Support NeoGAF

[jason10mm]

His movies have always been ass and people who think his shit is scary have lobotomies

King rarely has much direct involvement in the film adaptations though. Kinda hard to blame him for that stuff. King only had one director that REALLY grokked him, IMHO, in Frank Darabont (Green Mile, Shawshank, and The Mist) and it's a shame they didn't collaborate much more frequently.

Kinda like how its a shame that Stuart Gordon didn't get the chance to make waaaay more Lovecraft adaptations because for all the camp, they really captured some of the essence of HPL in ways that at lot of the (usually too serious) ones didn't.

 

[spookyfish]

The dude has always had an unhealthy obsession with kids - both in terms of sexualizing them and putting them in terrible situations.

I can't think of another horror author who writes about kids as much as King.

Definite pedo (or worse) vibes.

Whenever he gets all ratchety on Tweeter, I tell him to go write another book with underage kids running train on each other to beat the monster.

What a stupid f cking ending.

 

[Artoris]

King is greedy he is trying to make money off woke

 

[DeepEnigma]

King is greedy he is trying to make money off woke

He should know there's no money in that from the consumer level. Which is why his most recent film flopped.

 

[Artoris]

He should know there's no money in that from the consumer level. Which is why his most recent film flopped.

He should have known not to hack write earlier in his life but he still made tons of money
I guess he is trying his luck again

 

[Risible]

King is greedy he is trying to make money off woke

This is so wrong it kinda makes my head hurt. King is THE SAME AS HE ALWAYS HAS BEEN. It's just that shit has gotten so out of hand in the U.S. that his completely normal takes about human decency seem like hot takes to the people that are looking for the Woke Demon in everything. Saying shit like "King is greedy he is trying to make money off woke" is a wildly inaccurate take.

 

[Poppinfresh]

King is THE SAME AS HE ALWAYS HAS BEEN.

Absolutely false.

The dude has gone off the deep end and has introduced more and more of his personal politics and opinions into his work, and lets not even talk about his social media postings.

 

[BigLee74]

Longoliers - simultaneously one of the best short stories I can remember reading, and the worst film ive ever seen

King is long past it. But it must be hard thinking of creative stories your whole life without repetition of themes or leaning into modern shit.

 

[Artoris]

This is so wrong it kinda makes my head hurt. King is THE SAME AS HE ALWAYS HAS BEEN. It's just that shit has gotten so out of hand in the U.S. that his completely normal takes about human decency seem like hot takes to the people that are looking for the Woke Demon in everything. Saying shit like "King is greedy he is trying to make money off woke" is a wildly inaccurate take.

You obviously have not read some of is early written shit books this is not all woke thing but saying all this he has also done some of the best works ever a lot of his adaptations are amazing

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Longoliers - simultaneously one of the best short stories I can remember reading, and the worst film ive ever seen

King is long past it. But it must be hard thinking of creative stories your whole life without repetition of themes or leaning into modern shit.

I am absolutely baffled at how much The Langoliers seems to be appreciated. Apart from some really weak short stories in some of his collections, it's hands-down the most boring King thing I've ever read. I've read that twice and it's so slow that I almost fell asleep both times, and can't remember any details about it except it has the most stereotypical King cast in the most uninteresting King "bunch of people trapped in a limbo" setting.

 

[BigLee74]

I am absolutely baffled at how much The Langoliers seems to be appreciated. Apart from some really weak short stories in some of his collections, it's hands-down the most boring King thing I've ever read. I've read that twice and it's so slow that I almost fell asleep both times, and can't remember any details about it except it has the most stereotypical King cast in the most uninteresting King "bunch of people trapped in a limbo" setting.

I read it when I was 15/16, so that may have helped!

 

[Critical Hit]

Absolutely false.

He had a disabled black woman as a gunslinger in 1987.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

I read it when I was 15/16, so that may have helped!

Erm… me too

And then again at almost 40, and nope, still didn't like it.

 

[BigLee74]

Erm… me too

And then again at almost 40, and nope, still didn't like it.

Ah well, each to their own. I've always really liked his short story 'The Jaunt'. Great concept, and it's stuck with me forever

 

[jason10mm]

I am absolutely baffled at how much The Langoliers seems to be appreciated. Apart from some really weak short stories in some of his collections, it's hands-down the most boring King thing I've ever read. I've read that twice and it's so slow that I almost fell asleep both times, and can't remember any details about it except it has the most stereotypical King cast in the most uninteresting King "bunch of people trapped in a limbo" setting.

That miniseries really boosted it, I think.

 

[jason10mm]

He had a disabled black woman as a gunslinger in 1987.

And, IIRC, her character was all about OVERCOMING her disability, not playing victim.

I think he made that character to be as polar opposite of Roland as he could get, not necessarily to champion the downtrodden.

 

[Risible]

He had a disabled black woman as a gunslinger in 1987.

