• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Viewpoints Radio

Viewpoints Radio

Award-winning reporting on current issues featuring America's leading experts.

  • Home
  • Archive
    • Full Segment Archive
    • Advanced Search
    • Filters
    • Recent Segments
    • Segment Finder (Sort & Filter)
    • Segment Type
      • Culture Crash
      • Feature Stories
      • Inside Looks
    • Terms
      • Books & Publications
      • Genres
      • Guests
      • Institutions & Organizations
      • Movies, TV & Digital Media
      • Notable Figures
      • Program Numbers
      • Topics
  • How to Listen
    • Podcast & Digital Outlets
    • Terrestrial Broadcast
    • Ways to Listen Overview
  • About
    • About Viewpoints Radio
    • Contact Us
    • FAQ
    • Our Team
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Login
    • Become an Affiliate
    • Benefits of Being an Affiliate
    • More About Syndicated Radio Programming
    • Public Affairs & FCC Requirements FAQ
    • Sample Programs
culture crash - radio segments

Culture Crash: Stephen King’s latest novel, The Institute

Stephen King’s latest novel, The Institute, sees the famed storyteller excelling at something he has done better than other writers for decades: telling a story from the perspective of a child.

You are here: Home / Archive / Culture Crash / Culture Crash: Stephen King’s latest novel, The Institute
Published: September 29, 2019 by VPR Producer


Welcome to Culture Crash, where we examine American culture – what’s new and old in entertainment…

Stephen King’s latest novel, The Institute, sees the famed storyteller excelling at something he has done better than other writers for decades: telling a story from the perspective of a child.

Of course, King famously wrote from the perspective of children in his novel, It, which has a movie adaptation now playing at theaters. But his child-led stories also include Firestarter and the novella The Body, which was adapted into the movie Stand By Me. King has a special ability to write children that you know, children that you were and children that you will cheer for, flaws and all. He finds a way to inhabit their insecurities and make their fears the readers’ fears, too.

In The Institute, King focuses on a boy named Luke and a few friends he makes at the titular institute, where he was brought after being kidnapped from his home and ripped away from his family. In the sinister facility for children who didn’t do anything wrong, the children are tested on like experiments and manipulated for their special abilities.

The Institute feels, at times, like a mashup of some of King’s classic stories and, in some ways, a reclaiming of the type of storytelling he rose to fame on – storytelling about a group of kids relying on one another to confront an evil entity. If it feels like Stranger Things, that’s because Stranger Things feels like King.

For me, there’s something special about opening to the first page of a new Stephen King novel, and I devoured The Institute in just a few days. Like Carrie White, Arnie Cunningham, Danny Torrence, Bill Denbrough and many other of King’s notable child protagonists before them, Luke Ellis and his friends from The Institute take readers on an exhilarating trip through adolescence with a supernatural twist and King delivers a couple hundred more pages of heart-pounding tension.

The Institute by Stephen King is available wherever books are sold.


I’m Evan Rook.


Transcript
Email Download New Tab

Culture Crash 19-39: Stephen King’s Latest Novel, The Institute

Stephen King’s latest novel, The Institute, sees the famed storyteller excelling at something he has done better than other writers for decades: telling a story from the perspective of a child.

Of course, King famously wrote from the perspective of children in his novel, It, which has a movie adaptation now playing at theaters. But his child-led stories also include Firestarter and the novella The Body, which was adapted into the movie Stand By Me. King has a special ability to write children that you know, children that you were and children that you will cheer for, flaws and all. He finds a way to inhabit their insecurities and make their fears the readers’ fears, too.

In The Institute, King focuses on a boy named Luke and a few friends he makes at the titular institute, where he was brought after being kidnapped from his home and ripped away from his family. In the sinister facility for children who didn’t do anything wrong, the children are tested on like experiments and manipulated for their special abilities.

The Institute feels, at times, like a mashup of some of King’s classic stories and, in some ways, a reclaiming of the type of storytelling he rose to fame on – storytelling about a group of kids relying on one another to confront an evil entity. If it feels like Stranger Things, that’s because Stranger Things feels like King.

For me, there’s something special about opening to the first page of a new Stephen King novel, and I devoured The Institute in just a few days. Like Carrie White, Arnie Cunningham, Danny Torrence, Bill Denbrough and many other of King’s notable child protagonists before them, Luke Ellis and his friends from The Institute take readers on an exhilarating trip through adolescence with a supernatural twist and King delivers a couple hundred more pages of heart-pounding tension.

The Institute by Stephen King is available wherever books are sold.

Scroll back to top

Sign up to receive email updates

Enter your name and email address below and I’ll send you periodic updates about the podcast.

powered by

Show Transcript

Program #: 19-39segment type: Culture CrashTopics - Children and Parenting| Culture and the Arts| Literature and Writing| Media and Entertainment| MoviesBooks & Publications - It| The InstituteMovies, TV & Digital Media - Stand By MeNotable Names - Stephen KingGenres - Horrortagged with - author| Evan Rook
  • 11Share on Facebook
  • 12Share on Twitter
  • 7Share on Instagram
  • 3Share on LinkedIn
  • 2Share on Reddit
  • 4Share on Pinterest
  • 20Share on Email

Related Segments:

culture-crash-21-36 - Culture Crash: Artists’ Shared Inspiration - featured image

Culture Crash: Artists’ Shared Inspiration

Culture Crash: Uncovering Some of the Decade’s Best Forgotten Films

Culture Crash: The Broadway Hit Hamilton Comes Alive Again

Culture Crash: Watching Film Festivals From Home

Culture Crash: A New Murder Mystery

culture crash - radio segments

Culture Crash: Serial, the podcast that captivated America, returns for its most important season yet

Previous Post:Inside Look: American Rodeo Today
Next Post:Think Before You Ink: The Strenuous Process of Tattoo Removal

About VPR Producer

Since 2000, Viewpoints Radio has been bringing listeners the relevant information they crave in current events, literature, entertainment and more. Both Viewpoints Radio and sister show Radio Health Journal are productions of AURN.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay up-to-date on the latest in current events, public affairs, literature, culture, entertainment & more.

Enter your email address to get notifications & instant access to new Viewpoints Radio segments as they are released.

viewpoints affiliation info

Start airing Viewpoints Radio on your platform to satisfy FCC OPIF requirements, including quarterly issues/programming reports.

Become an Affiliate

Connect

Interact with us by sharing comments, favorite segments, questions or even suggest a topic.

  • Facebook link
  • Twitter
  • Instagram link
  • Pinterest link
  • spotify link
  • YouTube link
  • RSS Feed
  • contact by email

American Urban Radio Networks (AURN) logo

Listen

  • Archive
  • Broadcast
  • Guests
  • Podcast & Digital Outlets
  • Recently Aired
  • Terms
  • Topics
  • Ways to Listen

Learn

  • About Us
  • Affiliates
  • Contact Info
  • FAQ
  • Our Team
  • Public Affairs & FCC Requirements
  • AURN.com
  • Sitemap

© Copyright 2023 – American Urban Radio Networks

↑ Return to top

Stay up-to-date on the latest in current events, public affairs, literature, culture, entertainment & more.

Enter your email address to get notifications & instant access to new Viewpoints Radio segments as they are released.