A Tale of Two Adaptations

With over 1,138 pages, questionable depictions, and a drugged out author, here's how many took the work of Steven King's IT and turned it to an adaption for every generation. With one of Steven King’s most famous works, there is a lot of pressure to capture the horror and metaphors Steven King wrote. Each adaptation has its pros and cons. The 1990 adaption introduced the world to the world of IT, and the later remakes expanded on the mythos. Here's how both adaptations gave generations fear of clowns and see how the two adaptations stack against each other from its deviations of the book, the performances of Pennywise, and its ultimate measure of success.

First at its most basic plot, Steven King’s IT is a story about a group of kids that take it upon themselves to fight the monster that lives in their town that later have to come back 27 years later to finish what they started. Now throw in a turtle god and metaphors about small town living and you have a compelling story. What both adaptations share is it’s deviations from the book. The 1990’s adaptation had to be more suitable for tv audiences for the time it aired, while the movies were able to expand on the horror aspects. With a longer run time there should have been more story to be told, but still some material ended up on the cutting room floor. One major part of the story that both adaptations steer clear of is the part where the loser’s club loses their “innocence”, but that scene was included in the script of the miniseries, but never made it to film (with good reason.)

A more notibile change comes from the recent remakes, whereas the book and miniseries tell the story in both flashbacks and current day. The remakes split the story in two, both with lengthy run times. One movie focuses solely on the kids. This way we get a more personal investment with the characters and really feel scared for them when they are put into dangerous encounters with Pennywise. The sequel focuses on the adults, this time we see how they grew up and how the effects of Pennywise left on the losers. Some grew to be successful while others fell back to the fears they felt during their childhood. Ultimately with every good story, the hero’s need a villain to defeat.

Pennywise, the shapeshifting entity from space, lived under the town of Derry for thousands of years. In 1990, with names like Roddy McDowall, Alice Cooper and Malcolm McDowell. Ultimately Tim Curry was cast after coming hot from his roles in ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ and ‘Clue'. After the release many praised his performance for giving the titular villain a show stopping performance that left an impression and gave Tim Curry on the shoulders of other horror villains of the time...that is until the casting announcement of Bill Skarsgard for the announced remake. With a new take on the story, comes a new take on the villian. Many harked Bill’s performance of the clown “ a twisted, curdled connection between the clown and his victims that feels horribly real.”

The real trick from Pennywise is its true form from its clown persona. As the story reaches its climax Pennywise’s true self comes out in the form of a giant spider with its Deadlights as its life source. The 1990’s series went with a very practical venture of presenting Pennywise as an actual spider losing Tim Curry's performance. The remake had Pennywise take on a spider body but kept the clown on top, this kept Bill Skarsgard able to still “interact” with the losers and give them their final scares. Now embedded in pop culture we see Pennywise in all mediums from memes to comic cons, and top selling merchandise. Maybe the real star of ‘IT’ is the villain itself.

All could be summarized by options, but there is no better proof of success than the results of box office money and rating. With the miniseries release sitting at rotten tomatoes score of 67%, but high rating the initial release was an instant hit for the type of content that it was for the time period. “Something like 30 million people ended up watching the film over two nights.” For the release of ‘IT’ in 2017 the remake gained an 85% and a total box office of over 7 billion, a new generation of clown phobias was born. But with all the popularity and hype many suspected that the sequel ‘It Chapter Two’ would hit equal strides or higher, it was quickly a mere illusion as Pennywise’s tricks. Sitting at 63% and a box office of 4 billion, many critics and fans agreed that the adult portion of the story isn’t the same as its child counterpart.

So what can truly be said about Steven King’s ‘IT’, we have two very different approaches to the material with various degrees of success. The deviation from it’s more “adult” subjects, it’s success with cemting Pennywise as a villain every little kid should be scared of, and seeing how varied the audience perceived the two adaptations. Many still hold the book up to great praise and the adaptations are a plus to the existing material. As the years progress there will be more adaptations and more ways to tell the story, (Already whispers about someone wanting to take another crack at the material) but one thing is certain....We all float down here!