Summary
Ben Barnes has been cast in a lead role in an adaptation of Stephen King’sThe Institute, and he’s described as a “night knocker,” a head-scratching term that also appears in the book. InThe Institutebook and now TV show,protagonist Tim Jamieson is a former cop in Sarasotawho is forced to resign after an incident at work involving the reckless discharge of his weapon while on duty. His plan is to take a job offer in New York City as a security guard, but takes a detour to the small town of DuPray, South Carolina, where he spontaneously accepts the job of night knocker.
The 2019 book also follows 12-year-old Luke, a genius who is kidnapped and wakes up in The Institute, a secret facility where psychically gifted kids like him are experimented on. Like so manyStephen King protagonists, Tim Jamieson’s planned quiet life is upended when he uncovers these diabolical happenings and is drawn into the events. The book earned largely positive reviews upon its debut. Still,that pesky term “night knocker” has flummoxed readers for years.
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The Institute’s Night Knocker Explained
It’s An Old-Fashioned Term (& Possibly A Stephen King Creation)
The concept of a night knocker is a little-known concept (and it’s almost certainly a wholly Stephen King creation), something that falls between actual law enforcement and a local neighborhood watch. As the night knocker,Tim is essentially a security guard or foot patrolman who patrols a neighborhood at night, checking on houses and businesses, ensuring nothing is amiss and keeping the peace should any need to be kept. However, the big difference is that, unlike fully-fledged law enforcement, as the night knocker, Tim doesn’t carry a gun, nor can he make arrests.
The Institute’s Night Knocker Should Not Be Confused With The Real Knocker-Up
It Was A Real Role In Pre-Electricity Times
While a “night knocker” seems to be a term made up by Stephen King, plenty of readers have confused it with the very real, archaic role of the “knocker-up” or “knocker-upper.” It was a position that mostly existed in Britain and the UK, though some other European countries also adopted it. A knocker-up was a person who, in the Industrial Revolution era, would walk around the streets in the early morning and knock on windows to wake people up.They served as alarm clocks in an era before alarm clocks were invented, and the practice even continued after their invention when they were less reliable - in some rural areas of the United Kingdom, it continued into the 1970s.
The practice came into vogue in the early Industrial Revolution, when more workers started moving to the city and taking on industrial work in factories. With that work came punch clocks and timecards and set hours, but in cities where people no longer had the ability to sleep and rise with the natural sun. Thus,the paid position of the knocker-upper was born. They could be seen carrying long canes or bamboo sticks to rouse neighbors and make sure they got to work on time.
It’s possible that this fact got stuck in and percolated somewhere in the back of Stephen King’s brain and eventually turned intoThe Institute’s night knocker.
Interestingly, the job was one of few at the time that could be done by pregnant women and the elderly. In a move more akin toThe Institute’s night knocker,some police constables would pull double duty and act as knocker-uppers during their early morning patrols to supplement their income. It’s possible that this fact got stuck in and percolated somewhere in the back of Stephen King’s brain and eventually turned intoThe Institute’s night knocker.
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The Role Of Tim Jamieson Finally Breaks A Ben Barnes Streak
It’s A Refreshing Change Of Pace For Barnes
The curious origin of the night knocker aside,Ben Barne’s role of Tim inThe Instituteis a nice change of pace for him. Tim Jamieson is a throwback to a more classic Stephen King character, a somewhat down-on-his-luck everyman who rolls into a small town and finds himself caught up in the sinister happenings bubbling just beneath the surface. Not an unscrupulous businessman, or a cowboy, or a powerful wizard, Tim is just a blue-collar guy giving a quiet life.
More than that, though, Tim is a good guy, and that’s a refreshing change for Barnes.The ultra-talented actor has been in a pattern of playing villains or twisted characters on TV in recent years:Logan inWestworld, Billy Russo inThe Punisher, General Kirigan inShadow & Bone, TV Mac in theBlack Mirrorepisode “Joan Is Awful.” EvenBarnes' character inGuillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, William Thurber, is a good guy but trapped in a hellish story with a gruesome ending. Tim, however, has all the makings of a hero. He’s kind and compassionate, and when he’s faced with helping or ignoring it, he steps up. It will be great to see Barnes in a wholly different role inThe Institute, one unlike anything audiences have seen from him on TV before.
The Institute
A kidnapped prodigy with special abilities, Luke, ends up at The Institute, while Tim, a former cop, seeks a new life in a nearby town. Their fates are inevitably linked.