Exactly. Dude has always been a super leftie in both his personal life and his writing. I mean, really look at his most popular book, The Stand (1978), and then tell me the novel wouldn't be considered "woke" today. The MAGA crowd is so focused on the idea of woke that anything vaguely leftist is branded woke and hated indiscriminately.

King hasn't changed, society and you have changed.

 

[Critical Hit]

King hasn't changed, society and you have changed.

While I agree with most of your post, I can't agree with this. Yes, he always was a leftist, but he wasn't unhinged before. Susannah was a cool character, not a leftie checklist cardboard like those in the op (I dropped the series after Mr.Mercedes).
But then again, creating cool, "inclusive" characters is a long-forgotten art in these times. Nowadays it's seems most of the authors don't write cool inclusive characters, they think that having an inclusive character is cool.

 

[Risible]

While I agree with most of your post, I can't agree with this. Yes, he always was a leftist, but he wasn't unhinged before. Susannah was a cool character, not a leftie checklist cardboard like those in the op (I dropped the series after Mr.Mercedes).
But then again, creating cool, "inclusive" characters is a long-forgotten art in these times. Nowadays it's seems most of the authors don't write cool inclusive characters, they think that having an inclusive character is cool.

I'm not sure I would go with unhinged to describe it, but I agree that he is more heavy-handed with it now. He clearly is upset with the direction our country has gone in.

 

[jason10mm]

I'm not sure I would go with unhinged to describe it, but I agree that he is more heavy-handed with it now. He clearly is upset with the direction our country has gone in.

But I don't see why (other than TDS). Compare the US now to the 70's/80's and in almost EVERY WAY it has moved left left left. There are economic set backs, the rise of techno-oligopolies, globalism destroying a lot of blue collar manufacturing gigs, but that's not usually the type of stuff he pops off about, IIRC (thats more the Michael Moore stuff). In terms of race, gay acceptance, immigration, women in the workplace, thats allllllll so progressed that to go back to an 80's era workplace would be an ice water bath to virtually everyone.

But he's an old drug addled man. I treasure his earlier works above many others but I try to separate the art from the artist these days. I still wish he would do cameos, there are a couple spots in Running Man he would have fit right in.

 

[Critical Hit]

He clearly is upset with the direction our country has gone in.

Propaganda, whether left-wing or right-wing, is always boring to read. It's a shame that he decided to devote his last years and books to it.

 

[BennyBlanco]

And, IIRC, her character was all about OVERCOMING her disability, not playing victim.

I think he made that character to be as polar opposite of Roland as he could get, not necessarily to champion the downtrodden.

Her dialogue as Detta was incredibly cringe.

 

[jason10mm]

Her dialogue as Detta was incredibly cringe.

It's King essentially doing blackface, all (well, many) of his black characters do that stuff. All the hillbilly ones as well. Part of the charm, I suppose.

 

[BennyBlanco]

After this I listened to Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream and thought it was great. That is also from a recent short story collection but who knows when he actually wrote it.

I really can't overstate how bad Holly is though.

 

[cash_longfellow]

11/22/63 is fantastic. Read it!

100%…one of his best!

 

[undeadhero]

The strangest part is that I agree with some of his views, but his writing has morphed into that of someone just starting out. On the nose, little subtlety or nuance, more telling than showing when the balance should be closer to 40/60. He's aping Trump in that regard.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

King has always been openly anti-Republican. The Dead Zone is really in-your-face with that message. Also, every crazy mother ruining her kid's childhood and making him/her a monster, a murderer or a broken person in any King novel is invariably a hardcore Republican Bible-thumping Christian. And her husband is almost invariably a voice of reason trying to salvage what he can of his child's life. I mean, Carrie's mother was exactly this in King's very first novel, and the examples are countless (the mother of the killer in The Dead Zone, Fran's mother in The Stand, etc etc etc).

Not that this prevented those novels from being great.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Absolutely false.

The dude has gone off the deep end and has introduced more and more of his personal politics and opinions into his work, and lets not even talk about his social media postings.

When it comes to Modern King, I only read Doctor Sleep which I loved. I'm interested in some of his other modern works like The Institute but so far, I haven't really read anything that was preachy but that's because I've been reading his older stuff a lot more

 

[JeTmAn81]

"I can't believe he's injecting himself into his work"

About a writer who literally injected himself into The Dark Tower

 

[Poppinfresh]

About a writer who literally injected himself into The Dark Tower

That was actually the point at which I knew he had jumped the shark, even before this bout of super-wokeness.

I got to that point and nope'd out of the rest of the Dark Tower series.

I hated 11/22/63 and the most recent thing I've read by him was "The Outsider," which I read when it first came out.

For me, "prime" King ended in the mid/late 90s, with a few decent books in the early 2000s. Most stuff after that has been forgettable or just bad.