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eightfifteen · 11 months

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Just clearing out my drafts so here's a masterlist of how literally everything happens at eightfifteen.

arcade True Vision - it's not shown in any meaningful way, but as Joyce was picking Will up at 9, it's easy to assume that it could have been 8:15. Especially as they put a lot of focus on Will's True Sight getting activated at 8:15.

The True Sight at the end of 2x01. Not only do they focus on the clock at the Byers' house to show it's 8:15, they ALSO have El say it's 8:15 when Hopper gets home at the exact same time the vision is happening, highlighting the hour and making sure the audience takes note of Eight Fifteen. AND the track 'eight fifteen' is playing.

Halloween - once again, Will had to be back by 9 (just like at the arcade). But more importantly - the camera shows it's 8:04/8:15 when he talks to Mike.

Then in Season 3, everything happens at NINE fifteen - aka Eight Fifteen if you account for daylight savings.

When Mike is with Eleven, the clock shows it's 8:20. When he eventually gets to the movies, they just missed the previews, which usually takes about 15 minutes so if we assume the movie started at 9, the actual movie would start at 9:15, which is when the gate gets opened (power outage) and when Will feels the MF again for the first time.

Then in the woods during castle byers' destruction, they show Jancy entering Mrs. Driscoll's house at 9:15 which is when Driscoll starts going crazy.

At the same time, we see El and Max going to Heather's, except the clock there shows it's around 8:20, even though 'blue meets yellow in the west' happens right before that (aka 9:45)? It's a fancy clock so I think it's possible they might have just forgotten to adjust it to daylight savings, which means it could have been 9:20 - though it's definitely a little late to have dinner.

And that's when Will feels the mindflayer again. Which is nothing, as it's implied it's just B*lly/the mindflayer/Vecna recognising El or something.

Aka that night is a bit of a mess, but we know at least that the UD was most active (aka Driscoll crazy) around 9:15, and that Will either felt the UD because it was 9:15, or because Billy recognised El. But considering that every night this week Will has felt the UD at 9:15, it stands to reason that it is more likely that that's the reason.

BECAUSE the next day, the sauna test happens "around nine". aka Will left "a little after 8". Indicating that by the time they have Billy locked and loaded, and Will feels the MF activate Billy, it is 9:15

THE DAY AFTER THAT, they're in the hospital with Driscoll, and that's when the MF flesh creature is in the hospital and Will feels its presence. During the entire fight between Jon, Nance and that reporter guy, they show like FIVE different clocks and even make sure to move it ahead with every scene. Will only notices the fight towards the end, when the lights start flickering after Nancy killed the guy and it starts shifting into the ooze monster. When Will notices something wrong, it's 8:55. Noteably, he doesn't grab for his neck this time - this time he notices the lights flickering first, meaning it's not his usual MF 9:15 spideysense.

AKA all of season 3, while the gate was continuously open, on top of the regular disturbances Will felt when the mf was close by (like in the field with the rats), he also felt a wave of MF activity every night around 9:15, or they just really wanted to highlight how almost everything happens around 9/9:15.

It's different in s4, because here the main focus becomes 4 o'clock because that's the hour associated with Vecna and his Upside Down. And also, Vecna famously does not adhere to the rules so he can attack anyone at any time because he's making new portals/gates with no connection at all to Will or possibly even Will's UD.

I still haven't found good download links to s4 so i can't scan through it like i can with the earlier seasons, but interestingly

mleven breaks up at 8:15 (in the morning, but still)

#eightfifteengate #eight fifteen #stranger things #analysis #just clearing out drafts

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hawkinsschoolcounselor · 5 years

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Will Byers: The Great Debate

I know I still have some requested analyses to do, but I’m in a rotten mood, and I need to vent.

This whole debate on Will and whether he is gay has me infuriated. Yeah, I know I’m heavily biased due to my identification with the character, but I’m still pissed. The assumption that Will isn’t gay until they explicit state it is solely based on heteronormativity. In pop culture, people are simply assumed straight until proven otherwise. It’s the reason why they were able to hoodwink everyone with Robin in the first place. With just a mention of her saying she was obsessed with Steve in high school, everyone assumed the two of them would be a thing by the end of the season. That was a totally acceptable assumption to make. Thinking Will is gay? No, they need to tell us that.

There are reasons to think Will is gay, and certainly more than the casual fan probably realizes. I will go over them here, not that I need to lecture anyone who actually reads this on the topic.

1) Will is stated as having sexual identity issues in the original character summary.

Let’s just get this one out of the way. Yeah, it’s not known to the average viewer, but it’s still valid. Sure, they could have since deviated from the original plan, and by itself it may mean nothing, but it’s supporting evidence.

2) Will is bullied for being gay.

This is another one that doesn’t mean anything by itself. Will is bullied for being gay by both his father and the local bully. They could have used any number of similar characteristics, but they went with gay. Will is small, sweet, and honest, so there’s possibilities like mama’s boy, sissy, etc that could have gotten a similar point across without bringing in sexuality. It’s not just a passing mention. It comes up when Joyce talks to Hopper, and he even asks if it’s true. Troy is an absolute monster as he twists the knife in Mike’s wound. Troy bullies the other three for cruel, but accurate, reasons. He mocks Lucas’ race, Dustin’s lack of teeth, and Mike’s face (Mike kinda got off easy if you ask me). Now Troy may or may not be correct, but he probably thinks he is. He digs into each character’s deepest insecurities. He exists to tell us this information. If Will’s sexuality is unimportant, then why have Troy bully him the same way Will’s own father did? Troy simply could have made fun of him for being poor.

3) Will is especially close to Mike

This is made clear in every season. Yeah, they’re best friends, but Will and Mike are depicted as special. From the very start, Will can’t bring himself to lie to Mike. Yeah, I know, you can excuse the whole “It was a 7.” thing as just him foreshadowing his ordeal, but why set it up with Lucas telling him it’s ok as long as Mike doesn’t know? Mike is similarly shown as close to Will, with him being the most concerned. Dustin and Lucas are clearly worried too, and upset when the body is found, but Mike is shown taking it the hardest. They’re telling us the two of them share something special. Season 2 doubles down on this hard. Mike is the only one Will trusts with what’s happening to him. Mike is the only one he is shown remembering other than is mother. Mike is ultimately the one who breaks through to him.

4) Will is extremely jealous when Mike and El get together.

I don’t know why this one is hard for people to see. Maybe they’re just not looking for it. Yeah, some of it is just some good, subtle acting. Will is upset every single time Mike is shown showing affection for El. It technically starts in the Season 2 script with Will’s eyes being on Mike as they were all dancing. I know I’ve seen a clip of Will glancing over and looking upset, but I don’t remember that from the actual release. Was that a deleted scene? If so, its removal is conspicuous, especially with that released script. The jealousy is still apparent throughout Season 3. The sad looks on Will’s face whenever Mike and El are together, when Mike says he loves her. The anger he shows towards Mike, and only Mike, despite Dustin and Lucas similarly being focused on girls. I know I’ve seen people say he smiles when El dumps Mike. I honestly can’t tell, but he does look away, suggesting he doesn’t want his reaction to be noticed.

5) Mike is able to evoke emotion in Will

For the most part, Will is a quiet kid. He’s soft-spoken and has an innocence about him. He has a little frustration in Season 2, due to people treating him differently (though he leaves Mike out of his accusations), but he’s generally a go with the flow guy. Mike has the power to calm Will, to cheer him up, and make him cry both good and bad tears. Even in Season 3, his D&D annoyance is a slow build. It’s ultimately Mike’s rejection that sets him off. It’s specifically the fact that he feels he’s losing Mike. They were building that frustration alongside the D&D the entire season to that point. Is it really that much of a stretch for D&D to be a metaphor here? He jabs Mike over El when Mike tries to apologize, accusing him of throwing everything away over a “stupid girl.” Now, this “stupid girl” is supposed to be a friend of his, one who has helped save him twice. Will looks around Castle Byers at a D&D book and a drawing of Will the Wise. Both are accompanied by flashbacks beginning with Mike’s voice. He tears up the photo from Halloween, the night of the Crazy Together moment, right down the middle where Mike and Will are depicted. Will ends up destroying Castle Byers, berating himself the entire time, before collapsing in anguish. Yeah, it can be open to interpretation, but it’s not hard to see that Will could be calling himself stupid for thinking he and Mike shared something special now that El is in the picture. I’d like the people who think Will just isn’t ready to grow up to explain to me why that scene felt more like a breakup than a friend fight.

