< Carrie

Carrie/Characters


Carrie White

Played by:
Sissy Spacek (1976 version)
Angela Bettis (2002 version)
Chloë Grace Moretz (2013 version)

Carietta "Carrie" N. White is a shy, lonely teenage girl who is frequently bullied and abused by both her classmates and by her fundamentalist Christian mother Margaret. Her life seems to be getting better once the attractive, kind-hearted athlete Tommy asks her to the prom, but then it goes right back into hell, and then some. She possesses the ability to manipulate objects with only her thoughts, which makes angering her... not advisable.

The principal: We're really sorry about this incident, Cassie...
Carrie: IT'S CARRIE!

"You gave me darkness instead of love, Momma; now I'm going to give you darkness, so you can join whatever god lives there."

Margaret White

Played by:
Piper Laurie (1976 version)
Patricia Clarkson (2002 version)
Julianne Moore (2013 version)

Margaret White (maiden name Brigham) is the mother of Carrie. She is a hardcore fundamentalist Christian who feels that all sex, even within marriage, is sinful, and regularly abuses her daughter in the name of God.

  • Abusive Mother
  • Adaptational Attractiveness: While not as extreme an example as Carrie, in both movies she was played by actresses far more attractive than the white-haired, heavyset woman she was described as in the book (Piper Laurie in '76, Patricia Clarkson in '02).
  • Asshole Victim
  • Ax Crazy
  • Christianity Is Catholic: In the '76 film, a lot of the religious iconography that shows up in her house is Catholic, even though it's strongly implied in the book that her beliefs are rooted in fundamentalist Protestantism of the old-time Puritan variety, which has... issues with the Catholic Church.
  • Crucified Villain Shot: In the original film, Carrie kills her by crucifying her against the doorway with kitchen knives, in the style of the St. Sebastian figurine in her chapel.
  • Evil Matriarch
  • Freud Was Right: Listen to her screams in the '76 movie as she dies -- it sounds like she's getting off. Her sexual repression was discussed prior to this, so it's not as if there wasn't a reason for it to sound that way.
  • The Fundamentalist: Taken to its most insane extreme. In the book, she's considered crazy even by other Christian fundamentalists.
  • Hollywood Heart Attack: In the book and in the '02 version, Carrie kills her by psychically squeezing her heart until it stops beating.
  • Knight Templar
  • Knocking on Heathens' Door: In the original, she is seen doing this at Mrs. Snell's house.
  • Large Ham: Piper Laurie's performance in the '76 version. Laurie felt that her performance was so over-the-top that the film had to be a comedy... before she saw the finished product, of course.
  • My Beloved Smother
  • Religious Stereotype: She is every stereotype of Christian fundamentalists rolled into one and mixed liberally with raving insanity.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Everything she does in the story, from visiting people's doors to attempting murder, is because she believes she's helping people in desperate need of saving. Her intentions are good, but her actions are reprehensible.
  • Woman in Black: In the novel, she usually wears black clothing. She's evil, of course.
    • In the '76 film she not only wears black, she wears a cape.

Sue Snell

Played by:
Amy Irving (1976 version, and its sequel)

Kandyse McClure (2002 version)

Gabriella Wilde (2013 version)

Susan "Sue" Snell is a popular high school student who feels guilty about taking part in the humiliation of Carrie in the showers. To make up for it, she asks her athlete boyfriend Tommy to take Carrie to the prom instead of her, choosing to stay home on prom night.

  • Alliterative Name
  • The Atoner
  • Les Yay: A case can be made for her and Carrie in the remake, where she helps Carrie look good for the prom and gives her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. She even jokes with Carrie about being a lesbian.
  • Mind Rape: At the end of the book, a dying Carrie does this to her, angry about the prank that she thought Sue had pulled on her... only to find that she had meant her no harm, and that she hadn't planned to humiliate her at the prom. She even lets her into her mind intentionally to prove this to her.
  • Only Sane Girl.
  • Race Lift: She was played by black South African-Canadian actress Kandyse McClure in the '02 version.
  • Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome
  • Teen Pregnancy: Suggested in the book. During the climax, it's strongly implied that Carrie uses her powers to cause her to have a miscarriage.
  • There Are No Therapists: Averted in the sequel, where she is the therapist.
  • Zen Survivor: She's become this in the sequel.

Tommy Ross

Played by:
William Katt (1976 version)
Tobias Mehler (2002 version)

Thomas "Tommy" Everett Ross is one of the stars of the school's baseball team and the boyfriend of Sue, and their relationship has recently become more intimate. After taking part in Carrie's humiliation in the shower, Sue, feeling sorry for what she did, asks Tommy to take Carrie to the prom in order to make up for it, to which Tommy reluctantly agrees.

  • Genius Bruiser: In the novel, he's a straight-A student and a talented amateur writer who has had his poems published in several journals, and wants to get a university degree before pursuing a career in professional baseball. Both film adaptations retain his niceness, but turn him into a Brainless Beauty for no readily apparent reason.
  • Lovable Jock: In addition to being a star athlete, he's also a very good-hearted, likable person, and one of the few people who stands up for Carrie, though he is reluctant to take her to the prom.
    • Jerk Jock: However, as shown by the book's Scrapbook Story, he's treated like this afterwards (along with Sue) so that the people investigating the incident can have an easy scapegoat.
  • Only Sane Man: He seems to be this at the prom. Too bad he gets knocked out before the disaster occurs.

