Books vs. Movies
In this podcast we set out to answer the age old question: is the book really always better than the movie?
Books vs. Movies
Ep. 40 Doctor Sleep by Stephen King vs. Doctor Sleep (2019)
Discover the spine-chilling world of Stephen King's "Doctor Sleep" in my latest episode, where I delve into the rich narrative of trauma, redemption, and supernatural terror. As I compare the novel to the critically acclaimed 2019 film adaptation, directed by Mike Flanagan, I unpack the complex character dynamics and haunting experiences that shape the journey of Danny Torrance and Abra Stone. Both narratives uncover the pain of addiction and the shadows of the past while weaving a tale of good vs evil against the backdrop of King's unique style.
Explore how Flanagan manages to balance elements of King's original work while catering to fans of the cinematic classic "The Shining." I shed light on the predominant themes—trauma, familial love, and the fight against dark forces—that permeate both versions. This nuanced discussion is perfect for fans of horror, literature, and film alike, who relish dissecting the art of adaptation alongside character depth and thematic resonance.
Join me as I analyze the critical differences in character portrayals, plot development, and how effectively each medium conveys the intense emotional landscape presented in the story. Whether you're a seasoned King reader or a film lover seeking to understand the adaptation process, my conversation promises insights that will heighten your appreciation for both the book and its cinematic counterpart. Don't miss the chance to engage with a narrative that dives deep into the psychology of its characters and the moral dilemmas they face. Tune in, enjoy the discussion, and be sure to share your thoughts with me!
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Welcome to Books vs Movies, the podcast where I set out to answer the age-old question is the book really always better than the movie? I'm Yuvia, an actress and book lover based out of New York City, and today I will be talking about Doctor Sleep by Stephen King and its 2019 adaptation, doctor Sleep, directed by Mike Flanagan and starring Ewan McGregor and Rebecca Ferguson. Hi, everyone, happy Oscars Eve. At the time of this recording, it is the night before the Oscars and all I can say is I hope Amelia Bettis doesn't win anything. That's all I'm gonna say on that. But anyway, hi, happy to be back. I'm so excited to be back with you with another episode. I only caught up to another book and film and here it is. Here's the episode on that. So let's go ahead and get started, because I have a feeling this might be a long one.
Speaker 1:So Dr Sleep by Stephen King is a sequel to the Shining, and in this one we meet a tribe of people called the True Knot. They are a band of travelers that live in Arby's, and they travel all over the country searching for a particular kind of sustenance. However, that substance comes in the form of steam that children with the Shining produce when they are slowly tortured to death. Meanwhile, dan Torrance, who was a little boy when the events of the Shining took place, is currently battling alcoholism, settles in a New Hampshire town where he finds an AA community that sustains him and a job at a nursing home where his shining helps provide comfort to those that are dying, with the help of a cat by the name of Asriel. He becomes known as Dr Sleep. Dan then meets Abra Stone and her spectacular shining it is the most powerful shining that Dan has ever experienced and Dan teams up with her to save her from the True Knot.
Speaker 1:The 2019 adaptation of Doctor Sleep takes place years after the events of the Shining from 1980, in which a now adult Dan Torrance, must protect a young girl with the Shining from a cult known as the Chunot, who prey on children to remain immortal. So, as you can see, it is a pretty faithful adaptation For the most part. There are some big, big changes and well, let me just start off by saying, if you are familiar with the Shining the film, which I am, I've never read the Shining book, but I have seen the Shining film. I really, really do enjoy that film. I think it's great and a lot of people, overall, objectively, just looking at the film itself, think it is a great film. Overall it's a great film.
Speaker 1:It is, however, a horrible adaptation so horrible that Stephen King hates the Shining. Like the adaptation of the Shining, he absolutely hates that film. He has essentially disowned it and does not claim that Shining as his Shining. It is such a bad adaptation, it is so far off from the book. Stephen King hates it completely. So Mike Flanagan, the writer and director of Dr Sleep, had quite a lot of work to do. So hardcore fans of Stephen King and his book, the Shining specifically, also hate the adaptation, also hate the adaptation. So Mike Flanagan had to come up with a way of essentially fixing the Shining adaptation, like all the things that Stephen King hated about the Shining like, fix that for Dr Sleep the film, but while also remaining true to Dr Sleep the book. So he did talk to Stephen King about how he like what changes he was going to make to the film to make up for the horrible adaptation of the Shining that Stephen King hates.
Speaker 1:Now there is there is another adaptation of the Shining. It was a TV miniseries. I'm not too familiar with that version, but that's the version that Stephen King approves of, but it's just not well known. Like I didn't know that this TV miniseries adaptation of the Shining existed. I shouldn't be surprised, because a lot of Stephen King's books were made into miniseries to accommodate His books are so long, so to accommodate every detail, or as much details found in the books, makes sense to make them into miniseries. So I wasn't aware that that adaptation existed until moshi was like oh, are you going to talk about, like the miniseries? That's actually the version he's seen, if I'm not mistaken. And I was like I didn't know that that existed. So I'm talking about the more well-known stanley hubrick film is the one that Stephen King hates.
Speaker 1:So, knowing Mike Flanagan, knowing that the Shining film, stanley Kubrick film, is the one that people know and recognize and love, he had to appeal to the fans of the film. Since it is a sequel to the Shining and people may not be familiar with the Shining book, he had to create a sequel that fans of the Shining film would like but that was also approved of by Stephen King and people that hated the Shining adaptation. So he had quite a complicated task and this is how he did it. So I'm going to go ahead and give my spoiler alert for Doctor Sleep. You're going to get spoilers for the book and the film, but in some roundabout way you're also going to get a spoiler for the Shining book mainly, but also the Shining film. So if you haven't seen those and you want to read those, just know there's going to be, like there's going to be, spoilers for all of those involved. There just has to be because, in order to talk about the adaptation, I have to talk about the changes that were made to appease Stephen King and fans of the Shining. And so, as I said, mike Flanagan did have this conversation with Stephen King and he told him how he was planning on making up for the Shining film and how badly that was screwed up and how he planned to fix it in the sequel while also being faithful to the book. And Stephen King heard his pitch. He gave his seal approval. So Stephen King does not hate this adaptation. It has Stephen King's seal of approval.
Speaker 1:So, that being said, the biggest thing that Mike Feinig did in order to continue the sequel of the shining Stanley Kubrick shining and appease Stephen King was change the ending of the film. So I will go into a little bit more detail once we get to the end and I will go into those differences. First thing I want to say before we kick it off is that the ending of the Dr Sleep film is actually the ending of the Shining the book. So the way that Dr Sleep the film ends is actually how the Shining book ends. Yeah, so he gave the Overlook Hotel the ending it should have had in the Shining. So that's that. So let's go ahead and kick it off.
Speaker 1:So one thing, that again, because this is technically also a sequel to the Stanley Kubrick film. It has to be a sequel to the Stanley Kubrick film because that is once again the adaptation that people are familiar with. So Mike Flanagan did have to continue some of the things that were started in with. So Mike Flanagan did have to continue some of the things that were started in the Shining film and bring them over into the Doctor Sleep film, and one of those is that Dick Halloran dies in the Shining film. So yes, in the Shining film Dick Halloran dies, but in the Shining book he doesn't. He's still alive, he survives. So in Doctor Sleep Dick is alive.
Speaker 1:Dick also has the Shining, and if anyone's not aware what the Shining is, it's a psychic ability, essentially, or psychic abilities. Yeah, that can manifest in different ways, but if you're psychic you have the Shining. So since Dick is alive in the book, he survived the shining book. He's alive at the beginning of the Dr Sleep book and he is Dan's mentor. So Dan continues to be traumatized by the events of things he experienced while at the Overlook Hotel. He continues to be haunted by the citizens of the Overlook Hotel, so like the different ghosts are making themselves known to him, citizens of the Overlook Hotel, so like the different ghosts are making themselves known to him. So Dick shows him how to create like psychic lock boxes in his mind and trap the ghosts there, and so they can essentially stop haunting him. Dick continues to do that in the Doctor Sleep film. However, he is doing this as a ghost. He's now a ghost himself. He's a nice ghost that Dan trusts, and so they still have that like mentor relationship with each other.
Speaker 1:Except in the book he is alive, but in the film he is a ghost and obviously the book spends a lot more time developing each person, a lot more than the film does. So we get a lot of Dan's backstory before we ever even get introduced to the True Knot, which makes sense. Again, in a book you can take the time to really expand on each idea and spend as many pages or as many chapters as you want, and it doesn't really affect our ability to like, relate or know who these because you're spending so much time. So we spend like a good chunk on just Dan we get it. We spend a good chunk on just Abra. We spent a good chunk on just the true knot before the events that bring all three of those together in the, the film.
Speaker 1:Obviously you have to do this in a lot more time and in films especially, you want to introduce all major players as soon as possible. If you wait too long to introduce them, like we've already grown attached to certain characters, certain things that they've experienced, things like that. So to introduce this to someone too late into the film and expect us to just accept them into the fold, it's not impossible but it's a little bit more difficult. So you want to introduce all the main characters that you want the audience to be familiar with as soon as possible, even if you just introduce them and then don't bring them back until later and you like you do a callback to like remember when we first introduced you to this person, it's like, okay, yeah, I remember them from the beginning. You want to introduce all the major characters as soon as possible so the audience can wrap their minds around who the story is going to focus on and who they should be rooting for or against. So our introduction to the True Knot obviously, as I said, in the book happens later, but in the film obviously it happens within the first 10 minutes. I think it may be 15, but it's definitely not any later than that.
Speaker 1:And the way we are introduced to the true knot and kind of what their deal is is we see a little bit of little boy, dan torrens, after the events of the overlook hotel, and then we cut to a little girl, just this cute little girl, spending time with her family in the park or in the woods, camping or whatever, going on a picnic something, something along those lines, and she's attracted to these people. They kind of find a way to lure her over. She goes over to them and then Rose the Hat, who is the leader of the True Knot, does a magic trick. The little girl's very impressed and then Rose the Hat grabs her and that's when the little girl gets scared and she looks around and more and more people start appearing, and so now she's really freaking out. And then we know that something bad is about to happen to this little girl. And then we cut back to dan little boy dan and then he has an interaction with dick and we see what, as they're talking, it like pans away from them. And then we see a missing poster of the little girl that we just saw with the true knot. So we know that they're not good people, because we last saw this little girl with them and now we know she's missing. So the film, obviously understandably, introduces us to all our main players a lot sooner and we get the ball rolling about their intentions like right off the bat.
Speaker 1:While Stephen King definitely takes his time, Like I said, we spend a lot of chapters and pages just really focusing on Dan and the events after the Overlook and his battle with alcoholism and then until he eventually ends up where he's been sober for a little bit, and then we turn to the True Knot and just their deal, and then a lot of time with Abra and finding out who she is as a little girl. So, yeah, so as I said in the book, you can definitely spend a lot more time really drawing each of these things out, and then he brings them all together in the book and in the film you just got to do all of that, but just a lot faster. So one thing that's mentioned in the book, but we don't see it. So this is more of a tell don't show that happens in the book, while in the film we get the show don't tell. And in film especially, show don't tell is very important.
Speaker 1:It's a lot more interesting to see the events, even if they are difficult to watch, as you will find out what I'm talking about as opposed to being told. So in the book we find out that there is an Abra senses and her shining is the most powerful shining out of any character we've ever met, or that we meet in the book, in this book in particular, and so she gets a sense that there is a boy named Bradley Trevor who is in trouble and she knows what happened to him. She knows that he's tortured, but it doesn't. We don't like we're told like. We know that he's tortured, but it isn't like a graphic scene the way it is in the film and it is an intense scene. My roommate, who she cannot watch that scene Like she's very like. She cannot handle any kind of violence towards children whatsoever and she really hates it when films or TV shows or anything like that include any kind of like abuse towards children. Like that's definitely something she would prefer to be told and not shown. But overall it is better to show things, no matter how distressing they are. There is a limit, there is a limit, I will say there is such a thing as being too exploitative.
Speaker 1:I think this film does a good job of being distressing while not being too exploitative, because we see, like we know, that this little boy is being tortured and we see the only thing we see is Rose. I think we see like one slice on the arm and like blood coming out and then he starts yelling and then we don't see any. We hear the yelling and we do see like we're cutting back and forth between his torture and, yeah, we mainly see his screams and his and his screams of pain and just like these, like these horrible, horrible screams. Which brings me to my favorite behind the scenes story concerning this film. So Rebecca Ferguson, who plays Rose the Hat, is very much like my roommate. She does not like participating in any kind of child abuse storylines and she made an exception for this film because she really loved the script. So she did make an exception for this film, knowing that she would have to torture a little boy at one point.
Speaker 1:And the little boy, bradley Trevor, is played by Jacob Tremblay, who is phenomenal. Like he is so young. He is so young and he is so good. Like I'm so jealous of the talent this kid has. Like now he's 18 and I feel like it's been a while since we've seen him. The last time we heard him was in the Little Mermaid. He voiced Flounder, the live action Little Mermaid, and he voiced Luca in the Pixar film, luca, but we haven't seen him since. I forgot the name of the film. I wasn't interested in that one because that one I felt was like Good Boys, something like that. But that one, like it felt like very vulgar humor.
Speaker 1:I feel like it's a rated R film, but the three leads of that film are like were like 12 or 11. Like this took place. These kids are like middle school kids and like I'm not saying that, like that's not what middle school kids are like. But that's just, personally, where I draw the line. I don't necessarily like seeing children in like rated R storylines for film, because at the like I know they're acting, but at the end of the day I don't know. That's where I draw the line. I don't know what that says about me as a person that I can see these child torture scenes. But I think, like the child torture scene, like I know, that is like obviously I know they're not actually torturing Jacob Tremblay and, no matter how mind-bogglingly impressive his performance was, it's fake. Like that little boy was never being tortured. But like with the rated r stuff, it's like they're actually saying all these vulgar things and being exposed to all these things in reality. And yeah, so I think that's how I can differentiate the two.
Speaker 1:But anyway, back to my favorite on screen behind the scenes story. So, yes, jacob Tremblay, so, so talented, like like one of the most talented little boys ever. And well, he's not a little boy anymore. But if you've seen Room with Brie Larson, he plays her son, so it's literally Brie Larson and him like carrying the entire film. So he's just, he's great, he's fantastic, and so in this scene he is able to like I can see why my roommate is unable to watch this film because he, like his performance, is like you, like it's so good and it was so good while they were filming it, that like, so he's essentially being tortured by nothing but adults. All these adults are watching him get tortured and as he, every time he screams, a little bit of steam gets released, which is what the true knock feeds on. And that keeps them immortal and young. Well, not young, I guess, because there is an old man there, but anyway it keeps them immortal.
Speaker 1:And so, like his performance is just so damn good and it was so damn good that when they were filming that, like all the adults that were quote unquote torturing him were like, oh my God, like they kept filming, but they were really, really affected by his performance, but they were. They were like, oh my gosh, like we're hurting this poor child. Like those are like legitimate screams of pain. This is horrendous. Like why are they not yelling cut this kid is in. Like serious pain. Like they were, like everyone was so into the performance and they were so into his performance and it was so believable that, even though they weren't torturing him and they knew they weren't torturing him like his performance was so convincing that they were like this like someone needs to yell cut. This kid is not okay. Someone needs to yell cut this kid is not okay. Finally, the director yells cut. All the adults are just like, in shock of like, is this kid okay? Meanwhile, the director yells cut.
Speaker 1:Jacob Tremblay sits up like nothing happened with the biggest smile on his face, goes over to give his dad a high five for a great performance and starts digging into Crafty. Yeah, that is probably my favorite behind the scenes story. I think that's great. I think that like good for Jacob Tremblay for being able to get in and out of roles that fast and to have such a believable performance that even the actors were more freaked out by the performance, by the fact that they were torturing him than he was like. They were apparently like he was totally fine. Like I said, he got up, he dug into crafty crafty for those of you that don't know, it's just like craft services, it's the food and snacks that's on set, like the. But like rebecca ferguson and all the other actors that were doing the torturing were kind of like had to take a moment and just sit and like he's OK. Yeah, he's OK, he's fine. I'm not fine, but he's fine. So like they actually had to take a moment to like I love that story and that just speaks to Jacob Tremblay's talent. So I can't wait till we start seeing him more often on screen again, because he like if he was that good back then, imagine how he is now. And he's still very young. I think he's only like 18 or 19, so he's still very, very young, but still like it's been a while. It's been a while. So we have we have that. But yeah, I think that's like my favorite behind the scenes story ever, any film. That's just incredible and just speaks to his talent. But enough about me fangirling over Jacob Tremblay.
Speaker 1:Okay, so in the book Abra sees Bradley Trevor getting tortured and then like she kind of not that she shakes it off, but like she kind of forgets about it and like her parents are kind of just like, oh, they're nightmares, whatever. So she like she just doesn't think much about it and until two years later later, when she comes across the newspaper and she sees a picture of bradley trevor also under like the missing children's page and that causes her to physically throw up, and that's when she's like we need to do something about the true knot. So two years pass between bradley trevor getting kidnapped and tortured. In the book and the rest of the events of the book, while in it's immediate in the film she sees that torture, she knows that she has to do something about it and she starts contacting Dan immediately, which again makes sense. There's a little bit more time to develop what happens in between those two years In the film.
