The last time I watched this movie happened to coincide with having recently watched my way through all of John Carpenter's movies, and so I noticed something that I'd never noticed before.
In that surreal dream/nightmare sequence, when the Elvis song "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" is playing, I remembered something I'd learned from Carpenter's film "Elvis": that Elvis had a twin brother, Jesse, who died during birth. So not only is the song haunting in terms of the way it's used in "The Dark Half" just on the face of things, it's also got that creepily awesome connection to Elvis's own deceased twin issue. Elvis biographers seem to agree that Elvis was haunted by Jesse's death, and that he tried to atone for it by living twice as much.
Pretty cool!
Unlike you, "The Dark Half" was always one of my least-favorite King books. It just didn't make any sense to me. However, when I reread it, years and years later, it really resonated with me. That's actually happened with several King novels ("Cujo," "The Tommyknockers," and "Roadwork" being other examples, as well as "Gerald's Game"). I just wasn't old enough to appreciate them at the time, I guess.
That is a very nice detail! I love when movie choices have layers like that.
I experienced a change of heart myself with Pet Sematary, so I totally understand. It also makes me wonder if some of the novels I've been putting off because I don't remember liking them that much will change my mind as well. King writes so much from his own life experiences that it stands to reason that teenagers won't fully be able to understand all of it.
I've had the opposite thing happen, too, though: when I first read them in the '90s, I loved both "The Talisman" and "The Eyes of the Dragon," but when I reread them a few years ago, found them boring and kind of sloppy. We all change over time, I guess, so it makes sense that our perceptions of things change too. That's one reason I love revisiting books and movies on a semi-regular basis! I'm constantly finding my perspectives shift.
The last time I watched this movie happened to coincide with having recently watched my way through all of John Carpenter's movies, and so I noticed something that I'd never noticed before.
ReplyDeleteIn that surreal dream/nightmare sequence, when the Elvis song "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" is playing, I remembered something I'd learned from Carpenter's film "Elvis": that Elvis had a twin brother, Jesse, who died during birth. So not only is the song haunting in terms of the way it's used in "The Dark Half" just on the face of things, it's also got that creepily awesome connection to Elvis's own deceased twin issue. Elvis biographers seem to agree that Elvis was haunted by Jesse's death, and that he tried to atone for it by living twice as much.
Pretty cool!
Unlike you, "The Dark Half" was always one of my least-favorite King books. It just didn't make any sense to me. However, when I reread it, years and years later, it really resonated with me. That's actually happened with several King novels ("Cujo," "The Tommyknockers," and "Roadwork" being other examples, as well as "Gerald's Game"). I just wasn't old enough to appreciate them at the time, I guess.
That is a very nice detail! I love when movie choices have layers like that.
DeleteI experienced a change of heart myself with Pet Sematary, so I totally understand. It also makes me wonder if some of the novels I've been putting off because I don't remember liking them that much will change my mind as well. King writes so much from his own life experiences that it stands to reason that teenagers won't fully be able to understand all of it.
I wouldn't be surprised.
DeleteI've had the opposite thing happen, too, though: when I first read them in the '90s, I loved both "The Talisman" and "The Eyes of the Dragon," but when I reread them a few years ago, found them boring and kind of sloppy. We all change over time, I guess, so it makes sense that our perceptions of things change too. That's one reason I love revisiting books and movies on a semi-regular basis! I'm constantly finding my perspectives shift.