Is FROZEN the Disney version of THE SHINING ?

cinemablend.com's Kristy Puchko posted a fun article, asking if maybe Frozen is actually a "remake" of the Shining.  Go to the link because after building her case Puchko gives  you the opportunity to vote.  How should you vote?  Well, it's obvious -- right?

Add this to the Room 237 theories.

Citing blogger Mary Katharine Ham, (the original blog post by Ham is at mkhammer.squarespace.co) the article lists out several amazing -- or not so amazing -- similarities to The Shining.

Here's the argument  broken into simple bullet points:

Similar characters.

• Elsa = Jack.  "Both have something inside them that is a danger to their loved ones. And when given a position of power--be it queen of Arendelle or caretaker of a remote mountain resort--they lose control. Also, both tend to favor a place of solitude high in the mountains."  Ah, now it's clear as day!  But wait. . . there's more!
• Anna = Danny, because they are both left to "their own devices" in high ceilinged posh buildings.  One a castle, the other a hotel.  NOW YOU SEE IT, right?  Ham notes, 'while Jack dislocated Danny's shoulder in a moment of out of control (drunken) rage, Elsa nearly killed Anna twice."
• Wendy = Olaf. Because, like Olaf, Wendy will do whatever necessary to protect the innocent Danny Anna.
• And that means Kristoff = Dick Hallorann, who acts as both Danny and Wendy's protector.  

This is directly from Ham's blog post:

When Anna and Olaf realize they are stuck in the Arendelle castle as Elsa's power begins to throw icicle daggers in their way, Olaf throws open an upstairs window, and sends Anna sliding down the snow to the ground. Olaf follows. 

In "The Shining," as Jack corners Danny and Wendy in an upstairs bathroom with his ax, Wendy throws open a window and sends Danny sliding down the snow to the ground. In this version, of course, Wendy cannot escape as easily as Olaf does.

Yep, that pretty much did it for me.  I'm never watching either movie again.

Stephen King: Tots and Terror

Here is an interesting ebay item, a 1981 TV guide with an article by Stephen King on tots and terror.  To tell you the truth, this is the stuff that really makes collecting fun.  Yeah, it's nice to get a first edition of the latest book -- but old weird stuff is even better.

As a collector, I'm not excited about things made for collecting.  Yes, the new covers for Carrie, The Shining and other early books look great.  And their limited editions.  But limited edition just says to me, "We know you're a sucker."  I'd rather goon the hunt than write a big check.

A magazine is fun because it holds the era in its pages.  So not only is there the article by King, but it is surrounded by the culture it was crafted in.

I love the art in this. King says Bambie is the scariest movie.

You can still buy it at ebay.com for $5 plus $5 shipping.  So that ten bucks.

Disney KING

Hey, THAT'S NOT FROZEN!

Watching Fozen with  my daughters, and my wife starts pointing out how the movie is peppered with  references to other movies.  "How Stephen King," I said.  She gave me that stare -- the one that  says, "everything  in the world is not Stephen King." 

Other than the Dark  Tower, Talisman and The Shining, King generally does not write sequels.  Instead, he allows individual stand alone novels to reference and tie in to other stories.  Thus Gerald's Game is connected to Dolores Claiborne.  Stories weave in and out of Castle Rock, Derry and  other  places in the Stephen King landscape.  A serial killer might be mentioned in one story that is important to another 

This gives the entire Stephen King landscape a texture  of its own.  The casual reader is welcomed into the world, because unlike fantasy novels, it's not book number 18 and you have to have read all 17 others.  However, for those constant readers who have read the other books, they are treated to delightful  little nods that make them feel "in the know."

So in Frozen you can spot the bust from the haunted mansion, Eugene and Rapunzel, a hidden stuffed Mickey on the shelf, a candy mountain from Wreck-It-Ralph, a painting on the castle wall from Tangled, a Brother Bear statue in the shop and more.

Now what's interesting is that Disney has had years to work this together.  Lots of artist, an entire company.  Stephen King is one artist.

King once said the scariest movie he ever saw was Bambi. (Check this out, Stephen King discusses being Walt Disney's "evil twin" dailymotion.com)

Check out: disney-adventures (talk stephen kng)

Carrie is Quasimodo

This is how Stephen King will mess with your head. . .

I'm watching The Hunchback Of Notre Dame with my daughter.  I said to my wife, "does this remind you of Carrie?"

"No," she said.

So I offered this:

An outcast is rejected by his family, told crazy religious things and feels totally alone and laughed at.  Summoning all his courage, he attends the prom -- I mean Festival of Fools -- where he is crowned King.  But at the moment of triumph, they don't throw pigs blood, but tomatoes. I only wish the poor guy had the powers Carrie had to wipe them all out.

Girl vs Monster References Stephen King

What does a monster locked up for thirteen years want to know?  How the fear business is going, of course!  Seems monsters get their energy from fear -- according to Disney's Girl vs. Monster.  I was watching this with my daughters (okay, I was playing Civ 5) when this bit of dialogue brought me up from my plans to take over the world:

Monsters on a bridge after escaping fifteen years in the monster tank:

Deimata: “So much catching up to do.  How’s the fear business?  Stephen King still writing?”
Witch: “Yes, but his last novel is historical fiction.”
Deimata: “Scary historical fiction?”
Witch: “Not particularly.”
Deimata: “What about horror movies?  Still big with the kids?”
Scarecrow: “No, it’s not gross out comedies now.  But vampires are in.”
Deimata:“Oh!  That’s promising!”
Witch: “Except, they have romantic vampires who fall in love.”
Deimata: “YUCK!”

hahahah!  I love it! The monsters are absolutely disgusted by the idea of romantic vampires.

10,000 Magazines: Disney Adventures

I read an article recently titled "Who's Helping Who In The Cover Blurb Game?" (HERE) Author Anthony Horowitz writes, " I even turned up on a self-help book I hadn't read – the publishers took my name and helped themselves."  Funny!

After giving us an almost circular  parade of authors praising one another's books, Horowitz concludes: "the overall impression is simply that big writers like big writers and my reaction is – so what?"

When it comes to Stephen King, he does like big writers.  Who wouldn't?  But he also supports first time writers.  His recent enthusiastic endorsement of The Passage is evidence of that.  How about this, King has even been known to point his readers toward people they haven't heard of at all.  He did this in the past by offering intro's to collection books or first time novels.

I really enjoyed Disney's October 1992 edition of "Disney Adventures," in which King served as a judge for a kids writing competition.  It is neat to see him encouraging young people's writing.

Ten Thousand Magazines #10,000

Disney Adventures, October, 1991

By the way,  this magazine is fantastic!  The cover  itself  makes you want to read it.  The magazine is full of color,  and I had trouble keeping my kids hands off of it.  "Stop it!" I kept saying.  "That's a Stephen King book!"  They didn't  care.


Here is King's letter to the kiddos:

A Warning From . . .Stephen KingDear Scary Story Fans, 

There are always a few frumpy grown-ups out there who like to go around moaning that kids are too busy watching TV and playing Nintendo to read anymore, let alone write stories.  It’s pretty clear to me that the current crop of grumps missed the Scary Stories Contest in Disney Adventures magazine, because if they ahd seen the six final entries that I saw, they would have changed their minds in a hurry.  Tommi Lewis, the editor in charge of taking care of the contest entries, told me there were over seven hundred stories in all, and if the ones I saw were any indication of how much good writing kids are doing. . . wow! 

I liked Kyle Chistenson’s “One Night In The Museum,” a story that explains just how deadthings sometimes get in the Egyptian Wing, and Keegan Buckingham’s “Attack of the Killer Hose,” where a vampire garden-hose wakes up and goes looking for its ghoul-friend (or was that its girl-friend?), but the best of the bunch – for me, at least – was “Mr. Tilmore,” by Aaron N.  Carmichael.  You may think your own little town is boring, but until you read Aaron’s freaky fable, you won’t have any idea how dead things can get on summer vacation. 

Okay, enough jokes.  I just want to say that this story really is good.  The adults who run the world always make allowances for kids, as you know; that’s why Little league fields are smaller than regular baseball fields and the baskets are sometimes lowered when the Pee Wee Basketball teams play.  We make thesame allowances when it coems to painting pictures, playing music, writing poetry. . .  Or making up scary stories.  But if you think the story you are about to read is going to be scary “for a kid,” you may be in for a surprise. . . and you may findyourself remembering Mr. Tilmore, that slightly strange fellow next door, after you turn the lights off tonight.  You may even – heh-heh-heh – imagine he’s there in the room with you.  Fairwarning, okay?   My congratulations and admiration to all the finalists, including David Tamakiin Cresskill, New Jersey; Jeffery Winter in Partlow, Virginia; and Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece, in Linthicum, Maryland. . .  But my special congratulations to aron Carmichael, who wrote a story that’s not just “scary for kids” but is “scary for anybody, even Stephen King.” 

And for the rest of you, just remember that the best way to fight fire is with fire, and the best way to fight fear is with fear.  In other words, keep writing those scary stories. 

Gruesomely yours, Stephen King