Speaker 1:We have to keep the action going or else this is going to be like a five hour long film and not a lot of people want that. I don't want to sit through a five hour film personally, but I mean I guess I've well, I've sat through a four hour film cause I've sat through Gone with the Wind several times, but anyway, not the point. Gone with the Wind is also like thicker than the Bible and Dr Sleep was probably not that thick. Like it's thick, I listened to it on audio and it was 19 hours long, so I don't know how many pages that would translate to, but it's wait, let me look it up really fast. How many pages is this? 531 pages, so it's not as thick as the Bible, it's like thinner. So, yeah, anyway, sorry, I was thinking I was like to make a book that's as thick as the Bible long, and these cuts so much out of Gone with the Wind and still four hours long. But that makes sense, cause like is long. But that makes sense, cause like is that a sticker than the Bible, but anyway.
Speaker 1:So in the film Abra sees Bradley Trevor getting tortured and immediately she like goes to the New Hampshire town where Dan is and surprises him and is like hey, I'm Abra. And he's like Whoa, okay, like you're a little girl, you can't just come up to a strange man Like first we'll just like stranger danger. But also, like, people know me in this town and what are they going to think when they see me talking to like a random little girl? And she's like, oh, we'll just tell everyone, you're my uncle, make note of that. But anyway, it's just like we'll just tell everyone you're my uncle. And then she like tells him everything and he agrees to help her out to take down the true knot, blah, blah, blah. So in both the film and the book they do communicate through with each other psychically and via. Uh. So dan has one of like the room that he's renting, one of the walls is like that chalkboard paint. So like sometimes, like growing up, abra would write like little messages to him with chalk on that wall. So they've communicated like psychically, like through their minds and then through the chalkboard. So in the book they actually make plans to meet each other and they come up with a way to do that that doesn't make him look suspicious and she still says we'll just say you're my uncle. But in the book they actually plan it out a little bit more before they meet each other and in the film she just like shows up and meets him.
Speaker 1:This is kind of like a throwaway, like not important detail I probably shouldn't have included it but I just thought it was interesting and that is that Rose the Hat meditates inside the RV in the book, while in the film she meditates outside. So she actually gets on the roof of the RV and meditates and so she meditates. Essentially she senses again, the whole thing about the Chuna is that they have to torture and kill children to get this with the shining. It can't be any child, it has to be a child with a shining and let that their steam release and that's how they stay immortal. So she senses the shining somewhere and then she like meditates to like get into the mind of that child and find out like what they look like, where they live and all that so they know where to travel to get to that child. So yeah, just thought I just thought that was interesting that in the book she's inside the trailer and in the film she's like always on the roof of the RV. Yeah, just again kind of throw away, but just something I found interesting. I think I like that she's outside cause she's like grounded in nature, but maybe that's why in the book she's actually meditating inside, because there's like less distractions, because she can kick everyone out and just focus on meditating.
Speaker 1:So in the film, dan only, it's essentially only a team of three. It's Dan, billy Freeman, who is the first person that Dan ever met when he moved to New Hampshire, and Billy's the one that recommended like the AA community that he himself, billy, goes to, and then Abra and then her dad gets involved for a little bit. But it's really just Dan and Billy Freeman and Abra, and then in the book it's actually a bigger team, like it's Dan and John who is Abra's pediatrician. They do some major tasks together and then sometimes it's depending on the task that they have to do. So it's like Dan and John the doctor do one task together major task together. Dan and David, who is Abra's father, do one important task together and then Dan and Billy Freeman team up to do another task together. So it's a much bigger team of adults in the book versus the film.
Speaker 1:It makes sense, I guess, in the film to not include the pediatrician. You don't really miss him in the film. I mean if they added him it would have been fine. But I think it makes sense because I think, like the True Knot, there's so many more members of the True Knot that we have to know. I think, just to keep it a lot more simple, we focus on just Dan and Billy, because those are the two characters we see the most in the film and then, yeah, so I think just to clean it up, make it easier I think that's probably why they got rid of John, but you also, he provides, he's a great help in the book, but like it makes sense to just have Billy take over for some of the stuff that Dan does with either the dad or with Billy. So the thing that Dan does with John the doctor, that, like I said, in the film it's like Dan and Billy doing everything.
Speaker 1:So Dan and Billy go drive to Iowa to where Bradley Trevor is buried, because Abra's like we need to like his parents don't know where he is. We need to like tell his parents and the police where his body is so they can like get some peace in terms of like getting the closure of knowing where what happened to their son and being able to bury him. But they're also going to get a baseball glove that like Bradley Trevor's baseball glove, and they're going to bring that back to Abra and I believe Abra is going to use that to help keep track of, like, the true knot because, like they all touched it. So, yeah, that's like the safest way to do it without getting into their minds, because if you get into someone's mind, they can feel you in there and they can fight. It's just a lot more dangerous. So, yeah, so Billy and Dan drive from New Hampshire all the way to Iowa and they make it seem like it's such an easy trip which, all things considered, it wasn't that bad. I did look it up. I think it was like 12 to 14 hours, which, like all things considered, isn't that bad of a drive. Like it's a long drive, but it's not that bad. Something I could be very wrong, but it was. It was like less than a day, I think, I don't know, but anyway. So they drive to Iowa and then they drive back immediately, which again is like they made it look so easy In the film, in the book, sorry Dan and John the pediatrician actually fly to Iowa while Billy stays behind to watch over Abra, and at this point her parents have no idea what is going on with Abra.
Speaker 1:So Billy stays behind to watch over her and make sure she's safe while Dan and John are out of town, and since her parents have no idea he's involved, have no idea Abra is even doing this, yeah, they. Billy like is watching over her and make sure she's safe while they fly and then fly back, which expensive but probably a little bit less tiring, I don't know. Anyway, in the book the True Knot doesn't know which little girl they're looking for. So Rose the hat like knows where the shining is and she's kind of like these are three options. We have Abra, we have this other little girl name that's like close, who's like Abra's friend and then Abra's other friend. So they know it's one of those three little girls, but they don't know exactly which one they're looking for. In the film they know and that's because they, rose and Abra do have a little bit of a mind battle and at point Abra accidentally like reveals herself to Rose. So Rose knows exactly what Abra looks like and how to get to her and all of that she knows. Like she can sense where the shining is and like which general direction to go in. But, like in the film, they know exactly which little girl they're looking for. And again, that's just excess characters that we don't need included in the film. Let's just cut the friends. So what happens? Is that?
Speaker 1:So in the book Rose has a lot more followers, like there's a lot more members of the True Knot than there are in the film. Like in the film, pretty much so. Like once Rose reveals herself, rose and Amber have their like battle of their psychic battle in their minds. Billy the Crow is like listen, I know you don't you want like this little girl, but you like you need to stay behind because she's going to be able to sense you coming, since you have that connection. So you need to stay behind and the rest of the true not will go to New Hampshire and get her and bring her back and Rose reluctantly stays. So in the film it's just like Rose. And then like I don't know, not as many followers Like they, like Rose is the only one to stay behind, and then all the rest of the followers go to New Hampshire to get Abra. But in the book there's like so many more followers Like Rose stays, like is a lot more willing to stay behind in the book than she is in the film because she still has so many followers that stayed behind with her, while in the and and only like a select few go to new hampshire, including billy the crow.
Speaker 1:But anyway, in both the book and the film abra lures the true knot into to the woods like campground, and she's like this is where I'm gonna be, come get me, this is where I am, come get me. And so they all go to the campground. So it's just Dan and Billy Freeman that go to the campground, while in the film while Abra and her dad stay at her house and they like at this point, like obviously they've already talked to Abra's dad, he can't say he's on board, but it means keeping his daughter safe. Like he's gonna do that, he's gonna help watch over her. So Dan and Billy Freeman go to the campground and Abra and her dad stay at home and Abra is essentially like astral projecting or making it seem like she's at the campground but she's actually safe at home the whole time. In the book, actually, dan John, pediatrician, and Abra's dad all go to the campground While Abra stays behind at her friend's house and Billy stays behind to watch over her. So in the film, like I said, all the followers end up at the campground and they get caught by surprise because they're like, oh there's Abra, let's get her. And then it turns out to just be like a vision that she's making them see, and then so they're caught by surprise and Dan and Billy end up killing all of them except for Billy the crow, because it turns out that Billy the crow knew Abra was at her home the whole time and he goes to her house and kills her dad and knocks her out and kidnaps her and starts driving back to Rose.
Speaker 1:In the book, abra's dad has to go to the campground with Abra and, sorry, abra's dad has to go to the campground with Dan and when John's just there for backup, essentially. But the dad has to go because Abra's essentially like I'm just gonna call it possessing, even though that's not really what it is, but like Abra's taking over Dan's body so that anyone that gets into her see what Dan's seeing. So Dan is like if he's looking out the window they see the campgrounds that they're going to, and then he looks at the dad and so they think that they're infiltrating her mind and that they're seeing what Abra's seeing. But they're actually seeing what Dan is seeing. So it's a little bit more complicated, I feel like in the book, but it still works. And everyone goes to the campground and again they're caught by surprise and they're killed, except for Billy the Crow who, on a whim so one of the characters who they I forgot the name of him, but his nickname is the Chink, which I was just like it even feels wrong for me to say that.
Speaker 1:So that's going to be the only time I say that I don't know why Stephen King named him, that I don't like that he named him that, or why his nickname is that I don't like that, that's his nickname. And then at one point Abra even says you know the, but he's not Asian. And it's like I don't. It's not really not helping. So because it's okay to call someone that because they're not actually Asian, I don't know. That still feels I don't know.
Speaker 1:I didn't like that, but character is, he's the one that's like tracking Abra for them and he's like I can't, I like as he's dying because all the true knots in the book contract measles from Bradley Trevor, so they start like dying off little by little. So as he's dying, he's like I feel like she's at the campground, but I don't know. I have a feeling she's actually not like. I feel like she's actually at her house, which is here, but I I'm not sure, like I'm dying and I'm like slipping in and out of my powers here. So I can't be sure. So everyone's like but you're seeing her at the campground, so let's go to the campground. And Billy the Crow's like just to be safe, I'll go to her house. So everyone's like okay, and so that is how, again in the film, billy the Crow just knows that she's lying to them and goes to her house. In the book he has a reason to suspect that she's at home this whole time. Yeah, so at the campground. In the film there's no. So there are no deaths in the book. There's a lot of deaths in the film. Like a lot.
Speaker 1:I don't necessarily agree with the killing off of definitely one of the characters. I don't know that it was necessary to kill off Billy Freeman. Billy Freeman does die at this campground battle. So there's one of the members of the True Knot.
Speaker 1:Like she has, her shining ability is her power of persuasion, which is why, even though they could have killed her because she wasn't like a little girl, but she was still really young, they decide to turn her into a member of the True Knot because that power is just so like, so special and so like, so so helpful that they decide to keep her alive. So, essentially, she has that like power where she's like, jump off that bridge and you'll do it. Like you have no way of fighting. Like, if she tells you to do it, you're going to do whatever she says, no matter what. So at one point in the final battle, right, she's shot and she's dying, but with her final breath she tells Billy Freeman to shoot himself. So he shoots himself and obviously he dies. That doesn't happen in the book.
Speaker 1:Like I said, billy Freeman is over at Abra's house and there's no deaths, is over at Abra's house and there's no deaths. Abra's dad and John the pediatrician, don't die during this battle. The only casualties are the true-nots. So again, I don't necessarily agree with Billy Freeman's death, but I can kind of see how that does amp up the stakes a little bit, because we have grown, there is a certain attachment we feel towards Billy and we don't want to see him die and we see him die. So that's really sad. The death that I really disagree with is that of Abra's dad, especially because he doesn't die in the book, and it's just one of those things that so in the book Abra is white, but in the film she is biracial, she has a white mom and a black dad and so when Billy the Crow shows up to kidnap her, he kills her dad and kidnaps her. In the book, when he shows up to kidnap Abra, he knocks Billy Freeman out, but he doesn't kill him. Like I said, billy Freeman survives. So he knocks Billy Freeman out and then kidnaps Abra. So yeah, I don't like.
