"He just rode around, radio blaring, without a care in the world, except for Christine."
Christine is not regarded as Stephen King's nor John Carpenter's best work but to me it's certainly one of their signature tales. At first glance it wouldn't seem like a film with a lot of subtext behind it, I mean, it's about a killer car. But after an inebriated screening I found there to be a lot more below the surface.
The film follows a young high schooler named Arnie and his only friend, Dennis. Arnie gets violently kicked around at school and just when he's ready to give up he finds Christine. Over the course of the film he fixes her up but gets uncomfortably close. He soon disconnects himself from Dennis and his own family. Then the bodies of his bullies begin turning up with tire marks leaving the scenes.
Christine was the first film I ever watched high. Today While I can watch a movie high and still follow along pretty well now, at the time it was hard to keep up. But that first watch was gloriously cheesy yet undoubtedly eerie. Most of my focus was geared toward the fact that this introverted quiet kid basically devolves into this pretentious jerk reminiscent of dark Peter Parker from Spider-Man 3. The film is also constantly comparing Christine to an actual person and I found myself just going with it. When you accept the car as a living, breathing entity the film instantly becomes more interesting. Had I been sober I don't think I'd be as willing to go along with this.
The main grab to watching this film high are the scenes with the car. There are some astoundingly good practical car transformations and chases. The scenes in which it slowly stalks its prey with 50s music quietly playing on its radio are an especially good treat. They really spared no expense when it came to the star of the show. Almost every shot with Christine utilizes the 35mm anamorphic lens with tons of lens flares to make those headlights look even more sinister. The fun factor of this film for stoned viewers is high but there's still a lot more to it.
Over the course of the film I picked up an ongoing pattern of sexism that seemed to go beyond the fact that the film may be dated. While Christine is definitely alive she's still just a car, an object of Arnie's affection. The way all the men describe the women they want to go out with mirrors some of the lines about Christine and it got me wondering if the film was trying to draw connections to the objectification of women and the male fascination with automobiles. I couldn't stop thinking about this for almost the entire movie. Christine herself even begins to get jealous towards Leigh, a girl Arnie starts dating and mercifully demeans. While this subplot can seen as uncomfortable I found it a bit hilarious and revealing about the film's messages.
Christine is by far one of my favorite John Carpenter films, perhaps even preferred over Halloween but certainly not The Thing. In terms of the inebriated experience though this film as at the top of the list. It's cheesy, creepy and just plain fun. It offers plenty to pounder over while you're smoking but never to the point where the film becomes depressing. When watching this film sober all I saw was an evil car killing people, when I was high I saw the same thing but it connected to me more. Everyone will have a different experience with Christine but thanks for listening to mine.
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