Character Spotlight: Christine, Part Two

Hopefully thrill power doesn't equal road rage. 

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4. INSPIRATION

Other than Stephen King and John Carpenter, I would say this video is another well of inspiration for how I write Christine. Not so much with her personality (although they do mention that the Plymouth Fury featured in the video can have a bit of an attitude towards people and even play tricks on them), but rather as a means of understanding her build as well as the history of the model. Prior to seeing the video, I didn't know a lot about the Plymouth Fury, or about 1950s trademark car features as a whole. But learning that Plymouth Furies and many midcentury cars were built with skinny steering wheels and large amounts of chrome can go a long way in capturing her unique design and how cars were manufactured back then. 

For fan writers, I confess that even though there are Christine fanfics out there, there really aren't any I can call integral to my depiction. As mentioned before, the grand amount of Christine-themed stories out there is really small. On Fanfiction.Net alone, there are only thirty-two submissions. Come to think of it, a good chunk of King's works in the fanfiction realm have small numbers. That's kind of surprising, given the amount of known film and television adaptations of his books. I'm not counting The Dark Tower series or It, by the way, as those are immensely popular with the public imagination.

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5. FUTURE PLANS

She won't stay crushed into a cube for long. She's got appearances to make in these stories I have planned for her.
For instance, she'll be popping up as an antagonist in my super crossover fanfiction (gosh I need to talk about it one of these days so I can say the name easily lol) against various protagonists. She'll also be involved in a situation that will cause her to take on a different approach to things after she gets caught in the crossfire. Dennis and Leigh might appear too...

I also have planned a Christine crossover with Speed Racer. Speed's whole thing is cars, she's a car, and the anime was set in the '60s, so she'll fit right in.  

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6. HEADCANONS

*I have a theory on why Stephen King chose the name Christine. Her name is often associated with the meaning ‘Follower of Christ’, and this Christine is almost the complete opposite of Christ. I think when people hear His name, the first thing that might come to mind might be a gentle and peaceful person (who can get angry at the right moment but is otherwise calm). Or if they're not fans of Him, they might think of something else, but I'm going with a broad psychological observation here. Meanwhile, Christine - gentle and peaceful? Ha!

*She's a fan of 1950s' romance movies. She probably would have a soft spot for those films. Even if she might have a twisted view on romance. 

*She doesn't like animals. Would she go attack them? If they got in her way or messed up her interiors, maybe, but otherwise I think she would just scare them off or keep away.  


*Christine can black out her windows at random. She can create and use an effect that makes it appear like a black windshield sun shade is covering up all the windows. I'll also note that she seems to only do this at night. In doing so, she gains a huge advantage over her unsuspecting victims because they wouldn't be able to see through the windows when it's dark out as is.   

*Her green headlights can be used to express her anger, evoke spookiness and signify that she's about to do something evil, but there's a crafty usage to them too. Suppose if you were in the dark, and you see green lights ahead of you. Would you assume that they were traffic lights? It's possible. She could then use these headlights - and the darkness around her once more - to spring the element of surprise on her foes. How did she get those scary eyes in the first place? I think it came as a custom order somewhere in time after she was built. I read up on the history of headlights, and the invention of LED as we call them were invented in the 1960s. It wouldn't be out of LeBay's character to want to fix up her looks as the decade passed and he grew more obsessed with Christine. In fact it might have strengthened Christine's hold on him.

*She loves to cruise and go to drive-in theaters as hobbies. 

*1950s B-movies would amuse her.  

*If there was a car show, I guarantee that she would absolutely love to enter it and do what it takes to win.

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7. PERSONAL

*Christine was kind of responsible for my renewed interest into 1950s history and culture. I was interested at the time when the first Cars film came out, and I often held a fascination for it through most of my life, but Christine reignited my interest with a brighter fire because of the music for the film. I fell in love with the music and now I'm aiming to catch the best of the 1950s. Was it a perfect era? Oh  certainly not. But taking the best of it while also acknowledging the worst and learning from them is a good way to improve our lives and be better than what was seen in the past. I think Arnie kind of learned that, as he did clean up his appearance and grew in confidence, but he got so lost in his attachment to Christine he pretty much isolated himself from people around him. Anyhow, I owe the film that much and I'm grateful for that. 

*Songs for her? Well, as she has a movie soundtrack, it's not hard to choose what songs would fit her lol. Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood and the Destroyers, Itty Bitty Pretty One by Thurston Harris (I think of her using this song when she finds the hunted and prepares to tear down the tracks after them), Rock 'N Roll is Here to Stay by Danny and the Juniors (a personal favorite song of mine), and the main score which was composed by John Carpenter, no less!  

Enjoy this post about the infamous and fiery Fury!

Wanderer out!

Through Smoke and Bitter Distance, Prologue, Special Features

  Prologue

References:

*The opening excerpt comes from Emily Pauline Johnson's poem, "Through Time and Bitter Distance". I wanted a title (albeit changed slightly to reflect the story's core) and quote that would express the story's mood, and this quote did that: it captured confusion and losing one's way, the need of a reconnection to humanity, and the distance that one can experience in many forms. It also signified how far Dave would need to go to get out of the fire that would built up at the crash site and make his way out despite the dangerous distance that came with it. I didn't want to go with a standard Henry Stickmin title for this reason. 

General:

*This short story was the first plot in my "Sticks, Stones, Possibilities and Bones" series - a fanfiction collection dedicated to exploring the 'what-ifs' and alternate scenarios of The Henry Stickmin Collection. In the instance of TSABD, the goal was to write a story about Dave's survival and his escape from the Toppats. Dave is a character I like and it didn't sit right with me to have his character expire in Revenged, so I made him one of the leading actors to give him a happy (well, as happy as a former prisoner of a criminal organization can get) ending.   

*While writing this prologue, I wanted to make this an opportunity to push my writing skills. I was new to the HS fandom at the time of this story's conception, and I wasn't always liking what fan content was pumped out there. And before anyone assumes I'm talking about their fan stories, I'm not; I'm just speaking in general. But also, as this was the start of the SSPAB series, I knew that this was a story that needed more of a serious and poignant air, so I turned to one of my writing/media influences: 1959's The Twilight Zone series. The writing was so sharp and excellent across many episodes and I wanted to evolve my style based on that. The Twilight Zone's writing was quite eloquent and could beautifully paint pictures that could take readers to another place and time. Hence the descriptions of the airship and main description of the story. 

*I also wanted to evoke a sense of lyrical poetry to the writing, to make it feel more dramatic and powerful in emotion and stakes. Hence the callback to the aforementioned poem. Writing things in poetical form gives me life and honestly, I feel it makes the world I'm writing for a little more magical and alive. 

Random Facts:

*None.

Wanderer out!

Character Spotlight: Christine, Part One

 

Autumn red, take warning!

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1.HISTORY

I have a confession: besides his magazine articles, I never once read anything by Stephen King. Reason? I just haven't had the chance to read anything he wrote. Christine is the first work of his I read, but it wasn’t the book that got me interested in the story. I saw the John Carpenter film adaptation some years ago. I’m not recalling how that came about... I believe I was channel surfing and the movie came on the screen. I watched the film’s final act, and while I did enjoy parts of that act, I didn't think much of the film besides that. 

And then I became convinced she was following me around. What I mean by that is in some locations where I traveled, as I was attending school at that time, I would see reminders of her, like toy cars or real cars resembling her build, that at the time, kind of freaked me out. It was as though once I saw the film, she would not leave me alone. 

I look back now and I laugh at how silly I was to believe that, but I did eventually watch the whole movie and then read the book. And now, here I am writing about Christine!

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2. THE CAR OF THE HOUR

There is no Fury like a 1958 Plymouth. And one who can drive and repair herself? That would save a lot of money lol. I think what drew me to this character is honestly the fact that she’s a 1950s’ car, and I do love vintage-styled cars. They have unique builds and you can see them in an array of colors. Kind of a shallow reason, but that’s the truth. 

But as for her actions…well, she is a villain and we’re not supposed to like what she does: running people over, choking them to death, crushing them, mocking them with her music and other evil stuff. So why is this post dedicated to her then? She’s a different type of antagonist. She’s not a human being; she’s a vehicle that was made by human hands so the fault lies with humanity there (as far as we know anyway).