Speaker 1:Once I found out that Abra's dad had no reason to die, it's just I was like I really wish they hadn't killed him off in the film, especially because he is played by a black man. Just there's that trope where, like, if you're watching a horror film, who's going to be the first character to be killed. This is going to be the black man. Black man is always the first one to die, so that's kind of like my thing. It's like we could have knocked him out and still continue the story, especially because we don't really see Abra's. We see Abra's mom at the end of the film. So killing him off really doesn't add anything to the story. Yeah, with Billy Freeman, like I said, it kind of ups the stakes a little bit and we have more of an emotional attachment to Billy Freeman than we do with Abra's dad because we haven't spent that much time with him. But yeah, it's just one of those things. It's like, because of who they cast as her dad, it's just like there's already that trope. Let's work on fixing that trope. You know he's not the first character to die. So no, like the black man did not die first in this particular instance, but he still died when there was no reason to have him be killed off.
Speaker 1:So anyway, in the book, after Abra is kidnapped by Billy the Crow, obviously David Abra's dad is like pissed off, like promise me she'd be safe, blah, blah, blah, and they have this whole thing. And then so he's like you need to take me to see her Momo. So she calls her great-grandmother and so she goes to. So David's like why? And he's like, just take me there, I need to talk to her. And so he like him to see Conchita, who is the great-grandmother, and he meets Abra's mom and Conchita has cancer. She's on her deathbed. So again, he's known as Dr Sleep, which I haven't really touched upon, but yeah, that's fine, we'll talk a little bit more about it later.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so he's known as Dr Sleep. So he helps her die peacefully and as, after she's dead, he absorbs her steam, he absorbs it and is holding it for later. He's not using it for immortal powers, he's just holding that steam for later. But as she's dying, he finds out that he and Abra's mom are actually related. They're actually half brother, half sister. They have the same dad. So Abra, without realizing it, was calling him Uncle Dan. So there's where that Uncle Dan ties in. So, yeah, so it turns out that he really is her Uncle Dan. So there's where that Uncle Dan ties in. So, yeah, so it turns out that he really is her Uncle Dan. But we never this connection is never made in the film Like they never. We never ended up finding out that they're actually related, anything like that. So, yeah, just throwing that out. And then after that he's able, he kills Crow Daddy.
Speaker 1:I will say the way that Crow Daddy is killed in the film is like so satisfying. So it's one of those things where Abra is drugged but like, as she's like coming back into consciousness, dan reaches out to her and is like hey, I know, I told you to never let anyone into your mind, ever. That is the most precious part of you. But I need you to trust me and let me into your mind. And she says okay, and so at that point he takes over her body and he's like taunting Crow Daddy as Abra.
Speaker 1:And then along the way Crow Daddy realizes whoa, like, have I been saying Billy the Crow this whole time? There's no Billy the Crow, there's just Crow Daddy and Billy Freeman. So let me correct that now. I'm sorry, that's like going back and listening to it. Just know that if I say Billy the Crow, I meant Crow Daddy, and Billy Freeman is a good guy. Crow Daddy and Billy Freeman, crow Daddy, billy, but anyway, anyway. So, yeah, so he there's a lot of the blanks, like Rose, the Hat, whatever his name, the ch, and then we have Crow Daddy. So yeah, anyway, so that's why I say the Crow. But anyway, moving on, so, yes, he's taunting Crow Daddy.
Speaker 1:And then, along at some point Crow Daddy realizes like, oh damn, like this is not Abra, this is Dan Torrance. And Dan is like oh yeah, it's Dan Torrance, by the way, didn't anyone ever teach you to wear a seatbelt? Crow Daddy realizes he's not wearing a seatbelt and in that instant Dan uses his psychic powers to like turn the wheel and crash into a tree. So Crow Daddy is thrown out of the van and he dies. And then Dan is like wait for me, they're like in the middle. So again, they're in New Hampshire. By this point Crow Daddy had driven them. They're somewhere in New York. So Dan is like I, like you're going to be waiting for me for a while. I'm sorry about that, but I'm leaving my house now and I'm coming to go get you. So Abra is waiting like in the woods for Dan to come get her, but obviously, like that's the last thing we see.
Speaker 1:And then we cut to. They're in the car together, driving to Colorado to go to the Overlook Hotel. There's a lot of driving in this film. I just realized they do drive to the location where the Overlook Hotel was in the book. But anyway, and yeah.
Speaker 1:So at this point Abra in the film, abra's mom, comes home and she finds her daughter missing and her husband dead. And so Abra gets in touch with her at one point and is like I can't tell you where you are, where I am, but I'm safe. And then she hangs up on her and then so we're at peace with the mom. Until for now, I mean, the mom's not at peace, but like the audience is like all right, the mom knows what's going on. But in the book Abra doesn't go to the location of the Overlook Hotel. She challenges Rose to a battle there, but it's just Dan and Billy Freeman that go there. Abra stays behind and Astro projects to the location where the Overlook Hotel used to be. So we're getting to the ending of the film, which is the ending of the book.
Speaker 1:So just know that in the book the Overlook Hotel is long gone and where the Overlook Hotel used to be is now the campground of the True Knot. So Dan and Billy Freeman are on their way to the campground, while Abra is with her mom and dad and just astral projecting to the campground, which this is the second time I've talked about astral projection in this podcast and I really don't like it. I don't know, I just don't like it. I think that it's not a common trope but it is like a mini trope and I'm discovering. I don't like it, I don't like it, let's stop.
Speaker 1:I like it much better that Abra went physically with Dan, and now I understand it would be a lot more difficult for the parents to allow her to travel physically with them, which is why, which is why Dan just took her in the film, essentially. But yeah, I guess, but so, yeah. So her parents, like even it's still dangerous because, like, like battle of the minds, bad things can happen but at least physically, like your parents know where she is, they can keep an eye on her. So she astral projects to the old location of the Overlook Hotel, as I said, that's the campground of the True Knot and, as I said, rose is there with a lot more followers. In the film, rose and her followers are well well, it's just Rose at this point, because all her followers are dead but they do travel and live at different campgrounds.
Speaker 1:I don't know what campground they're staying at in the film, but she knows to go to the Overlook Hotel. So like they get to the Overlook Hotel and Dan is like I need to go inside the hotel, like the hotel is very dangerous, so I'm going to go inside. You have to wait out. Like you're going to stay in the car and be a lookout. Like there's only one road to and from the hotel. So like there's no way she can surprise us, even though she's like, at this point, blocked her mind. Like there's no surprising us because you're going to see her car driving up the road. When you see her car driving up the road, like honk, so I know that she's on her way and then come join me inside the hotel. But like I don't want you walking around the hotel any longer than you need to be, because this place is hella scary and hella dangerous. And she's like okay.
Speaker 1:So he like goes and he goes down to the basement and he like turns on the boiler to like overdrive and then Abra honks and they make they go inside and in the book, once he and Billy are at the campground, dan uses Conchita's steam diseased steam. Again, she had cancer, so it's diseased steam. He's been holding it this whole time and he releases it once they reach that area and it kills all the True Knot except for Rose. With Rose, he and Abra are having a psychic battle amongst the three of them and then, with the help of Billy Freeman and the ghost of Jack Torrance's dad, they are able to push Rose off of a cliff and she falls to her death.
Speaker 1:But in the film, oh, it's a lot more satisfying because he and Rose are fighting and then at one point she's like overpowering him and she starts like getting his steam and she's like, oh, are you going to kill me? She's like taunting him. I don't remember exactly what she says, but she's like, oh, are you gonna kill me? She's like taunting him I don't remember exactly what she says which is like, oh, are you gonna kill me? Like you, there's nothing you can do about it. And he's like no, but they are.
Speaker 1:And then he like releases all the ghosts that he has in his the lock boxes in his head, all the ghosts he's had locked up in his mind. He releases them all and they all go for rose and they kill her and or like they come close to kill her, but they don't like kill her completely, because then Rose attempts to possess Dan and he starts like choking Abra, and Abra's like this isn't you? And then he's like I'm being possessed. So he's like Abra run. And then. So she like runs out of the hotel and Dan goes down to the boiler that's turned up and releasing boiler gases and he like lights a lighter and the Overlook Hotel goes up in flames. And that is how the Shining book ends. It's actually Jack Torrance, who's been fighting his demons the whole time, that eventually he's able to come to enough senses to allow his wife and his son to escape the Overlook Hotel, before he goes down to the basement and lights up the gases that the Boilers is releasing and causes an explosion that makes the Overlook Hotel go down in flames. So that is actually how the Shining book ends and that so clearly.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to spoil the ending of the Shining film, but just know that by spoilers I just meant you're going to find out that this is not how the Shining film ends. So, yeah, so that is how the Shining ends, but in the book the Overlook Hotel is long gone, so they kill Rose and instead be cut to a few years later, when Dan is essentially part of the family. So they're a nice, big, happy family. He's celebrating Abra's birthday and he tells her, like we have a history of alcoholism in our family and we have a history of alcoholism in our family and we have a history of, like, anger issues in our family. Don't give in to either one of those. And she's like I won't. And then he goes to the hospice where he works and provides one last peaceful death before the book ends. But in the film, since Dan dies, he becomes he kind of becomes what did Caloran was to him. He becomes Abvery's mentor, just as a ghost. And that is the film versus the book. So, yeah, there are a lot of changes, but there are a lot of things that they like.
Speaker 1:I'm very impressed with how Mike Flanagan balanced the like, staying true to the book while also staying true to the film adaptation, which is the medium that most people are going to be the most familiar with when it comes to these characters and the Overlook Hotel and everything. So I thought he balanced it all really, really well. He redeemed the Shining for Stephen King by ending it the way the book ended and, yeah, stephen King I think that's what allowed him to give such an enthusiastic blessing to this adaptation was that Mike Flanagan fixed what Stanley Kubrick ruined essentially. So, yeah, what I really like about the book is that we get more of the Dr Sleep aspect. So I said Dan is called Dr Sleep because he works at a hospice and the cat Asriel knows. Essentially he's like one of those cat like I'm pretty sure Asriel is inspired by that cat who actually lives in a nursing home, I don't remember where, but essentially when this cat visits you you know that you're going to die. Like this cat just knows when you're in your final moments, and so he's. This cat has provided a lot of comfort to elderly nursing home patients' final hours. So I'm pretty sure that's what Asriel is inspired by and so we get a lot more of those scenes, those moments in the book. In the film it's brought up once. We see him teaming up with Asriel once and him earning the nickname Dr Sleep. That's the only time it's brought in Again. It's kind of not as important to the storyline of the film, which is why I can see why they didn't spend too much time on that. But I really really like that. The book really, really focuses on how he got the name Dr Sleep. We see him go through the cycle of being Dr Sleep several times and the book ends with him being Dr Sleep by providing comfort to one last patient. And then the book ends and that's our final image. It's Dan Torrance as Dr Sleep. So I really really like that aspect of the book.
Speaker 1:Now, I am not. I do like Stephen King's books. I do like Stephen King as an author, but his books are kind of hit or miss for me. Some books I really really like, some books are okay. This one started off really really strong for me. I would say like the first two thirds I was really, really enraptured and really into the story. And then the last third of the book I was kind of just like will this ever end? This is going on forever. I feel like we can like cut some of these things and just get to the point, and I feel like that's how I feel Like the Stephen King books that I this one I thought was better than okay this one. This one is not just an okay read for me, but most of Stephen King's books that I find to be just okay.
