📹 "Children of the Corn" (film)

Children of the Corn.

CHILDREN OF THE CORN is a horror movie written by Stephen King, and was first published in a March, 1977 issue of Penthouse magazine, and later appeared as part of his Night Shift collection.

King was born in September 21, 1947, in Portland, Maine, is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy.

His father, Donald Edwin King, was a merchant seaman. King's mother, Nellie Ruth was born in Scarborough, Maine.

When Stephen King was two years old, his father left the family under the pretense of "going to buy a pack of cigarettes", leaving his mother to raise Stephen and his older brother, David, by herself, sometimes under great financial strain. The family moved to De Pere, Wisconsin, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Stratford, Connecticut. When King was 11, the family returned to Durham, Maine, where his mother cared for her parents until their deaths. She then became a caregiver in a local residential facility for the mentally challenged. King was raised Methodist and remains religious as an adult.

As a child, King apparently witnessed one of his friends being struck and killed by a train, though he has no memory of the event. Some commentators have suggested that this event may have psychologically inspired some of King's darker works, but King makes no mention of it in his memoir On Writing (2000).

King related in detail his primary inspiration for writing horror fiction in his non-fiction Danse Macabre (1981), in a chapter titled "An Annoying Autobiographical Pause".

King attended Durham Elementary School and graduated from Lisbon Falls High School. He displayed an early interest in horror as an avid reader of EC's horror comics, including Tales from the Crypt (he later paid tribute to the comics in his screenplay for Creepshow). He began writing for fun while still in school.

From 1966, King studied at the University of Maine, graduating in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. That year, his daughter Naomi Rachel was born. He wrote a column, Steve King's Garbage Truck, for the student newspaper.

King married with Tabitha. They have three children, Naomi, Joseph Hillstrom King and Owen King, and four grandchildren. King's addictions to alcohol and other drugs were so serious during the 1980s. King's family and friends staged an intervention, dumping on the rug in front of him evidence of his addictions taken from his office including beer cans, cigarette butts, grams of cocaine, Xanax, Valium, NyQuil, dextromethorphan (cough medicine) and marijuana.

  

Sociological Criticism:

Society: The movie presents some society groups in which the predominant is the children, they have control of Gatlin that was the little town where the children live. They are a group of demonic cultists.

      Power: the power belongs to the children, neither adults have part in the movie.

    Economy: The economy of the town is mostly agricultural, and the town is surrounded by vast cornfields. One particular year the corn crop fails and the people of Gatlin turn to prayer in an attempt to ensure a successful harvest. In the past, the corn suffered blight and fell victim to natural forces such as pests and dry spells. 

    

    Government: (dictatorship, communism): as we have seen before the government in the town is directed by Isaac helped by Job and Sarah, the only man who appears in the movie is an old man who refuses to help Burt and Vicky due to his secret agreement with the children to supply them with oil and gasoline in exchange for his life. He was threatened. However, Malachai breaks the pact against Isaac's will and murders the old man and his dog once Burt and Vicky leave.

Mythological / Archetypal Criticism:

The characters faces many situation, someone are really bad, and they are organized to kill every adult person caused by town´s sin.

Two characters, Burt and Vicky go through many conflicts for children ideology when try to escape from children’s violence.

•      Strong Communal Beliefs:

                Belief in Supreme Being: creator, judge, religion.

Religion: The beginning of the story is narrated by a boy named Job (Robby Kiger) who tells us that he was the only kid in church that day because the other kids were out in the field with Isaac – child prophet, preacher and harbinger of doom. There are two additional child characters - the main prophet Isaac plays a major role as the leader of the cult and Sarah (biblical names) - who are secretly against the cult. They belief in “He, Who walks behind the Rows” is in the name of a prosperous corn harvest.

Isaac Chroner, takes all the children of Gatlin into a cornfield and preaches to them about the prophecies of a strange, bloodthirsty incarnation of the Abrahamic God called "He Who Walks behind the Rows"

Creator: children belief in “He, Who walks behind the Rows” who was the creator of everything also who blesses the corn fields.

Judge: God, but in the earth is Isaac who controls every child in the town.

•      Images:

                Color Red: blood, sacrifice; Isaac, through his 17-year-old lieutenant Malachai, leads the children in a revolution, brutally killing all of the adults in the town. Over the ensuing years, the children take any adults passing through as sacrifices. Also they sacrifice themselves when they turn 19, sharing their blood with the congregation.

Link of the Trailer (2009): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv9lOK0kc9I

🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽🌽