The Mist

Work Title: The Mist
Medium: Film
Episode Title:
Year: 2007
Writer(s): Stephen King
"Original" Writer: Yes Writer(s): Frank Darabonk
"Original" Writer: Own work?: No
Summary:

¡°David Drayton and his young son Billy are among a large group of terrified townspeople trapped in a local grocery store by a strange, otherworldly mist. David is the first to realize that there are things lurking in the mist¡¦ deadly, horrifying things¡¦ creatures not of this world. Survival depends on everybody in the store pulling together¡¦ but is that possible, given human nature? As reason crumbles in the face of fear and panic, David begins to wonder what terrifies him more: the monsters in the mist- or the ones inside the store, the human kind, the people that until now had been his friends and neighbors? In this legendary tale of terror from master storyteller Stephen King, the thin veneer of civilization is stripped away, the masks are discarded, and the true horror is revealed as us.¡± (from http://www.themist-movie.com/site.html)

Era/Year of Portrayal: present_day
Distinctive characteristics of the world in portrayal:

Although the original novel, ¡°The Mist¡± is written in 1980s, this film created in 2007 and took place in that year.

Technology

  • Name of portrayed presence-evoking technology: The monsters (creatures) in the mist.
  • Description of the technology: There are few creatures appeared: a huge octopus creature which has big sucking discs. Whenever a sucker touches human beings, it tears off the skin from them. Enormous flying insects and pterodactyl-like animals break down the store windows and bite people with their mouth. Enormous crab-like creatures and spider-like creatures also appear and try to kill and eat people.
  • Nature of task or activity: Living on Earth with their instinct.
  • Performance of the Technology: New creatures from ¡®elsewhere¡¯, they accidentally have come to Earth and have tried to live on Earth. (During ¡®The Arrowhead Project¡¯ conducted at a nearby top-secret military base) They need to eat something in order to survive and hurt (eat) human beings. They do not seem to change their attitudes throughout the movie.
  • Description of creator(s): The creator of these ¡®creatures¡¯ is unknown. However, the ¡®creatures¡¯ came from the doorway which could interconnect with Earth.
  • Major goal(s) of creator(s): Unknown
  • Description of users of technology: Residents and visitors in a small Maine town (everyone seems to know everyone else by name or by sight). Especially, people in a local supermarket because most of the action unfolds inside it.
  • Type(s) of presence experience in the portrayal: social_presence
  • Description of presence experience: Everyone is terrifying with new creatures because they do not believe what they see. They feel fear and frighten because they might be killed by these creatures.
  • User awareness of technology during experience: Yes.
  • Valence of experience: Unpleasant.
  • Specific responses: Although people feel fear, some people in the supermarket try to find a way to survive, and use a variety of implements in the supermarket to fight with creatures. Other people are also terrified with creatures, but they accept it as God¡¯s plan because people are sinful.
Long-term consequences:

Driving through the mist, David returns home to find his wife has fallen victim to the spider-like creatures. Heartbroken, he drives the group south, witnessing the destruction left in the wake of the mist and encountering a six-legged beast many times the size of a blue whale. Eventually they run out of gas without finding any other survivors. While Billy is sleeping, the four adults, surrendering to their fate, silently agree that there is no point in going further. With four bullets left in the gun and five people in the car, David shoots Amanda, Dan, Irene, and his son, Billy, to save them from death at the hands of the creatures. Wailing, he attempts to shoot himself with the now-empty gun before exiting the vehicle to let the creatures in the mist take him. He hears sounds like a creature moving toward him, but after a few moments a military M109 howitzer drives by, followed by a large company of National Guardsmen with flamethrowers clearing away the mist and burning the creatures within it. Several trucks filled with survivors are part of the convoy, among them the mother whom nobody from the store would escort. David falls to his knees screaming as a pair of soldiers look at him in confusion. He had been driving away from help the entire time.

Other:

Coder name: Yongkyung Cho
Coder email: yongyong@temple.edu
Coder affiliation: Temple University