It's hinted in the book that some darker power was responsible for bringing her to life which again, is, in part, thanks to human error and irresponsibility. We can thank LeBay for that. I much rather prefer the film’s take: she was deemed a sentient bad to the bone car from the day she first rolled off the assembly line for reasons unknown. I feel that’s more terrifying. A machine with a mind of her own and we don't know why? I would be scared if an angry car with a mind all her own chased me!

One important component about her anger to note is her fury can come from mistreatment towards her or whomever her owner is at the time. In the beginning of the film, she goes ballistic when one of the auto workers at the plant sits behinds the wheel and drops part of a cigarette onto the seat. What happens next? Well the guy won’t have to worry about working there again, let’s put it that way. And when she attaches herself to Arnie later on, she goes around whacking the bullies who tormented him or because they tormented her. In the book, it was said that LeBay's fury carried over into Christine, so it's probable on some level, she does have a gift for empathy for those who care for her. Hence why she attacked Buddy and his pals because of how much Arnie suffered and she suffered. 

In some of these examples, we can also see that she likes to stay clean, and hates it when she's used as a makeshift garbage can. And as she's a vintage car, who wouldn't want be showroom new? She's fussy about her appearance because of that. However, when it comes to whomever she's with, I don't think she minds as much because she trusts them enough to take care of her. And anything they say goes with her, as long as it's within her ballpark. There were a few cases where Arnie brought Dennis and Leigh inside Christine (that sounds SO weird) at different times, and Christine did not intervene all that much with whatever Arnie and his friends were doing.

Well, except she tried to kill Leigh while she was alone within Christine's interiors, but that was part of her jealousy. If she sees a girl interacting with her guy, she will deem the other woman as a threat and do whatever it takes to keep her away from her man. But in Dennis' case, she did acknowledge the friendship between him and Arnie, as she does see that Dennis is loyal to Arnie and tried his best to look out for him. In the movie, she didn't do anything to harm Dennis - all she did to him was just scare him with music when he tried to investigate what was going on in the garage.

And when Arnie and Dennis went for a ride for New Year's, Dennis drank beer, and tried desperately to warn Arnie about Christine's true nature, Christine kept to herself. Although that means she knows Dennis can't really do much to help Arnie since the latter's pretty much caught in her grasp, and Arnie still deemed Dennis important to him. (...Except apparently in a deleted scene where Arnie sees Dennis and Leigh kissing, he flips his lid and I guess ends his friendship with Dennis, but Christine, for her part, stays mum about the whole thing.)

If she has something she wants to shout to the heavens or to you, she doesn't pull off a Cars move where she talks - she'll use her radio and parts to communicate, which I feel is a unique method for her. I personally think the fact she's a silent character adds to her deadly factor; if she's completely quiet, we can't figure out what she's up to. She'll just... well, Arnie does this better than I can, but I'll paraphrase it: 'show us'. And anyone who knows me knows that I love writing for silent characters, so I think my bias might be at play here lol.

It's also a good idea to not bash her love of 1950s/early 1960s music, especially rock 'n roll. She was born in the '50s, she will speak the language of the '50s. I find it hard to believe that she would willingly adapt to modern music. She'll play them if the owner can tune into the right frequency, but then she'll go right back to playing her favorite tunes without warning. Probably best to let her be the boss of the radio. 

She can also be determined, thanks to her fury fueling her. If she feels like she must do something, she. Does. Not. Stop. She wouldn't even let fire keep her from completing her goal, for goodness' sake!  Which is why it's probably a good idea to not get on her bad side at all. She will find you. 

Surprisingly, she also has a puckish sense of humor. I take it that she has a way of messing with others if they're too curious for their own good or if she can't hurt them in any way. Trolling them with songs is a good way to throw them for a loop. That displays a streak of cunning on her part: if she's in a position where she can't do much or she sees no reason to hurt someone when they haven't excessively tormented her or her owner, she'll try to take care of the situation through sneaky methods that can't be traced back to her. I mean, c'mon, if a friend told you that a Plymouth Fury was going around making his or her life miserable, wouldn't you look at them like they were from Mars?   

