The movie Stephen King hated himself for crying at: “So blatantly manipulated”
Surely, there are fewer heartless people on the planet than Stephen King? The author has penned some of the most twisted, bloodthirsty, reprehensible novels of modern times. His works have been adapted into a vast range of bleak horror movies. How many children have had nightmares following underage viewings of the likes of Carrie, It, or The Shining? This guy must be stone-cold evil, right? Well, not exactly.
Though he might be best known for his scary stories, King has also written a number of non-traumatising tales, too. Without him, there would be no heart-warming boyhood bonding in Stand By Me, nor would Andy Dufresne have crawled his way to freedom, soundtracked by Morgan Freeman’s iconic narration, in The Shawshank Redemption. King clearly knows how to tug at audiences’ heartstrings, but it turns out he doesn’t like it happening to him.
In his 1981 non-fiction book, Danse Macabre, Maine’s favourite son wrote about the way in which stories can elicit a certain response from people through what he believed were cheap means. The movie he chose to illustrate this point was the very first feature-length film produced by Walt Disney Productions – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
“There is a scene in that film where, after Snow White has taken a bite from the poisoned apple, the dwarves take her into the forest, weeping copiously,” he writes. “Half the audience of little kids was also in tears; the lower lips of the other half were trembling. The set identification in that case was strong enough so that I was also surprised into tears. I hated myself for being so blatantly manipulated, but manipulated I was, and there I sat, blubbering into my beard over a bunch of cartoon characters. But it wasn’t Disney that manipulated me; I did it myself. It was the kid inside who wept, surprised out of dormancy and into schmaltzy tears… but at least awake for a while.”
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came out in 1937, a decade before the writer was born. This passage implies that he first saw it as an adult, so he would have had to have attended one of its many re-releases. The movie was first reissued to help the studio raise funds during World War II, sparking a trend that would see almost all of their classic animations re-released every few years or so. The book was also written years before the controversial live-action remake of the story, so we have no idea how King feels about that.
Why King felt so upset at being ‘manipulated’ by this scene remains unclear. Connecting with one’s inner child is something people strive for their entire lives, so why does the ‘Master of Horror’ resent it so much? Perhaps he feels like Disney took the easy route, appealing to viewers’ innate, child-like response instead of genuinely creating a character that all ages can relate to. Or maybe he just doesn’t want anyone to know he can actually cry.
Whatever the reason, it’s clear that Snow White had a profound effect on King, which is not something you’d expect looking at the vast majority of his output. Even the toughest nut must crack, and even the sickest mind in all of fiction isn’t immune to a little Disney magic.