Rita Desjardin / Miss Collins / Miss Gardiner

Played by:
Betty Buckley (1976 version)
Rena Sofer (2002 version)

Rita L. Desjardin is the gym teacher at the high school, who feels a mix of pity and annoyance at Carrie for her social awkwardness. After Carrie is humiliated in the showers, Rita is quick to punish those responsible with a week's detention, with her, after school, with failure to show up leading to one being barred from the prom.

In the 1976 film, her name was changed to Miss Collins, while in the Broadway adaptation, she became Miss Gardiner. The 2002 remake kept the name she had in the books, but changed the spelling to "Desjarden".

  • Air Vent Passageway: She and some students use this in the '02 version to escape the burning gym.
  • The Atoner: In the book, this is why she retires from teaching after the prom.
  • Composite Character: The musical combined her with the principal.
  • Death by Adaptation: In the '76 version.
  • Does Not Like Men: In the book and the '02 version, she says that the reason why the administration made her tone down her punishment was because all of them were men, and that none of them would understand what Carrie had gone through.
  • Hot Teacher: Particularly in the '02 version.
  • Lesbian Jock: She was played as one in the '76 version. Subverted in that she's not a Butch Lesbian, but rather, has a very feminine appearance, and the bulk of her interaction with Carrie is complimenting her looks and giving her beauty tips. She also mentions having taken a date to her own prom, although this doesn't rule out her being bisexual or a closeted lesbian -- she most likely would have attended her prom in The Sixties, before the gay rights movement lifted most of the taboos surrounding homosexuality.
  • Stern Teacher: She doesn't hesitate to give her class a week of boot-camp detention and threaten them with expulsion from the prom as punishment for humiliating Carrie. However, she drops this attitude when she's with Carrie, treating her with the respect that nobody (save for Sue and Tommy) gives her.

Chris Hargensen

Played by:
Nancy Allen (1976 version)
Emilie de Ravin (2002 version)

Christine "Chris" Hargensen is the Alpha Bitch of the school, and Billy's girlfriend. She leads the class as they humiliate Carrie in the shower. Feeling that Carrie is responsible for her misfortune, she sets out to get revenge on her after finding that she is going to the prom with Tommy, enlisting her Girl Posse, her boyfriend Billy, and his friends in the plan.

Chris: "The Carrie Whites of the world aren't meant to go out with the Tommy Rosses of the world! For if God had wanted that, he would have given her a kick-ass bod, and long hair that layers easily and DANCES IN THE WIND!!"

  • Asshole Victim
  • Brilliant but Lazy: She has a very high IQ, but only a C average.
  • Delinquents: Her characterization in the book. It's stated that she's been sent to detention 73 times in four years, twenty of them for bullying, and that she skipped most of them. In addition, during Junior High, she had once put a firecracker into a girl's shoe and nearly blew off two of her toes. The film adaptations largely downplay this to focus on her Alpha Bitch tendencies.
  • It's All About Me
  • The Sociopath: Or something close to it because her father does not bother to get her any help and spoils her instead.
  • Spoiled Brat, Screw the Rules, I Have Money: Her father, a rich lawyer, got her into Oberlin despite her poor grades, and threatens to sue the school if they punish Chris for what she did to Carrie in the shower. He backs off when he sees her record of violations. Later, after getting kicked out of the prom, she plans to humiliate Carrie as payback for it, feeling that she is entitled to go to the prom. She's so annoying you just want to squash her. Thanks, Carrie!
  • Tomboyish Name

Billy Nolan

Played by:
John Travolta (1976 version)
Jesse Cadotte (2002 version)

William "Billy" Nolan is Chris' boyfriend. He is one of the school's Delinquents, and his characterization ranges from merely a Jerkass (in the 1976 film) to outright thuggish (in the book). He frequently hits Chris, and in the book he forces himself on her. He breaks into a local farm in order to kill the pigs and drain their blood into the buckets.

  • The Alleged Car: The original book has him driving a rusty, beat-up, jacked-in-the-back '61 Chevy Biscayne with a broken headlight. The film, fortunately, upgrades him to something much cooler.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys
  • Asshole Victim
  • Complete Monster: The only character who has absolutely zero excuse for being utterly loathsome.
  • Cool Car: In the '76 film, he drives a '67 Chevelle. Shame that Carrie blows it up.
    • He gets a Cool Truck in the remake. It suffers a similar fate -- Carrie slams it against a tree, roof first.
  • Delinquents: Both him and his friends.
  • Domestic Abuse: He is frequently shown hitting Chris, and in one scene in the book, he forces her to have sex with him.
  • Jerkass
  • Lack of Empathy: He barely knows who Carrie White is, he just wants to destroy her life. In the book, it's stated that he does the prom prank only For the Evulz, and that he would find it just as funny if Chris was the target of the pig blood.
  • The Sociopath: Big time.
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