Spine of Stephen King’s “It” The Xavierite
“It” has become a horror classic, not only with Pennywise standing out as an iconic horror villain, but with the loveable characters that come together to do something incredible. On top of defeating an evil being, the characters are flawed in their own ways, separating Stephen King’s work from typical horror. The film adaptations have brought the horror to life along with these contemporary issues… almost.
The 1986 novel covers almost 1,200 pages, so you can expect some parts to be left out in the two hour films. However, King writes about a lot of timeless and relevant problems, despite the book being nearly four decades old and a part of the horror genre.
“It” has had three film adaptations over the years, with an original version being released in 1990 and a separate two-part set being released in 2017 and 2019. The recent two have gained a lot of popularity since their release.
In the recent films, a lot of the issues King writes about are portrayed accurately on screen. We get a glimpse of domestic and family abuse experienced by Beverly Marsh, a hate crime towards Adrian Mellon and Don Hagarty, the suicide of Stanley Uris, and other traumas experienced by the characters.
Each member of the “Loser’s Club” gets bullied for something or experiences some sort of hardship; it ties them all together and can be seen to help give them strength throughout the story.
In the way Beverly experiences abuse, Bill Denbrough loses his brother; Eddie Kaspbrak has an overprotective, germaphobe mother; Richie Tozier uses humor to disguise insecurity; Stanley has a lot of anxieties and pressure on him surrounding his true identity; and Ben Hanscom is outcasted for his weight.
Then there is Mike Hanlon. In the films, Mike is given a small role with fewer lines than his counterparts. Yet upon reading the novel, Mike is a key part of the “Loser’s Club” defeating “It” in the first place.
After thinking they defeat “It” the first time, Mike is the only one who stays in Derry, the town where the entity resides. After leaving, the others forget everything they had defeated, leaving Mike as the only one to remember and the only one to bring everyone back 27 years later.
Yet Mike is more than the reason the group collaborates to defeat “It” once and for all; he is a character plagued by his own problems that separate him from others.
For starters, Mike is one of the “Losers” that does come from a loving family, but this is stripped away from him in the films. The movies allude towards Mike’s parents dying in a burning building while he is just a child.
In “It Chapter Two,” a newspaper image can be seen reading, “Two Crackheads Dead in Harrison Avenue Fire.” There is another altered image shown later in the film that calls them a “local couple.” Both are in reference to Mike’s parents.
While this can be linked to “It” adding hallucinations to the way Mike perceives what is happening around him, it can also be seen to spread untrue information, or even a cultural trope some may carry. Noting both articles and the shift is easy to miss, creating a new issue in the way Mike’s character and background are inaccurately portrayed.
In reality, Mike watched his father die in a hospital room later on in life, but grew up looking up to him.
Mike is also brutally victimized by racism-driven slurs and acts throughout the book.
Henry Bowers, the main bully of the story, has his reasons for going after each member of the “Loser’s Club.” His reason for Mike is that he is the only child of color in the town of Derry. So in the same way that the other children struggle with things like weight and anxiety, Mike deals with racism.
These events are altered in the film. The “Loser’s Club” in the 2017 adaptation challenges Pennywise in 1989, while this occurs in 1957 in the book.
An argument can be made about translating the language or some of the events to fit into this different time period. However, the changes made to Mike’s character alter the way the audience views him entirely.
Instead of being the historian of the group who is responsible for making the calls that lead to the final demise of “It,” he comes off as a background character in the group who has little purpose being there.
For a story including several prominent societal issues, there should be a way to demonstrate Mike’s character accurately on screen while also being fair and appropriate. The directors were able to show the domestic abuse and the hate crime, among other things, in an eye-opening way that allowed for awareness to be spread about such terrible acts.
While I do love the films and the story, a lot can be said about the way adaptations can alter our perception of reality entirely. It is crucial to highlight characters in a true light to avoid bigger problems, like the stereotypes that can spread through storytelling. These are only a couple of the changes made to Mike’s character.
While society is growing to be more accepting, King highlights the hatred that some people still carry and throw onto others. The book has several brutal incidents demonstrating such, as there is no sugar-coating pure hatred.