It (character)
| It | |
|---|---|
| Stephen King character | |
.jpg) Tim Curry portraying Pennywise | |
| First appearance | It |
| Created by | Stephen King |
| Portrayed by | Tim Curry |
| Information | |
| Nickname(s) | The Clown, The Giant Spider, The Deadlights |
| Aliases | Pennywise The Dancing Clown, Mr. Robert "Bob" Gray |
| Species | Trans-dimensional ancient demonic entity |
| Gender |
Female Male (as Pennywise) |
| Nationality | The Deadlights |
It, also known as Pennywise The Dancing Clown or Bob Gray, is the title character and main antagonist of Stephen King's 1986 horror novel It. The character is a demonic entity that preys upon the local children of Derry, Maine every twenty-seven years, through a variety of powers that include the ability to shapeshift, manipulation, and possession.[1] King came up with the idea for Pennywise after asking himself what scared children "more than anything else in the world", which he felt was clowns.[2]
Several media outlets such as The Guardian have remarked on the character, ranking it as one of the scariest clowns in film or pop culture.[3][4][5][6] The character has also been cited as a possible inspiration for two separate incidents of people dressing up as creepy clowns in Northampton and Staten Island.[7][2]
Fictional biography
A monster of unknown origins, It originated before the creation of the universe itself in a dimension named the "Deadlights", and It's true form is never revealed. Because of this, the Losers' Club does not know what It actually is, giving the creature It's name. The form It takes the most is that of a sadistic clown, named Pennywise. The clown form is used as a decoy when stalking a child. In It's home under the sewers, It takes the form of a monstrous pregnant female black spider. This form is determined to be the closest to It's true physical shape. Having control over what happens in Derry, many of the child murders It commits are never solved, as the adults of Derry either act as though nothing is happening or have forgotten about It.
The monster arrived to Earth in the form of an asteroid during prehistory, landing on what later would become the town of Derry, and hibernated there until humans settled and colonized the place. It awoke, fed on the settlers, and started a cycle of hibernation, in which It would sleep for almost three decades and be awake for over two years. Every time It's hibernation stage finished, events of extreme violence happened in Derry.
In the novel, Mike Hanlon, one of those who had battled against It during the 1957-58 period, became Derry's librarian and historian, and investigated about the city's dark and violent events. By this, he learned about It's cycle:
- 1715-1716: It awoke.
- 1740-1743: It awoke and killed 300 settlers.
- 1769-1770: It awoke.
- 1850: It awoke and makes a man poison his own family and then commit suicide.
- 1876-1879: It awoke and went back to hibernation when a group of dead woodcutters appear nearby the Kendukeag river.
- 1904-1906: It awoke and possessed a woodcutter to kill some men with his axe into a bar, and then goes back to hibernation after making the Kitchener Foundry explode, causing the deaths of 240, 200 of them being children who were searching for Easter eggs.
- 1924-1930: It awoke when a gang of mobsters are shot to death by some Derry residents, and goes to sleep when some Ku Klux Klan set fire to an African-American night club.
- 1957-1958: It awakes, causing a great storm. It's murders begin with George Denbrough, Bill Denbrough's younger brother. Bill, Ben Hanscom, Beverly Marsh, Richie Tozier, Eddie Kapsbrack, Mike Hanlon and Stan Uris have several encounters with It, and try to kill the creature. They seriously hurt It and believe It to be dead, making the monster hibernate until 1984.
- 1984-1985: It awoke when a group of bullies violently attack a homosexual couple: Adrian Mellon and Don Haggarty, causing the death of Mellon, and soon after It feeds on him. After a series of murders, the Losers, now as adults, return to Derry and finally kill It. While doing so, the whole city of Derry is severely damaged by a huge storm, signifying It's definite death.
In other King works
In King's later novel The Tommyknockers, a secondary character, while being in Derry, sees a clown under a storm drain. It's not implied if it's just a hallucination or if it's actually Pennywise.
In King's 2001 novel Dreamcatcher Mr. Gray shares his name with It's alias, Robert Gray. When he arrives to Derry, he reads a phrase that homages the victims of the 1985 storm, the names of the seven Losers' Club members, and the phrase "Pennywise lives". This may be a signal that It wasn't actually killed.
In King's 11/22/63, the novel's protagonist, Jake, when going back to Derry in 1958, encounters with Beverly Marsh and Richie Tozier, two of the seven children who confront It.
In television
In the 1990 television miniseries, It is portrayed by actor Tim Curry. Here, It's true form is revealed to be the Deadlights, but It's origin is never mentioned. The miniseries also omits the Turtle, and the fact that when It shapeshifts into the Spider It's a pregnant female.
Reception and cultural impact
The Atlantic commented on the character, writing that "The scariest thing about Pennywise, though, is how he preys on children's deepest fears, manifesting the monsters they're most petrified by (something J.K. Rowling would later emulate with boggarts)."[8] British scholar Mikita Brottman has also commented on Pennywise, stating that it was "one of the most frightening of evil clowns to appear on the small screen" and that it "reflects every social and familial horror known to contemporary America".[9] Critics such as Mark Dery have drawn between the character of Pennywise and serial killer John Wayne Gacy,[10] and Dery has stated that the character "[embodied] our primal fears in a sociopathic Ronald McDonald who oozes honeyed guile".[11]
The American punk rock band Pennywise has taken its name from the character.[12]
Actor Tim Curry has been widely praised for his portrayal of Pennywise in the 1990 miniseries. Curry himself, however, never acknowledged the character until he was interviewed by Moviefone in 2015 (the year of the miniseries' 25th anniversary) where he described the role of Pennywise as a "wonderful part" and that he wished his former successor for the 2017 reboot Will Poulter the best of luck. Poulter later dropped out of the production. As of May 2016, the reboot has yet to cast an actor for Pennywise.[13]
References
- ↑ Paquette, Jenifer (2012). Respecting The Stand: A Critical Analysis of Stephen King's Apocalyptic Novel. McFarland. pp. 162–163. ISBN 0786470011. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
- 1 2 Radford, Benjamin (2016). Bad Clowns. UNM Press. pp. 29, 36, 67–69, 99–103. ISBN 9780826356673. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
- ↑ Glenza, Jessica (2014-10-29). "The 10 most terrifying clowns". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
- ↑ "10 Most Terrifying Clowns in Horror Movies". Screen Rant. 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
- ↑ "The Scariest Clowns in Pop Culture". Nerdist. 2015-10-22. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
- ↑ Martin, Amy. ""Hey Kid, Want A Balloon?" - Horror's 5 Creepiest Clowns". Movie Pilot. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
- ↑ Stableford, Dylan (March 25, 2014). "Pennywise, the clown foolish?". Yahoo. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
- ↑ Gilbert, Sophie. "25 Years of Pennywise the Clown". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
- ↑ Brottman, Mikita (2004). Funny Peculiar: Gershon Legman and the Psychopathology of Humor. Routledge. p. 1. ISBN 0881634042. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
- ↑ Skal, David J (2001). The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror. Macmillan. p. 363. ISBN 9780571199969. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
- ↑ Dery, Mark (1999). The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink. Grove Press. p. 70. ISBN 9780802136701. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
- ↑ Frasier, David K. (2005). Suicide in the Entertainment Industry. McFarland. p. 314. ISBN 9780786423330. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
- ↑ Knolle, Sharon (June 8, 2015). "Tim Curry to the 'It' Remake's Pennywise: 'Good Luck'". Moviefone. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
