Christine – A Tad Bit Chauvinist?

[michal]

It took me awhile to realize why I don’t like Christine. Quite awhile, it’s been YEARS since I’ve read it for the first time. But reading it again today I feel this book of all of Mr. King’s books is such a Guyish book in the sense that it shows women in the way men perceive them.

The car is a female and a jealous bi*** at that. She drives man mad and drives them into killing sprees. The only other female character is a weak and eventually unfaithful young woman that causes a break in the “manly friendship”. Blah!!!!

And to think I thought that the only reason I disliked it was all that blabbering about automobile-parts!

[Natjen26]

You have a point there
Never really thought it through. Still is one of my favourites, but that's because of all the blabbering about automobile-parts
and since it's one of the first novels I read by SK.

[Perse Jr.]

Yes, but aren't most "vessels" considered "female?" Like boats, ships, cars, etc.? I thought it was perfect, and I cried when Christine was crushed, and cheered when her little crunched up bumper moved in the last scene.

[wally wonder]

didn't think of christine as a she, but then i looked a the clock, me, and said, look the clock! she is wrong! what do you think about all the le and la, all those romance languages with their genders? for some reason, forest parker as daniel boone comes to mind, teachin the kids congugations or something, i'm a fixin to, she's a fixin to, he's a fixin to.

[michal]

I thought it was perfect, and I cried when Christine was crushed, and cheered when her little crunched up bumper moved in the last scene.

My GOD, did you also hope that Randal Flag would kill all those Free Zone people and cried when those awful children won over poor It?

[ChristineB]

I have to disagree here.

I see is as more sexist against men then women. The car appeals to and can overcome the "defenses" of men over the lure of evil. To me the car is the evil here and while yes it is referred to as a female I see that as again men's failings in overcoming their own prejudices. Men tend to refer to possessions as female and this shows just how shallow they can be. The other female her is portrayed a level headed and understanding person for the most part until she can just no long handle the things that are happening and even then she is not seen (to me) as being unreasonable in her demands, she still wants to love her boyfriend, but doesn't like what the car is doing to him (what he is allowing the car to do to him, again that inability to resist the evil of men). Just what I see, a different view.

To be honest this happens alot with his novels... There are only a very few females portrayed as evil in his books. The only ones I can think of (I have not read everything yet so sorry if I have missed someone here) are the mom in Carrie and Sara in Bag of Bones, in both cases we end up pitying them instead of hating them. Contrast that to the rest of his villains which are male and while we may identify with some of what they have been through, for the most part, we never really pity them. Just my views.

[Perse Jr.]

My GOD, did you also hope that Randal Flag would kill all those Free Zone people and cried when those awful children won over poor It?

Well, no, however, I do tend to route for the "bad" guy in many movies. It's a bad trait, I know, but that's me. Girl next door on the outside, bad girl inside...LOL.

[ginapenn]

I completely disagree and I'm a woman.

I didn't find this book sexist at all; as a matter of fact, it's never even crossed my mind until I read this post and this is the first and still my favorite book by SK. It's a well known fact that cars are referred to as "she"; why would SK want to change that for his book? Also, I didn't find Leigh to be weak or cheating at all. Leigh was a beautiful young woman that fell in love with Arnie and when Arnie's personality drastically changed, they broke up. Arnie obviously didn't see it that way but that's what happened in the book. The romance between Dennis and Leigh wasn't anything close to just a tryst; they dated for a while until they went their separate ways, which tends to happen with young folks. Keep in mind that this is a story that involves teenagers that lived back in the seventies. Things were different then.

[aliciasimon]

I'm annoyed by the fact that a ship is referred to as a "she". It seems totally chauvanistic to me (because a ship is some beautiful machinary controlled by a man. BLECH). Surprisingly, however, I didn't get that annoyance from Christine. I just enjoyed the story. And this one was the scariest one of all for me....it had me sleeping with the lights on for a few nights.

[KimBrown]

This is my favorite SK book! I don't think that it is chauvinistic at all. Best book of his....Ever.