Y'know what really gets my goat about the Flanagan Carrie? The fact that the modern angle could 1000% add to the story's themes if he was fucking sticking to them. Because yeah, Carrie White is the exact kind of teenager that would get put in those "cringe" tiktok compilations (fat, has a lot of acne, dresses oddly by the standards of those around her, is very awkward, etc.) or get nonconsensually filmed for a prank or even for just existing. Chris is the exact kind of teenager who would be a wannabe influencer doing lifestyle content and uploading "embarrassing" videos of her peers. Margret could very easily be turned into a christian mom vlogger filming every aspect of Carrie's abuse and getting praised by other whackos, which only further emboldens her to do worse. The current social media environment would eat all that shit up and come back for seconds, which makes very good commentary on the complicity of both the people around Carrie and the audience, because there are plenty of people who have laughed at a "cringe" video, who have commented something positive on a mom invading her children’s privacy for views because they didn’t think about it, or watch commentary or reaction content about it, which in the end just encourages more people to make inflammatory content for views.
Carrie is bullied because she doesn't fit into the neat box of what people think a girl should, an issue that would be massively compounded by modern social media, and not just in the sense of makeup and fashion (though that is also a part), because tiktok and instagram (what I have experience with and what I can only assume the kids in the show are using) have mountains of content aimed at young women designed (maliciously or not) to funnel them into becoming a conventionally attractive trendy likeable #girl'sgirls, but not actually read any feminist theory or do any real self-reflection. I find it hard to imagine that the Margret we meet in the book would let Carrie have a phone or access to social media, which would push her even further away from this ideal. Carrie is also deeply religious, so even otherwise understanding people would call her a pick-me or say that she is participating in her own oppression and deserves what is happening to her because that's the no-nuance kind of leftism that gets a lot of young people (I say like I'm old lmao) and that thrives on short-form platforms like tiktok, or even twitter, where it's easier to have a snarky comeback than it is to have an actual discussion.
All of that could be really interesting! And plenty of other stuff I'm too tired to articulate right now! Like Sue's internal struggle of being expected to be the white-picket-fence Ideal Woman vs. the fact that she may not know what she wants but its not that! Or the way the platforms themselves encourage the kind of bullying and abuse Carrie suffers because it makes them more money! Even just for formatting you could have the real life stuff interspersed with true crime podcast clips (or reels, tiktoks, etc.) talking about Prom Night!
Conclusion: Mike Flanagan is a bitch-ass motherfucker.
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