Speaker 1:There reaches a point where I'm just like let's keep going. Let's get to the point where why are we still here, like, come on, let's keep it moving. So, yeah, I feel like sometimes his books can be a little bit too long for my liking and I feel like sometimes they get, yeah, that there, there's just. There just gets to a point where I'm like let's keep it moving, like I don't like this is, I'm just not interested in this. So, yeah, so I did reach that point, like I said, at on the last third of the book, which is like a shame because that's that's where, like most of that, the action is happening. But it did start losing me a little bit towards the end and I will say there are certain aspects of Stephen King's writing, especially when it comes to his female characters, that I'm like it's just very obvious that it's a man writing a female character. So, like there was now I will say disclaimer to what the point I'm about to make to this, and that is there does reach a point in any.
Speaker 1:There does reach a point in which anyone that can get a period like you reach that age, you reach puberty, and there just comes a point in which, no matter what, you're pregnant. Oh, I feel nauseous today. Are you pregnant? No, I just feel nauseous. Oh, my stomach hurts. Oh my gosh, are you pregnant. No, my stomach just hurts. Uh, it's just like, no matter what, no matter what.
Speaker 1:It's really really annoying and really, really frustrating because, no matter what you're pregnant and it's just like, just because I'm a child bearing age doesn't mean I'm pregnant. Like, please can you take my concern seriously? And it's just like I feel nauseous because I just ate something bad, not because I'm pregnant. My stomach hurts because I just ate too much cake yesterday or whatever, not because I'm pregnant. So there just reaches a point and it's just really annoying because that's always. It's like are you pregnant? No, I'm not pregnant. I just don't feel good and sometimes, just like people who can't give birth don't feel good, I don't feel good. So that is a very big frustrating and I feel like a lot of people can relate to that because, yes, there just comes a point in which, like, no matter how you feel, you're pregnant and it's just like I'm really um, but that being said, abra is think like 12 or 13 in the book, so, and I know she can technically get pregnant at that age. Unfortunately, there have been cases where really young girls get pregnant at that age. So I'm not saying it's impossible, but, that being said, even okay, my caveat Once you're like puberty, in high school, like middle school, people don't suspect that you're pregnant as much.
Speaker 1:That's still not like the first thing that comes to their mind. Once you're in high school, it's like you're pregnant. It's like I don't even have a boyfriend. How do you expect me to be pregnant? But anyway, so, yeah, so she's, she can technically get pregnant at that age. But like, she is still at that age where she's still young enough where most people would not think automatically you're pregnant.
Speaker 1:So there comes a point in which she tells her dad like I need to talk to you about something serious. And her dad's like oh my gosh, are you pregnant? And she's like no, I'm not pregnant. And she's like she finds it funny, and I guess it is funny like the first time someone asks you that. But after that it's just like no, I'm not Okay, sorry Enough. Clearly, clearly, like, clearly, so, yeah, so the. And that's like the first thing her dad asks her. And I'm just like again, not that she can't be pregnant at that age, but like why is that your first instinct? Like I, like if my nieces came to me at that age and said they had something serious to tell me, my first thought would not be they're pregnant. It just, it just wouldn't be. If they ended up revealing that they're pregnant, then I'd be very, very shocked. I'm like, okay, but that would not be my initial thought, but anyway, just just wanted. So there's like that aspect.
Speaker 1:And then there's, there was like so at one point abra ends up. So, as I said, when dan and her dad and john pediatrician are going to the campground to ambush the true, not abra stays behind at a friend, a friend's house, with Billy Freeman just staying outside to like watch her. And then she reaches, she gets overconfident and she's like everyone's dead, I'm good to go home. So she goes home and Billy Freeman's like what the hell, abra? And she's like we're good. And then so obviously she's not good and she ends up getting kidnapped at her house. But anyway.
Speaker 1:So there there's also a point in which she like, while she's staying at her friend's house, she's just like oh, I just feel really sick. And the mom is like, oh, is it that time of month, sweetie? And she's like, yeah, that's what that is, I don't know. It just didn't ring authentic to me. Mind you, I never felt sick when I stayed with my friends, but I and like I would feel comfortable enough telling my friends' moms that if I was like on my period I'm not feeling well because of that, but just the way like the whole conversation went, I was like that just doesn't ring true to me as someone. That just doesn't ring true to me. I don't know what it was about it, but it just didn't ring true to me. So there's just like certain things that I'm just like and like. This is not the first like and like. This is not the first like.
Speaker 1:This is like a very minor offense in all of Stephen King's history. There are a lot more glaring issues with his writing of female characters in other books, but it's just something that stood out to me because it's not the first time that I've had an issue with his like the dialogue or the way female characters are written, but anyway, dialogue or the way female characters are written, but anyway. But what I really really really liked about the film is I really liked how Rose the Hat was defeated and I just like because in the book Dick and in the film Dick also tells Dan like these if these ghosts are haunting, you just lock them up. And he locks them up and they just live locked up in his head, but they just stay there. So I really like that.
Speaker 1:In the film, mike Flanagan found a way to bring it back to the ghosts that are locked up in Dan's brain by having him release them back into the Overlook Hotel and that's how he defeats Rose, like I thought that was. I really really really liked that change and I thought that was really really good change and I'm glad he made that change. Like I just thought that was because I missed that. Like I'm kind of sad that in the book they kind of just stay locked up and they don't come back in any shape, way or form. But in the film film we see him locking up the characters and we see the amount of lock boxes in his head just grow longer and longer and finally he finds a way to use them, these ghosts that have been haunting him. He finds a way to use them to help him conquer the Overlook Hotel. So I really really liked that change.
Speaker 1:But, that being said, I rated the film 3.5 stars and I rated the book four stars. So the winner is the book. Yeah, despite my issue with the last third of the book, I felt like the book was really, really strong and I really liked meeting all the different characters and seeing Dan team up with Billy and John and her parents and finding that family that he thought he had lost once his mom died and it's. And yeah, and as much as I love that change I think that's my favorite change that locked the ghosts coming out and killing Rose. It just I do have to go with the book. So the winner is the book. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Books vs Movies. If you liked it, please leave it a rating and a review and be sure to follow for to know when the next episode comes out. And I don't know what I'm reviewing next time, but I'm excited for everything that's headed your way, so be sure to follow to see when those episodes are released and I will see you next time. Bye.