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3. DEPICTIONS/QUESTIONS

This is going to be tough as she’s a car and the amount of Christine fanfiction to read is minuscule. But It’s also difficult because the fanbase is, as far as my experience with it is concerned, kind of remote unless you’re a car person, film person or horror film buff. While there are active fan groups who love the book and/or film, Christine is not going to automatically be the top point of discussion you would find the average viewer or reader talking about these days as opposed to Back to the Future or Ghostbusters. Those two films - especially the cars - have made it into pop culture whereas Christine is a cult classic, although maybe by now - and partly because she is a Stephen King creation - she’s made it into the former. It’s kind of hard to tell sometimes. 

But I'll give it a shot. Here we go: 

*"She's not a Fury, she's a Belvedere!": In the defense of this point, I do understand that it's good to point out that the film version of Christine wasn't always a Fury. In some shots, they used other Plymouth models, such as the Belvedere and Savoy (and I think other models if memory serves), to portray the car. But movie cars are like actors: sometimes if you see an actor who can do the job well in spite of what the original script called for, you gotta pick with what will work best for the film.  

*'Book Vs. Movie': Both provide unique interpretations of the story. I like some bits of the book more than some parts in the movie, and vice versa. It all depends on taste. 

*"The color's wrong for a Fury": Yeah, apparently some folks have taken an issue with the red color. In real life, in the year 1958, Plymouth Furies only came in beige and gold. But the book remedies this by stating that her red color was a custom job. This was more of a storytelling choice on behalf of Stephen King's part; what color best represents fury in some circles? Red. Not sure why he specified it as autumn red, though.

*'Her dialogue': In some fan tales, Christine is... not really in-character a lot of the time. Actually, I take that back; she is, but her dialogue doesn't quite match the sultry femme fatale-like 'voice' she used in the original book. In the book, she had the ability to send out... I guess, they're telepathic vibes or emotions of some sort, that would make it seem like she was addressing someone even though she truly wasn't talking. And instead of writing her like she's a 1950s dame with a dark side, I see in some stories that she speaks almost like a...modern day teenager in some instances?

If she's from the 1950s, she will probably talk like she's from that decade. She doesn't have to speak like she came off the set of Leave It to Beaver, but she shouldn't talk like she rolled off the Clueless movie set either, unless there was a good reason to explain why she would suddenly develop a new vernacular. I was guilty of this myself when I first started writing Christine drabbles, and am aiming to remedy that now that I have read the book and I have a greater knowledge of what she would sound like if she actually said a word. 

*'Creepy stuff': By creepy, I don't mean the stuff Christine does (well, even if it's terrifying). What I mean is... um, I'll just say I discovered some fanfic titles and summaries that take the relationship between Arnie and Christine to bizarre levels. You can ask me in private what I found, but I will not utter their existences here. 

 But I will utter what is to come next in the second part to this post--the usual inspirations, future goals and headcanons! 

Wanderer out!

Taking Five: September and October Updates

*"Through Smoke and Bitter Distance" is completed!  

The ending was difficult for me to write, but I persevered and have successfully finished another fanfiction. The only thing left to do for it is to write the "Special Features" posts, but in due time, those will come. 

*I've been working on more Character Spotlight posts. For the next one I'll be posting, I'll only give one hint about the character's identity: the character is a female. 

*I've also published the latest chapter for "Restoring the Soul: The Manor's Tales", and have also posted a poem for my Henry Stickmin poetry collection. Another poem might be posted this month. 

*The latest chapter for "Eye of the Needle" is currently in the works, and I hope to publish that to coincide with the anniversary of the game Fleeing the Complex soon. The release date for the original game was November 12th. 

*I've been worldbuilding like crazy for all my universes, from Henry Stickmin to Sonic to my mega crossover fanfiction universe to my original stuff. 

-Speaking of my fanfiction universe, I've been editing one of the first stories for it, and although it's nowhere near done, it's coming along. 

More stuff will be coming on the horizon!

Wanderer out!