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The Lottery - Shirley Jackson
Thursday, March 27th, 2008 07:36 pm.
How many of you are familiar with Shirley Jackson? For those of you who are not, let me introduce you.
Jackson was a short story writer and occasional novelist who wrote in the 1940's, 50's and 60's. Her stories are most commonly referred to as "thrillers" or "horror" stories, but neither of those labels is really correct. Jackson's stories do summon up intense reactions, but a lot of the time it's difficult to pin down exactly why they do. Some of her stories, like the novel The Haunting of Hill House, do fit into familiar literary genres (in the case of that book, the ghost story), but the majority of them are more tenuous, hard to define, especially the shorts. Tales like The Demon Lover; After You, My Dear Alphonse; or Men and Their Big Shoes don't actually contain anything horrific or disturbing on the surface, and yet they still contain a kind of subterranean dread that has thrilled readers for decades, and inspired writers such as Stephen King, Richard Matheson, and Harlan Ellison. Jackson is a mistress of subtlety, and even when her stories are indeed genre stories, she uses subtle shades and wording, vague currents, and perfectly normal-looking situations to spring traps that can really unnerve you. She's the kind of writer you can spend your whole life studying, and wishing you could emulate, knowing you'll never, ever be that good.
A couple of her tales have been adapted into film, most notably The Haunting of Hill House, which was made into a wonderfully evocative and lyrical film in 1963 starring Julie Harris and Claire Bloom (and an execrable piece of crap in 1999 with Liam Neeson and Catherine Zeta-Jones - Hollywood does know how to piss on even the best of stories). The other film adaptation that some of you may possibly remember is the reason I'm making this post. I thought of it today and started messing around on the web, and managed to track it down. It's been posted on YouTube, and I've put it here in two parts for you to view.
It's called The Lottery, and it was adapted from her short story of the same name. First published in the New Yorker in 1948, the short story received an unprecedented response from readers which has never been equaled - almost overwhelmingly negative. This story really freaked people out. The short film was made in 1969. I first encountered it in fourth grade at school, as it was part of a film series produced by the Encylopaedia Britannica and provided to schools free of charge. The film stuck with me for many, many years, and eventually in my early twenties I sought out Jackson's books on the strength of that early impression. The film does stay true to Jackson's talent with normalcy and the slow dawning of realization - as you can see while watching, it doesn't really appear to be anything terribly special at first, but then...well, I'll let you discover for yourself what happens.
(For those of you who would like to read the story before seeing the film, I've posted it in its entirety below the embeds - it's 3773 words, so it probably won't take any longer to read it than to watch the short.)
The Lottery - Part 1
The Lottery - Part 2
And here is the original short story:
( The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson )
How many of you are familiar with Shirley Jackson? For those of you who are not, let me introduce you.
Jackson was a short story writer and occasional novelist who wrote in the 1940's, 50's and 60's. Her stories are most commonly referred to as "thrillers" or "horror" stories, but neither of those labels is really correct. Jackson's stories do summon up intense reactions, but a lot of the time it's difficult to pin down exactly why they do. Some of her stories, like the novel The Haunting of Hill House, do fit into familiar literary genres (in the case of that book, the ghost story), but the majority of them are more tenuous, hard to define, especially the shorts. Tales like The Demon Lover; After You, My Dear Alphonse; or Men and Their Big Shoes don't actually contain anything horrific or disturbing on the surface, and yet they still contain a kind of subterranean dread that has thrilled readers for decades, and inspired writers such as Stephen King, Richard Matheson, and Harlan Ellison. Jackson is a mistress of subtlety, and even when her stories are indeed genre stories, she uses subtle shades and wording, vague currents, and perfectly normal-looking situations to spring traps that can really unnerve you. She's the kind of writer you can spend your whole life studying, and wishing you could emulate, knowing you'll never, ever be that good.
A couple of her tales have been adapted into film, most notably The Haunting of Hill House, which was made into a wonderfully evocative and lyrical film in 1963 starring Julie Harris and Claire Bloom (and an execrable piece of crap in 1999 with Liam Neeson and Catherine Zeta-Jones - Hollywood does know how to piss on even the best of stories). The other film adaptation that some of you may possibly remember is the reason I'm making this post. I thought of it today and started messing around on the web, and managed to track it down. It's been posted on YouTube, and I've put it here in two parts for you to view.
It's called The Lottery, and it was adapted from her short story of the same name. First published in the New Yorker in 1948, the short story received an unprecedented response from readers which has never been equaled - almost overwhelmingly negative. This story really freaked people out. The short film was made in 1969. I first encountered it in fourth grade at school, as it was part of a film series produced by the Encylopaedia Britannica and provided to schools free of charge. The film stuck with me for many, many years, and eventually in my early twenties I sought out Jackson's books on the strength of that early impression. The film does stay true to Jackson's talent with normalcy and the slow dawning of realization - as you can see while watching, it doesn't really appear to be anything terribly special at first, but then...well, I'll let you discover for yourself what happens.
(For those of you who would like to read the story before seeing the film, I've posted it in its entirety below the embeds - it's 3773 words, so it probably won't take any longer to read it than to watch the short.)
The Lottery - Part 1
The Lottery - Part 2
And here is the original short story:
( The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson )
