IT: The Stuff of Nightmares
The horrors of growing up are at the heart of IT but what darkness exists in the childhood motifs that inspired both the book and the film? We’ve opened a box of old toys to find out…
Welcome to The Basement, a weekly column dedicated to unearthing the hidden secrets and mysteries within some of the most terrifying movies, books, comics and beyond. Each week we’ll bring you a new feature that delves deep into the darker side of pop culture. This week Gwen Morris is opening a box of old toys to explore the use of childhood motifs in the 2017 adaptation IT…
The use of childhood motifs is generally accepted as a way of creating atmosphere in horror films, often through slowed-down renditions of nursery rhymes. ‘Ring Around the Rosie’ (in 1981’s ‘The Evil Dead’), ‘One, Two, Buckle My Shoe’ (in ‘The Nightmare on Elm Street’) and ‘Three Little Pigs’ (in 1980’s ‘The Shining’) are all examples of this movie trope, evoking viewers’ most comforting childhood memories and warping them into something more disturbing. The overall message is that nothing remains untouched by the horror of these films; not the safety blanket of childhood memories that nursery rhymes represent, nor children themselves.
Based on the novel by Stephen King, ‘It’ (2017) is riddled with such motifs, from opening titles accompanied by the song ‘Oranges and Lemons’ to the infamous antagonist Pennywise. The monster at once embodies the irrational childhood fear of clowns whilst underpinning memories of children’s parties with grotesqueness and violence. In other words, ‘It’ successfully captures the terror of being a child by reminding viewers of children’s vulnerability. However, the Losers’ Club are left without any means of comforting themselves as even nursery rhymes and circus characters are penetrated with horror.
The vulnerability of children is the focal point of the film’s opening scene as Georgie becomes Pennywise’s first on-screen victim. Significantly, it is the youngest and most vulnerable character who is killed first and it is his trusting nature which leads him to his death as he is lured in by Pennywise. From the film’s offset, viewers are reminded of children’s inability to protect themselves and therefore fear for the Losers’ Club throughout the rest of the film.
However, what the Losers’ Club truly fear is not Pennywise himself — it is the real dangers that face children within and outside of King’s fictional world. Beverley’s fear of her abusive father, Richie’s fear of being abducted and Eddie’s hypochondria are all brought on by adults; the real villains of this film. From Eddie’s mother’s intense over-protectiveness, to Billy’s father’s bitter cynicism, even to Henry’s father’s abuse of power; the adult characters reflect hyperbolic versions of adults we have all encountered in our lives and perhaps begin to emulate once we, too, lose our innocence and trust.
In his introduction to ‘The Shining’, Stephen King says that ‘monsters are real, and ghosts are real, too. They live inside us, and sometimes they win.’ This concept is revisited in ‘It’ (2017) through childhood motifs which become warped and dangerous, along with the villainous parents who should offer comfort and protection. The true horror of this film lies in the realisation that we viewers are its villains as we become the adults whom we once feared.