6) Will seems relatively trauma-free

Now, this is actually an issue I have with the show, as Will, along with pretty much the entire cast, should be amazingly traumatized. I bring it up only to counter the idea that Will has lost a portion of his childhood to the Upside Down, and so he’s not ready to grow up. Will has lost about two weeks of his childhood. He showed some issues in Season 2 before getting possessed, but he’s also shown enjoying his childhood as well. Just because we rejoin his life when bad stuff returns to Hawkins it doesn’t mean he had no life in the interim. He didn’t spend every day since getting rescued from the Upside Down in a hospital or deprived of his friends. There’s honestly no reason why Eleven would be more ready for adolescence than Will. If anything, Will should be associating his trauma with D&D and avoiding it like the plague. It should be causing him post-traumatic stress. He should want to get as far away from reminders of what happened as possible. A game with mindflayers and demogorgons isn’t something he should want. He has a reason for wanting D&D, and it’s not that he’s still a kid inside, because he still had other interests before Season 3, like comics, drawing, and the arcade.

7) Will not liking girls doesn’t just mean he doesn’t like them yet

This is the other counter argument I’ve noticed: that Will just hasn’t matured to liking girls yet. While it’s not unbelievable for a boy his age to not start sexually maturing, there’s really no indication of this. He isn’t just uncomfortable dancing with the girl in Season 2, he flat out doesn’t want to do it. He also has no problem with Max joining them for Halloween, stating that Dustin and Lucas were excited about it so he ok’d it. He understands boys liking girls. He shows no real hostility towards Dustin or Lucas for it. When he tells Joyce he’s never going to fall in love, it doesn’t sound like a kid who finds the idea of dating gross. He sounds sad as he says it. When Mike says it’s not his fault Will doesn’t like girls, Will is stunned into silence. Now Mike doesn’t know if Will is gay, and Will may not really know either, but it cuts deep.

In conclusion

By no means is my interpretation definitely correct. I could be absolutely wrong. But why is my interpretation seen as ridiculous? My theory isn’t perfect, but I have evidence. I have rebuttals to alternate interpretations. If we’re not meant to think Will is gay, why does it seem like they keep giving us reasons to? If it’s not important, people from the show could easily just say so. Noah and Finn end up having to awkwardly respond to questions they may not even have the answers to.

It’d be very strange if the Duffers and their team somehow painted themselves into a corner by accident. It’s possible, sure, but I don’t see how it could keep happening. Finn had said they had other takes of “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!” including one that added “yet”, but stated that they ultimately went with the one in question. Well, I mean, they chose to go with that one. I don’t know why, but neither do the people saying Will is just immature. We speculate, and if I speculate that they went with that one because that’s the storyline they’re going for and are trying to keep it under wraps, then I should be allowed to do so without being scoffed at. I may be biased because of my bisexuality, but they’re also biased because of their heteronormativity.

#stranger things #will byers #mike wheeler #byeler #stranger things 3 #spoilers

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tisthewoman · 5 years

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Why You Shouldn't Let An English Teacher See Movies: a reaction post of IT:Chapter 2

Okay, so I finally saw IT Chapter 2, and I have some thoughts. Some of these thoughts might rub people the wrong way, which is okay, but be warned that I'm not going to hold back here.

As a whole, let me preface by saying that I loved this movie. I will go to see it 3 more times, and I will enjoy every moment. However, objectively… this is not a film that I can recommend to people as a “great film” artistically speaking. Is it fun and Good™? Yes. Did I enjoy it immensely? Yes. Were there some very odd and disruptive writing/direction choices? Yeah. This isn’t a masterpiece, as fantastic as I personally felt it was, and honestly I do not think it topped Chapter 1 in terms of flow, total presentation, or scriptwriting.

I’m going to break down my thoughts by category:

1. Story elements

2. Visuals & Horror

3. Tone

Starting with Story Elements:

I am incredibly torn on this. I LOVED aspects of this film, and was wildly confused by others. As a whole, I think the film began strong.

The re-introductions to the characters were fantastic, though taking the “historian” thing from Mike in Chapter 1 definitely made Chapter 2 weak in regards to his characterization. He’s a hard character to get right, but it honestly feels a little like they didn’t try, and just used him to progress the story. I could continue, but that is a whole separate Mike Essay. Bev, Ben, Richie, and Eddie were all fantastic. Eddie in particular was taken in a slightly more aggressive angle than traditional for his character, but it worked very well with the way he was established in Chapter 1, thanks to Jack’s interpretation. Bill was a little bit weaker in some ways, but still at his core Bill Denbrough. I unapologetically LOVE adult Stan, and only regret that due to the story, we don’t get to experience him as much as he deserves in the film.

The return to Derry was great, and I still think that the group dynamics are what make this story shine. 90% of what I loved so much in Chapter 1 was the group dynamics, and they are here in SPADES. The group makes sense together, and the cast did a great job, though Eddie’s constant repetition of the word “fuck” seemed a little unnecessary after the second time in the restaurant scene. However, one thing I think the miniseries did better is establish them as “the lucky seven” - they’re not just the Losers Club; they’re held together by fate, and there’s definitely some supernatural elements to that which are not present in the films, weakening their group connection. This is shown most strongly in their moments of conflict in Chapter 2, especially when they want to leave, because their draw to each other doesn’t seem to be present, at least not in the same capacity. It seems weird to feel let down by this considering my next point, but it is what it is.

Some may disagree here, but… I really dislike the decision to include the ritual of Chud in the movie. I disliked it in the book as well, as I think that it unnecessarily complicates things and turns this horror story into a surreal sci-fi story in a way that doesn’t always mesh well. King does both sci-fi and horror well, but I’ve always felt the crossover in IT was off somehow. Also, the lack of connection with this to the first film makes the ritual of Chud seem even weirder in Chapter 2. Mike’s characterization with this gets… odd… and its inclusion is very confusing. I actually said “what the hell are they doing” in theaters when Mike introduces this with Bill. That’s how weird it was for me. My biggest problem was that it makes Chapter 2 a sharp departure from Chapter 1, and failing to achieve the cohesion that the miniseries had is a huge downer for me, considering that the IT reboot is an improvement to the miniseries in so many other ways.

In comparison to the book and miniseries, I think that it was a bad choice to leave out Audra, as it was good closure for the Billverly plotline. Bill and Bev even kiss in Chapter 2 - and then it is promptly forgotten. I’m not necessarily looking for conflict, but Audra was a huge motivator for Bill, and it was much less significant to have his driving force be this random kid that reminds him of Georgie. I get it, but Audra helps show how Bill has grown more strongly and pushes him forward after the final battle. I also wanted a cinematic parallel between Audra and Bev in the sewers and was really disappointed that I didn't get it. I have similar feelings about Tom - yes, Bev obviously leaves him for Ben, but Tom had a huge impact on Bev and her growth. Leaving him out weakens her personal story.

I’m not going to say much about Henry, but the scene where he pops out of the sewers is FANTASTIC. I absolutely did not expect to get that scene (I figured we’d just pop in on him in the hospital), but was glad we did. However, this lost its impact the longer we went on; he was relevant for all of one (1) stabbing of one (1) Edward Kaspbrak, and then died without even putting Mike in the hospital like he was supposed to. A waste of his character.

There are other positives. The connection Adrian and Richie’s stories are great, and I think Richie’s moments of reveal are very well handled. I just wish the Adrian/Eddie parallels had been highlighted as well. Richie and Eddie are fantastic together, and Bev and Richie are also sweet as hell. Besties for the resties, man. In general, I think Richie’s relationship with the Losers is the strongest writing in terms of group dynamics. Putting aside his feelings for Eddie - which do a fantastic job of fleshing him out and showing how multifaceted his character is - he is the one Loser who has strong ties to every other character. Bev’s relationships with Mike and Eddie are weak, Ben’s most relevant relationship is to Beverly, Bill’s most relevant relationship is Mike - you see where I’m going with this. Only Richie’s writing showed the importance of all his group relationships, though some were stronger than others.

