Nerd Movie Reviews

What’s Special About It?

A Stephen King nerd t shirt

Stephen King’s It has a special place in our culture. King is a prolific author of over 81 books and is known for producing an exceptional amount of copy. Of all popular writers, King is one of the most productive. And yet, many of his other well known works, such as The Stand and the Dark Tower series, do not have the popularity of It. A niche audience may understand a reference to the Dark Tower, and a fair amount of people have seen one of the miniseries adaptations of The Stand. But everybody over the age of twelve seems to know who Pennywise is, even if they only know him as “the clown from that one movie” or have seen him on nerd t shirts. So what gives? What makes It stand out from the rest of King’s oeuvre?

First of all, It exploits a common fear: coulrophobia, also known as fear of clowns. Many people are afraid of clowns, but most of them are unaware that this is a common fear. By disguising his monster as a clown, King plays two games at once. First, he exploits coulrophobia. Second, he can make his monster seem innocent while at the same time using the creepiness of clowns to suggest that there is more to Pennywise than meets the eye. Pennywise is an iconic monster, alongside Freddy Krueger and Jason, because the clown persona allows him to occupy an uncanny valley.

Second of all, the worldbuilding behind the novel gives it depth. There is an entire cosmology behind It, including a pantheon of multi-dimensional gods. Unlike the Lovecraftian cosmology, which is amoral and inscrutable, the gods in this cosmology have a noticeable moral bent: some of them are good and some of them are evil. There is a multi-billion year story behind the whole thing, how It ended up in Derry, Maine, and why it does the things it does. Pennywise is not just a creature with a backstory. It is part of an entire world crafted for the sake of convincing horror.

This stands in stark contrast to pulpy pop horror, such as Nightmare On Elm Street and Friday The 13th. Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees are certainly memorable villains, but their worlds have very little depth. They have comic book-esque origin stories, they do stuff in the movies, and that’s it. By contrast, the cosmology behind It provides a deeper level of interest beyond the cinematics. Pennywise the Clown is an icon, just like all the other 80s horror monsters. But behind that cinematic icon, there is a deeper story. Other horror monsters get your attention and then let it go right away. Pennywise gets your attention and then keeps it with the long, fascinating backstory and cosmology.The first reason here explains what makes Pennywise an icon. The second reason explains how It goes beyond being a pulp horror trope and into something greater. These two together are why you can still see Pennywise everywhere: in comedy rap battles, on “we all float down here” t shirts, and even as collectible figurines.