Old Black Magic

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Rarely has a Hero fought a Villain – Good fought Evil, Purity versus Impurity – while being in such a continuing symbiotic relationship with. It is not a matter of going out to conquer the great villain when the great villain is already within one’s own home. In fact, one’s own family.

I don’t want to get into arguments about arguing things about films. I’ll simply say that Zoe Kazan’s East of Eden (following in the footsteps of her legendary film director father Eli Kazan) has created a type of modern Apocalypse Now in power and relevance. Her series star: Florence Pugh. Playing the part of pure evil in the story. Entwined with her husband and two sons and a Chinese family member, she leaves all of them behind on their ranch outside of Salinas, California and starts a new career and persona as a prostitute in Salinas, California. 

The story is fascinating from one of the few books of John Steinbeck that I never read. I read most all of the others. Cannery Row was a fun, cheerful book. Others stories of Steinbeck were sad and heartbreaking. When we lived in San Francisco, our next door neighbor introduced us to his good friend who was a leading Steinbeck scholar. A friendship developed and we learned a lot about Steinbeck during this friendship. You have to read Grapes of Wrath he told me one night over dinner my wife and I. Back in the day. It’s the real masterpiece of Steinbecks. 

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I remember taking a copy of the book up to northern Michigan where I was a counselor at a summer camp. I had a cabin with seven boys in bunk beds. With my own, there were eight bunk beds in the cabin. After lights out for my campers, I would get my flashlight out and read Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. I finished in just a few nights. It was impossible to put down. My interest in writing was again stirred. Even revived. 

What inspired me at first – among other things – was the rhythm of the words rolling across the page. The opening page of the novel. Setting a grand, historical stage for the novel. The symbolism and images of the novel.

Over the years, I returned to the great novel again and again as I increasingly became a writer and author. 

Watching the recent Zoe Kazan version of East of Eden, I am reminding of my love of Steinbeck and his writings about Salinas and Monterey.  

I remember the great novel Grapes of Wrath in terms of today. Our times. Late 2026. The struggle of the Dust Bowl and the movement out west. The story of poverty taking over millions of lives. One family’s movement West and out of the Dust Bowl. 

In many ways, the great villain of the novel is the weather and the dust coming to a once fertile area for American farmers. But there are certainly a number of mortal villains in the novel. 

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Grapes of Wrath was written in 1939 and East of Eden twelve years later in 1952. Steinbeck has moved from the outside world of grand movements of the dust bowl to personal movements inside the landscape of a family over the years. In The Grapes of Wrath, evil surfaces in many areas within culture and politics. It is known yet little is done about it. In East of Eden, evil seems  embodied within the spirit of Kate the little girl. Since her innocence taken from her. An inner story to the outer story of Grapes of Wrath. 

The evil that Steinbeck saw in Grapes of Wrath was related to societal institutions and unions. Battles between owners and workers of the land. Between the people and the government. Steinbeck was on various lists of the government.

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Grandfather Elia Kazan & His Legendary East of Eden (1952)

East of Eden is a 1955 American epic period drama film directed by Elia Kazan and written by Paul Osborn, adapted from the fourth and final part of John Steinbeck‘s epic 1952 novel.

It stars James Dean as a wayward young man who, while seeking his own identity, vies for the affection of his deeply religious father against his favored brother, thus retelling the story of Cain and Abel. Appearing in supporting roles are Julie Harris, Raymond Massey, Burl Ives, Richard Davalos, and Jo Van Fleet.

Although set in early 20th century Monterey, California, much of the film was actually shot on location in Mendocino, California. Some scenes were filmed in the Salinas Valley. Of the three films in which James Dean played the lead, this is the only one to have been released during his lifetime before he was killed in a car crash six months after its release.^[2]

East of Eden, along with Dean’s other films Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Giant(1956), was named one of the 400 best American films of all time by the American Film Institute.^[3] In 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.^[4][5]

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With the character Kate, played masterfully by Florence Pugh, the story becomes more a study of an evil person. A person who has no moral code or code of ethics. Nothing. We follow the story with great interest as it’s hard to believe she can continue in her cruel behavior towards her husband. And then her two new babies. 

