This article by Kat Rosenfield reviews it and looks at the recent authoritarian turn King seems to have taken. And if I may, there are a few other things that might be going on here. For one thing, having that much money would tend to isolate you, even if you don't want it too. This is the root problem of a lot of celebrities (and wannabes) who express disgust at the corona-spreading MAGA hat people they assume make up the general public. You could call this A-List Syndrome.
Addiction might play a role too. People with substance abuse issues often displace that energy onto other foci. Social media, the chance to gain millions of Twitter followers within days and have them hanging on your every word? It's basically free crack.
2 comments:
As someone who has never read any of Stephen King's books* it's difficult for me to address the changes he's gone through over the years. Having read what Kat had to say about his seeming reversal regarding his characters attitudes about government authority I do understand that.
One of the commenters wrote, 'he thinks that he has become so important that his opinion on things outside of scary stories matters' makes a deal of sense. I'm sure you're right that having too much money tends to isolate a person.. not everyone (ie, J.K. Rowling) but definitely most. Also you're right about addiction whether it's drugs or keeping up with the political twitterati (interesting changes there under Musk and how can they cancel him?).
I noticed there were several complaints about 'boomers' being cowardly; trying to hold on to powerful positions; being neutered revolutionaries etc. As a first year member of that stupidly named club what I do recall it that there were very few among my generation who actively did something other than getting on board the gravy train at their earliest opportunity. We may have been mistaken in not doing so but I'll never regret taking the path of examining the evidence before making my own decisions.
Yes, it was a good article. Thanks for linking to it.
*The Shining was the only one. When the kid found the green woman in the bathtub I woke Jer up to tell me the rest. No sleeping with that image in my mind.
King got a good break having his first novel turned into a hit movie by Brian de Palma, but he was a good writer too. And a canny one. There was a niche that no one else had really seen before and he filled it. You could compare him to Ray Bradbury--who was probably an even better writer--but King melded the horror novel and the novel of middle class unease that really struck a nerve with people.
If I remember right his political side came to the fore first in the 80s when he endorsed Gary Hart. (I'm not sure if it was the '84 or '88 run, but that's not really the point.) It was all well and good at the time. That is, it's one thing for celebrities to have political opinions they drop during interviews. It's another when they can just blather on to the public all day every day. As for Musk, he's smart enough to know how far he can push things, even if a lot of users resent him.
The whole idea of generations is artificial because there's no natural start and stop points for human reproduction. As a kind of social signifier the concept might have some use, but it's limited. I suspect that history will show that the Baby Boom generation had more of an in to getting wealth and political power because the war on the working classes was in an earlier stage at that point in history. Started, but not much accomplished.
I'm glad you liked it. Hoped so.
* It's been a while since I read the book, so I only have a vague memory of the scene. Can see how it might put you off, though.
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