How influential was Christine?

[mrcthedj]

When I was a pre-teen I had, mostly thanks to Mr. King, already decided I was going to be a writer. I began "cutting my teeth" by imitating Mr. King. Oddly, the most influential book I read at the time was "Christine." This was the first book to demonstrate how different techniques could be used within the same book to tell a story. Recall that the point of view shifts from first person to third person and back to first person. When I was 13 I wrote a story called "The Mailbox" about a, well, mailbox, that was abused by some people for no reason. The mailbox then wrote letters to its owner explaining how to "correct" the abusers. The adults I showed the story to were very encouraging and now, twenty-four years later, I am a writer because of it.

[ItaliaQueen]

i just watched christine on video ace at was!!!!!!!!!!

[Mr. Palmer]

CHRISTINE is one of my biggest inspirations. It was the first Stephen King novel I read and I was totally floored by it (even now I still annually read it).

Like you, all these years later, I'm a writer due partly to that book.

[wally wonder]

neat-o,mrcthedj. i'm curious though. do mailboxes go for all that 'innocent until proven guilty' stuff? jury of peers? etcetera? i'm going to have nightmares tonight. thanks. not that i ever abused a mailbox. been wrongly accused before, thing is.

[michal]

It's always nice hearing that someone who precude his dream managed to get what he wanted. Good on you friend! And I don't even like Christin that much, but of course, I haven't read it at the impressionable age of 13 and perhaps lost something because I haven't.

[ItaliaQueen]

I want to go to America to see that car he wrote about!!!!!

[scarywriter]

I want to go to America to see that car he wrote about!!!!!

You'll have a hard time doing that. You don't see too many '57 Plymouth Furies (Furys?) on the road these days. But, you're welcome to come on "across the pond" and try. We'll welcome your visit. :)

[qu33n0f3mpir3]

I had a very huge crush on Arnie, lol,
i was thinking about making a kind of remake of
that movie too

[mrsbreece]

I thought Christine was one of the least influential of King's books/movies. I generally love the story lines in King's books, but this one I just didn't see as heart jumping...maybe I just missed it. Stories like 'Salem's Lot, The Long Walk, Pet Sematary, Insomnia, It, among others are the best!!

[scarywriter]

I thought Christine was one of the least influential of King's books/movies. I generally love the story lines in King's books, but this one I just didn't see as heart jumping...maybe I just missed it. Stories like 'Salem's Lot, The Long Walk, Pet Sematary, Insomnia, It, among others are the best!!

I have to strongly disagree mrsbreece.
while Christine may not have been as "deep" as some of King's othe works, it was hugely influential. Basically, a straight ahead horror story, references to it can be found in all sorts of pop culture arenas, as has been discussed in this thread. Whether you like the book or not, it has embedded itself in America's pysche. If you walk down the street and ask a dozen people to tell you who Stephen King's Roland is, many will give you a blank look (and I feel sorry for them because of that) but ask those same dozen if they know who Christine is, and I'll bet they do.

[Ranger_Strider]

