In High School I read IT, cover to cover -- I thought! Truth is, I think I read about half of IT and then trusted the mini-series to fill in the blanks. Realizing this, I returned to the book with interest.
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Some have hinted that IT might be made into a feature length movie. I actually like the mini-series, campy special effects and all. (The warewolf was petty bad!) But as I read about the new movie, several viewers commented on the creepy sex scenes. Huh? A quick read over the second half. . . OH! That's what they're talking about!
.So what is so creepy about the sex in IT? The book transitions throughout between the Loosers Club as children -- who first confront and wound IT -- and the same group as adults. The only female member of the Losers club is Bev; a young lady with a knack for abusive relationships because they mirror her father's abuse. At the end of the novel, though hinted at throughout the second half, Bev sleeps with all the members of the Loosers Club. In a sewer. One after another. Oh, wait. . . and this is not a scene about the adult Loosers Club -- these are the children.
.As an adult Bev sleeps with Ben and Bill. And she remembers the event as a child. A memory she apparently suppressed. It was that act that deeply bonded the losers club together. It is the idea that they all lost their verginity at once -- together -- after fighting the monster that haunted their childhood.
.This definately serves to weaken the novel. I find myself realizing how good a job the mini-series did in retelling the story, and not even hinting at this. Again, it's not a brief mention in the book, it's a sub-theme.
.King once said that IT is everythng he knows about children. I have to say that there's a few things he must not know! Strange thing, I find this more discomforting than Gerald's Game, which is about a naked woman chained to a bed. But. . . Jessie is a grown naked woman.
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Check out Beverly's Song on Yout Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8NwEq20obs
That bit of the book always bugged me. I wouldn't mind if they left it out of the remake as well.
ReplyDeletesorry Steve, thats just not my cup of tea.
That part of it was significant not only in uniting them, but also in literally showing the fact that they were maturing. After facing their all of their childhood fears personified in IT, they became adults. Also, considering Bev's disgusting father and his repulsive abuse, it isn't so insane that at the age of eleven she decided to desperately, while terrified, reach out to a the only people, men in particular, with whom she has any real connection. Also, in her eyes she became the metaphorical beacon, which would hold and guide a group of misfit youth back together. Finally it must be acknowledged that these were not a bunch of six year olds who had never met. These were six boys and one girl who were right on the verge of puberty, and who had grown to depend on one another as close friends. Particularly, Beverly was close with each boy and each boy loved her. She was, to my understanding, the first love of each of them simply because she was the only girl who was one of them. The sex was not intended to be erotic, nor was it portrayed as such. It wasn't sex really. It was, for all intents and purposes, making love.
ReplyDeleteI've read the book, I've read this depiction of it as well, many times, but I'm with the author here. It's still a bunch of preteens screwing in a sewer. There's no real justification that works, here.
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