Chris Hargensen

Christine "Chris" Hargensen is a fictional character created by Stephen King. She is the main antagonist in his first published novel, Carrie.

In every adaptation and portrayal of Carrie, Hargensen she is portrayed as a mean-spirited, snobbish teenage girl and the leader of a clique in high school. After tormenting Carrie White in the locker room, she is banned from the prom, and blames Carrie for her misfortune. Billy Nolan, Chris' boyfriend, helps her humiliate Carrie by dumping a bucket of pig's blood on her.

Novel

In both the novel and films, Chris was portrayed as a rebellious,foul-mouthed, vulgar brunette with ocean blue eyes and pale skin (it should be noted that on the cover of the novel, it is Chris and not Carrie White). She was the leader of a well-known clique at Ewen High School with a long history of bullying unpopular fellow classmates, whom she calls "Mortimer Snerds." In four years at Ewen High, she has been sent to detention 73 times, including 20 times for bullying other students. However, she has attended a mere handful of the detentions. In junior high, she once slipped a firecracker in the shoe of a girl with a harelip, and nearly blew off two of her toes. Despite this history and her marginal grades, her family pulled several strings to get her admitted to Oberlin College. She leads ten other girls, including Sue Snell, in taunting Carrie after she has her first period in the shower after gym class. A few days later, gym teacher Rita Desjardin viciously berates Chris and the other girls for their treatment of Carrie, and threatens them with three days' suspension and banishment from the prom unless they attend a week's detention in the gym. Chris tries to rally the other girls to walk out, but was silenced by Sue. Chris stomps out of the gym alone and was banned from the prom. When her father, powerful attorney John Hargensen, finds out about this, he threatens to sue unless Chris is permitted to attend the prom and Desjardin is fired. However, the principal retorts that if Mr. Hargensen goes forward with his suit, the school district will countersue Chris for her assaults on Carrie and other misfit students. Dismayed, Mr. Hargensen has no choice but to drop the case. Chris was outraged and blames Carrie for her misfortune.

Later, after setting the prom night debacle into motion, Chris and Billy attempt to have sex inside of a roadhouse until they were interrupted by a fellow classmate, Jackie Talbot, who warns them that their school is burning to the ground. Some time afterward, just as Carrie arrives in the roadhouse's parking lot, Chris and Billy hurried to Billy's car, started it up and made their way toward the bloodied and weakened Carrie, intent on ridding themselves of her once and for all. Carrie, who is telekinetic, takes control of the car with her mind and sends it and it's passengers into the roadhouse. The car explodes and sets the building on fire, killing them both.

1976 film

In the original film adaptation by Brian De Palma, Chris is portrayed by Nancy Allen.

In this version, Christine Hargenson was portrayed as a very mean, snobbish and cruel girl with curly dark blonde shoulder length hair, hazel/grey eyes and fair skin tone. She was also the ringleader of a bullying female clique at Bates High School. She initiates the shower incident on Carrie (Sissy Spacek), causing her and the other girls in her class to serve a special kind of "detention" with Miss Collins (Betty Buckley) for causing the incident. Refusing to believe that that she did something wrong, Chris refuses to take her punishment and instead insults Miss Collins, inciting her to slap Chris in the face for her actions and banned her from the prom. Outraged, Chris calls the other girls to stand up, but they refuse, prompting a humiliated Chris to swore revenge. As in the novel, Chris blames Carrie for her troubles, and turns to her boyfriend Billy Nolan (John Travolta) to help her get even.

The pair go out driving one night and Chris uses this as the perfect opportunity to spin her boyfriend around her finger once more and get him to do something for her. While performing oral sex on him, she says, "Billy, I hate Carrie White."

A couple of nights later, Chris, Billy and two of his friends creep into a pig farm, kill a pig, drain its blood and pours it into a bucket. Billy and Chris later breaked into the Bates High School gym, where the former climbs a ladder up towards the rafters, places the bucket on one of them and pour the pig's blood into it. Later, Chris manipulates the head of the prom committee to nominate Carrie for Prom Queen.

Later, during the prom, Chris and Billy spended most of their time hiding under the stage, looking for Carrie and her date Tommy Ross. When Carrie was elected prom queen and ascends the stage, Chris pulls the rope tied to the bucket of blood, which spills onto Carrie, humiliating her in front of the entire school. Billy and Chris ran to their car to watch the show — only to watch helplessly as Carrie uses her telekinetic powers to destroy the entire school.

Later, Chris and Billy chance upon Carrie as she was apparently walking home. Chris revs up the car and foots the gas pedal, heading straight towards Carrie, who uses her powers to upset the car and send it rolling into a clearing for a few yards. After a while, the vehicle explodes, killing both Chris and Billy.

Musical

In the musical version of the novel, Chris is portrayed by Charlotte d'Amboise. She sings the songs "Don't Waste the Moon" and "Do Me a Favor" (with Billy, Sue, Tommy and others), "In" (with Miss Gardiner and the other girls) and "Out for Blood" (with Billy and the boys). She dies in the prom when Carrie's revenge started.

2002 remake

In the made-for-TV adaptation, Chris is portrayed by Emilie de Ravin.

In this version, Christine Hargensen is portrayed as a cruel, wicked and manipulative girl. She has long platinum blonde hair, crystal blue eyes and pale skin.

Hargensen is the ringleader of a popular female clique at Ewen High School, consisting of her right-hand woman, Tina Blake, Helen Shyres and Sue Snell. After the locker room prank, she and Tina spray-painted "Plug it up" on Carrie's hall locker, and filled it with tampons. The tampons spilled all over the floor when Carrie opened it, to the jeers of nearly everyone else. The next day, Chris and her friends were confronted by Miss Desjarden, who threw a gym bag full of tampons at them and viciously berated them for their cruel treatment of Carrie. Chris stomps out of the locker room, and is banned from the prom. As in the novel, Chris sent her father to the school, threatening to sue unless she is allowed to attend the prom and Desjarden is fired. However, he was forced to abandon the idea after the principal calmly replied he would countersue Chris for her acts of cruelty towards Carrie and other misfit students. Chris enlisted her mentally unstable boyfriend, Billy Nolan, to get revenge on Carrie.

Unlike other versions, Chris was briefly shown to have a compassionate side; during the prom, after Carrie is crowned Prom Queen, Chris sees how happy Carrie is and seems reluctant to tip the bucket of pig's blood over Carrie. However, Billy quietly pressures her into doing so. After the destruction at the prom, one of Billy and Chris' cohorts warns them that the few survivors have already told the police that there was some sort of prank. Billy and Chris go into town to watch the fire when they see Carrie walking towards them. Billy jams the gas pedal, planning to kill her, but Carrie uses her powers to send the truck sailing into a tree, crushing both Chris and Billy.