I think perhaps Christine resonates with some CR's and not so much with others because there is a connection to the Automotive Subculture at play. The Automotive Subculture is defined for my purpose as that cross section of American society the has a worship for all things car or motor-assisted-transport-related; I'm going to refer to such people as 'motorheads'.
Motorheads are the people who keep professional racing in business; they will actually pay money to watch cars blatting and belching around a tarmac oval for 3 or 4 hours on the weekend when they could be enjoying some restful and rejuvenating peace and quiet for free somewhere else.
Motorheads are people that can't bear to let anything go that ever rolled along making noise and spraying pollution into the air. As a result they have rusting hulks on blocks in their front, back, and side yards, are are actually physically distressed if someone suggests that they get rid of one. Thier heart rate spikes, eyes bulge out, and spittle flies from their mouths as they scream about their constitutional right to destroy property values for blocks around.
Motorheads are people that can and do have a $20,000 Harley Davidson parked in the garage of a house with peeling paint, broken windows covered in cardboard and a perpetually unkempt yard. You ask them why is it so(?), and they reply that maintenece and upkeep costs on a home are out of their buget. Meanwhile they have plenty of time on evenings and weekends to ride around giving the public at large dirty looks with their unwashed faces because of some deep seated insecurity that without all the biker trappings and posing that someone might just beat them up because they aren't coming off as properly tough and dangerous.
Motorheads are people that will do almost anything to own a ridiculously expensive, or large, or flashy car (were basically taking about low-people here), up to and including ripping off others like a common theif to get it. Plenty of doctors, lawers, bankers, and other so-called professionals fit into this category right alongside pimps and drug-dealers.
So, it is my thesis that Motorheads are like any other junkie: they can hardly see all the problems that are growing from that central addiction. They have taken something that is a simple solution to a resonable need (that of efficeint means of conveyance), and perverted it into the central point of their lives.
Motorheads might be people that think Christine is some kind of standout achievement in SK's body of work.
Sorry Motorheads, but I wouldn't encourage a Heroin addict either.
This ought to spark a few flames, eh folks?

[scarywriter]

I liked Christine, but do not like NASCAR. I have a Harley which is a nice compliment to the hybrid I have for days the bike is not practical. I mow my lawn every week and just repainted my house last summer.
I am sorry you have such a poor view of your fellow Constant Readers, but I suppose your vision is pretty clear up there on that high horse.

Long days and pleasant nights.

[Moderator]

Point - counterpoint. Let's not continue down the road of generalizations and possible misconceptions about groups of people and their motivations for what they like or don't like. Different strokes for different folks.

[wally wonder]

was out in vegas a while back and they have a collection of cars at the imperial palace. saw a '54 buick there, kind of an aqua-green/white combo. nice. maybe like the death car in from a buick 8. yeah, i know, not thee buick-8, but the other'n. read the story. bunch of other high end stuff.

heard someone peel out from the local seben eleben once upon a time. friend of mine said, be loud! be somebody! apropos, dontcha tink?

[ginapenn]

Scarywriter-I am in complete agreeance with you. Christine was and still is a highly influential piece of fiction. Whenever a piece of machinery seems to have a mind of its own, what do people call it? Christine.

Christine owns a huge piece of my heart. Being the first SK book I ever read (still read it about once a year) it had a huge influence on me and what is now my writing world. To me, it is a fantastic read. It is one of the best books to read to get an inside look at the thoughts a person would have when/if they're being taken over by a demonic spirit. Stephen King's writing on Arnie's slow descent into madness and his struggle within is a creative paradigm.

If you've never read it, I encourage you to do so with an open mind.

[SuzannaDean]

When I was a pre-teen I had, mostly thanks to Mr. King, already decided I was going to be a writer. I began "cutting my teeth" by imitating Mr. King. Oddly, the most influential book I read at the time was "Christine." This was the first book to demonstrate how different techniques could be used within the same book to tell a story. Recall that the point of view shifts from first person to third person and back to first person. When I was 13 I wrote a story called "The Mailbox" about a, well, mailbox, that was abused by some people for no reason. The mailbox then wrote letters to its owner explaining how to "correct" the abusers. The adults I showed the story to were very encouraging and now, twenty-four years later, I am a writer because of it.

I like the sound of your story :)

[foundationsedge]

this was the first book i ever bought , and the first book i was happy to spend money on, and it was purely because of the big finned and chrome monster on the front cover, and the idea of a car that had a mind of its own was to a teenage petrol head like myself very interesting
it took me a couple of months to read it, and then re read it and i love it now just as much as i did then, not because of the car that can drive itself (or fix itself) but because of the people in the story, the wimp, the bully, the girl and the love affair that goes sour.
it rang alot of bells with me back then, and it was the book that turned me on to SK, and i,ve never looked back since. i love anything automotive , but i,m not too keen on opera, but i try not to judge opera lovers too harshly.
from reading most of SK s books , i get a feeling he, might have a slight fondness for the great automobile, too.
its not my favourate SK book, but its one of his best

[dejolane]

This was a great movie. I loved when the car transformed back to the hot car it was.

[kennedy]

christine was the first stephen king book i read , it did actually change my life for the better , i was fifteen with no real interest in literature of any kind but whilst reading christine i was completely blown away . i couldn't believe something as simple as a book could draw me in to a story make me laugh,cry and scare the pants of me .
after that i was completely hooked ,and even now when i re-read christine i feel like im spending time with an old friend .

[malarabid]

I have a horror of inanimate objects "doing things on their own."

Back when this movie was in theaters, I was already a little bit afraid of cars. Mom, Grandma, Sister, and I went to see some kid-friendly movie, and Dad went to see Christine. I have no idea what movie I saw that day, all I remember is Dad saying to Mom, "Good thing Cathy didn't see Christine or she'd never get in a C-A-R again."

He seemed to enjoy it, but I found myself ruminating on what could be so horrible, and believe me, I had quite a vivid imagination! Like I said, I have no idea what I saw that day, it was wiped out of my mind after he said that to my mom! That, and a curiosity about why he said C-A-R since obviously that spelled car.

PS. Anyone have a clue what I might have actually seen that day?

PPS. At least 20 years has passed since that day (I think?), I am no longer afraid of cars, but I realize with a sort of childish terror that it's time to find out what he was talking about.

[dejolane]

I wouldn't mind having a car like Christine but without the terror.

[bryantburnette]

I rewatched the movie last night. It's a big-time mixed bag, but an enjoyable one. Most of the acting is fairly stiff, but John Carpenter -- having recently come off of directing his masterpiece, The Thing -- was still on a bit of a high visually, and he put together some great scenes: Christine's "rape," her murders of Moochie and Buddy, the drive-in scene, etc.

Problem is, the novel is great at characterizations, but the movie is nowhere near as solid on that subject. Essentially, the novel has been gutted.

Still, I always enjoy watching the movie for what it is.

[Triilz]

I have to agree with scarywriter. I stumbled across the Dark Tower series way down the line. I was used to Christine, Cujo, Carrie, Pet Sematary, etc. It is such a shame that I didn't come across it sooner, now I'm racing to catch up.

[judythegeek]

I, too read Christine at the tender age of thirteen. My first Stephen King, and still very much embedded in my heart.
I even remember purchasing it, and it was an impulse buy. I was on vacation of all things, in Puerto Rico, 1987? The bookstore was there, and me and mom popped in, and the name on the paperback looked like a chrome emblem, and the font was like Airstreams had. I bought it, did not even read the back cover. The binding broke about ten years ago. Bought two more and am working on breaking another paperback binding!
That Influential, to me!

[CarGuy#19]

Let me tell you just how influential that story is. My best friend and I had a habit of staying up late and cruising the used car lots for potential projects when we were in our late teens. One night, just after Sai King's witching hour, midnight, we spotted a '58 Plymouth Fury sitting all by itself in a shadowy part of the lot. It was reverse of Christine's colors, White with a red stripe. Neither one of us would go within 30 feet of it. Hail, Stephen of Maine, you scared the crap out of us that night. Long days and Pleasant Nights.

[Ranger_Strider]

I'm in the throes of restoring a 1978 Ford F-250 pickup to a cherried-out condition mechanically and cosmetically. It's really starting to come together and I'm getting excited about taking out on the street. So, I'm guilty now. Motorhead.

[tiger pride]

I read Christine when I was ten. The book had a powerful influence on me. I only hoped one day I could tell a story with the storytelling power that King did with that one. Again at 27 I read the book again. Not because I forgot what I'd read, but because I wanted to know what it was that grabbed me at age 10. Just when you think Stephen King has taken it to unbelievable depths, he reals you back in with something true. Something we can all identify with.

[twellwood70]

I connected with "Christine" due to as a kid I always played in junkyards and would always play inside the old type of cars that Christine was. I would imagine what the old radio music would sound like. Aahh, to be a kid again!!