Her abandonment of all of them. She shot her husband and fled. He recovered but she was gone. She has abandoned her husband and two new babies. On the family ranch in Salinas Valley where many crops are grown. 

Other than kill one’s family, what more evil thing can a mother do today but abandon her family? Abandon the love her husband believes they have together. Abandons the possibility to find happiness and satisfaction with one other person in life. It is not much more complicated than this. Leading one into love without love in one’s heart is a cruel – even evil – thing to do. It is a story about the ultimate betrayal of someone who loves her. Her abandonment of her husband and two new babies. To a new life. We watch through the brilliant Zoe Kazan version of East of Eden on Netflix. 

It puts a stake in the ground for Netflix. Makes a strong statement that they can make great films and create leading stars today. This is likely to happen with Florence Pugh, the evil Kate of East of Eden. Portraying it in ways that are unique and important. She makes all other Hollywood villains (or seductresses) look tame,

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The series also makes an important statement to the world that evil comes from many ways into our lives. Not always from nations far away. But more often in today’s world, from within the dynamics of the miniature nation state in the family. In many ways, the eight part series of Zoe Kazan’s East of Eden, offers the turn inward . From the outward focus of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath to an inward focus of East of Eden. The two novels were written 13 years apart: Grapes of Wrath in 1939 and East of Eden in 1952.

My late friend Lloyd deMause, a leader in the area of research called psychohistory, had a theory that certain events in culture are symbols of something greater. The Clancy trial would be one of these events out there representing more than the facts of the event itself. What is the overall message of this case to us? It seems a message about a type of evil that can possess a mother to murder her three babies? Might this be the greatest evil possible from a mother?

It’s obvious that Steinbeck turned his attention from the majesty of the outward world (like the opening pages of Grapes of Wrath) of the dust bowl to the inner world of a family heritage and the last in the heritage: an abandoned family by a woman named Kate. We have already seen that she can do monstrous things. Her monstrosity will only grow and grow in the mini-series.

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Like the symbolism the Clancy trial might represent to psychohistorians, Zoe Kazan’s new Netflix version of East of Eden represents its own particular version of evil in Kate.

With Kate, evil seems almost not a choice but a form of possession. Caused by a monster attacked her when she was a little girl and a memory that will never go away.

Florence Pugh is brilliant in East of Eden. The series shot gorgeously. Powerful scenes. Beautiful script,

Is it a brilliant film about a demonic woman of the early part of the 20th century?

Or a film about today? A grand symbol for the world?

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Posts to various Netflix Tudum pages about their new film East of Eden. For those who want to explore the film more after watching it on Netflix. Below, a number on links related to the making of East of Eden by Zoe Kazan. what is sure to be the growing East of Eden Florence Pugh fan club,

Zoe Kazan’s Lifelong Love Affair with East of Eden

The writer and co-showrunner on staying true to Steinbeck while bringing herself to it. By Jenny Changnon / Illustration by María Jesús Contreras / Oct. 1, 2026 / Netflix Tudum

East of Eden Ending Explained: What Does Timshel Mean? What Happens to Cathy? Zoe Kazan’s new limited series adaptation of John Steinbeck’s classic novel explores the power of timshel. 

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/features/florence-pugh-east-of-eden-cover-story

East of Eden Trailer / Good and Evil are a Choice

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/east-of-eden-trailer

Every Object Tells a Story in East of Eden

A closer look at the sets, props, and production design of Zoe Kazan’s limited series adaptation.

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/east-of-eden-artifacts-production-design

Cast Guide

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/east-of-eden-cast-guide

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/east-of-eden-release-date-photos

Where East of Eden filmed

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/east-of-eden-filming-locations