who is known to have had a troubled life, is low to zero. There are other instances of unrealistic bullying in Hollywood films such as the classic “gimme your lunch money,” or shoving the unpopular kid in a locker, also almost never happens in real life.

But why have representations of teens and high school always been so unrealistic and out of touch?

It’s no secret that Hollywood movie executives consist of old men who don’t remember anything before the age of 40. They have the final say on what goes into a story and influence how each storyline will come across. Therefore it’s obvious that high school archetypes will come across as un-thought out. In real life, while aspects of Hollywood’s movies do exist, such as social hierarchies, cliques, and bullying, there are significant differences that make them almost incomparable. For instance, stories of bullying often do not follow a proper story arch, and cliques can be less exclusive and defined. Carrie clearly followed the classic, “outcast gets their revenge on the popular bullies.”

While Hollywood loves to paint bullies as the overpowering figures in a “victims” life, in reality, good always wins.

Photo Sourced on IMDB : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074285/?ref_=tt_mv_close