Thanks for this. The 1976 Carrie is one of my favorite movies, and I love analyzing it, and reading other people’s thoughts about it. I was a teenager when I saw it, at maybe 14, and as the class weird girl, it really resonated.

This prompted me to consider Sue’s intentions, which never sat particularly well with me. Sue chooses to do the grand, heroic, gesture! Like a lot of misguided do-gooders , or atonement junkies, she wants to be Carrie’s savior. The greatest, most heroic, thing she could have done was walk up to Carrie, apologize, and then humanize her, and get to know someone we find out is brave, smart, and funny, but maybe the sacrifice of her reputation was too great. This way, making Tommy do this thing, keeps her reputation as a good girl intact, something the remake takes the effort to painfully call out, via Chris.