Almost every individual scene with the Losers and Pennywise are very enjoyable. The moments where their personal motivations and fears shine are truly the best in the film. While there were some design issues that disappointed me in terms of IT terrorizing them, their stories are great - the apartment scene with Beverly is still poignant, and Bill’s revelation about the day of Georgie’s death made me a little emotional. I’ve already mentioned this in general terms, but the arcade scene with Richie is fantastic.

As a whole, there is a lot of love here, and so much to enjoy. The script writers and the director worked hard on this film, and they tried to do a lot with it - just maybe too much, which caused problems with flow and tone as a whole.

Visuals & Horror

I love horror - I could go on all day about how it’s the best genre. As such, I have a lot of feelings about the horror elements in this film.

I already mentioned how the ritual of Chud/Sci-Fi elements weaken the horror - in truth, the horror elements were already weak. As a result, sci-fi elements distract from what already has flaws. There are two major categories for this discussion: subtlety and design.

In terms of subtlety, a majority of Chapter 2 was basically hitting you over the head with a Pennywise-shaped hammer. There were jumpscares everywhere, and they were rarely impactful ones. How many times did we get a “Pennywise chomps down on somebody” moment? I was totally engrossed in Adrian’s scene at the beginning, but when Pennywise just takes a bite out of him and it ends, I was honestly disappointed. I do realize this is book canon, but there is something about the presentation in the book - the precise moving of Adrian’s arm, the bite, the smile, the cracking of his ribs - that is dulled in the movie for a lack of a better term. There is just something about this death that fails to hit home. Maybe it’s because Pennywise is more or less out in the open, or maybe because in the book, the bullies see It, too, making it a surreal moment that no one believed except those who were there.

As a whole, the movie has plenty of gore but little suspense. I think I had more interest the less I knew about how exactly people died. Eventually you get sick of the chomping - the unknown is more frightening than a monster with a predictable attack pattern. The missing kids. Betty Ripsom’s shoe and lack of explanation. Patrick’s fade to black. These things made Chapter 1 unsettling, but scenes like Victoria’s death had no other elements other than being bitten to death by Penywise, and that was predictable.

For an example of what could have been in terms of subtlety, I can honestly say that I was more creeped out by “Mrs. Kersh” slinking around in the background of Beverly’s old apartment than I was by the old woman monster. For what it's worth, the way these monsters move is INCREDIBLE, especially so the more humanoid they are. I love the body language and movements. The earliest example is the headless boy in Chapter 1; the jerking limbs really emphasize their inhumanity, and it still works in this film (Mrs. Kersh at the end of the hall, Betty Ripsom’s legs, etc). This, with the use of humans and their subtle shift to the unnatural in the films, was much stronger than the larger monsters in Chapter 2.

Another strength is the background details that you might miss. The librarian staring at Ben as he reads about the Ironworks explosion in Chapter 1 is a great example of this, as is Mrs. Kersh peeking her head out of the kitchen in Chapter 2. I would have rather had more small scares like this, rather than the reliance on jumpscares. The pomeranian monster behind the “Not Scary At All” door is essentially just that, and I was WILDLY unimpressed by it.

Returning to the focus of the film, Pennywise the clown is a great villain, but a lot of Its appeal is that It shifts into whatever scares you most. In the first film, this is done well - the painting lady, the leper, the headless boy, and even the way it shifts in the battle at the end. The strength in these forms is that you never know what to expect - and neither do the Losers. Each new nightmare looks and behaves differently. The flute dropping from the painting lady’s hands to announce her presence, the dropped eggs in the library scene… everything about the leper. Even the miniseries did this variety well (the werewolf, the shower scene with Eddie, Mrs. Kersh, etc)

Yet, in part 2, we get… two extra monsters. Which is fair - we already have plenty of material - but they both have the same style of warped features and aesthetic. I think creepy naked old Mrs. Kersh would have been a more disturbing visual than old lady monster turned out to be. Sometimes less is more. Clowns are creepy because they have almost-not-quite-human features… the same can be said of effective monsters (look at the leper, for example, or the painting lady).

Pennywise in general and Its overreliance on Its clown persona weakens the effect. Eventually, Its presence becomes “oh, there’s the clown again,” especially considering that Its attack pattern has become so predictable. Is It going to drag me into the darkness? Is It going to manipulate me into hurting my friends? Is It going to do some other scary thing to me? No, he’s going to take a bite out of me. Not awesome, but certainly not the Pennywise of the novel or even of the miniseries, whose horror came from the fact that no one knew what happened when you disappeared - or when parts of you reappeared.

There were too many instances where the horror was all about jumpscares and theatrics. Pennywise is all about theatrics, I know, but It went from eldritch horror to dramatic murder clown in this film. In the book, Pennywise is extra as hell, so I wouldn’t be angry if that was the angle taken for the films - however, that is not what was established in Chapter 1, and isn’t actually what is achieved in Chapter 2. If we are going for a more serious, darker tone for Pennywise, I would prefer the eldritch horror we saw more strongly in Chapter 1.

Tone

This is the hardest category to explain well, because a lot of this is my personal impression of the film, but I’ll do my best. As a whole, the movie does not flow well, especially connected to Chapter 1, and this is largely because of tone. Some scenes shift too abruptly or push too hard, and I feel as though the writers were trying to capture the same charm and attitude that Chapter 1 achieved with the kids, but struggled because they aren’t kids anymore. The balance between gritty horror and charm is harder with adults, but this is something the miniseries excelled at compared to Chapter 2. In the miniseries, you never feel like you’re watching a new film when it switches to the present day with the adults. In IT Chapter 2, though the movie and story are meant to be a continuation, it feels more distant, like a sequel that doesn’t quite achieve the same mood.

I’ve said that the group dynamics of the Losers really shines in these films - however, it’s also a major problem in Chapter 2, because there are several times where the writers sacrificed the integrity and tone of a scene to fit in some banter. I love the banter, okay. I’m all about it. The banter in the IT movies is my favorite banter that I’ve seen in a fictional friend group, and yes, I’m including Stranger Things and classics like The Breakfast Club or the Goonies. However, when it’s ruining an otherwise impactful scene, it feels wasteful and disruptive.

A good example is the scene with Richie and Eddie at the doors in the caves. This scene is fantastic - it’s funny without being a gag, and it showcases the brilliance of RichieandEddie. However - and this is a big however - every other Loser’s individual scene is dramatic and dark - tonally appropriate. Richie and Eddie, however, have their moment melding humor with some jumpscares, and though the scene is great on paper, it makes no damn sense compared to the tone of the rest of the damn sequence. There is no logical room for comedic relief here, and it was jarring, no matter how much I enjoyed the scene itself. Tonally, Richie’s one-liners in Chapter 1 made more sense, and the script of Chapter 1 did a much better job ensuring that those tiny breaks in tension do not disrupt the scene or atmosphere. I cannot say that about certain elements in Chapter 2.

The Losers work very well together, but they also have a tendency to get chaotic enough to break the atmosphere. In the book, there is a lot of quiet horror amongst the Losers Club that is disrupted in Chapter 2 by the multiple scenes where they just scream over each other during crucial moments (such as the scene in Jade of the Orient). The quiet fear and understanding amongst the Lucky Seven that made them such a dynamic group of protagonists just doesn't exist here. Every quiet moment is a moment for arguing or freaking out here, and it got tiring, especially when we went right back to individual reflection and exploration after. I use the term “quiet” here quite a bit, but I’m not sure how else to express the atmosphere I’m talking about. Hopefully the point gets across.

This may just be personal preference - I really enjoy subtle horror, as I’ve said. The moments where the Losers watch and take in the terror as it unfolds are important moments and are lacking in Chapter 2. I can’t empathize with the screaming and freaking out, but the dawning horror and realization of what’s happening puts me right in their shoes. Beverly’s slow realization when she’s staring at the picture of “Mrs. Kersh” and her “father” is a moment like this, to put it in context.

Even more so than the Losers’ attitudes is the lack of the “dawning horror” vibe in the film at large. It is not meant to be an action film, and yet Chapter 2 is constantly go-going. The action is in places more akin to a slasher than the slower supernatural horror this story is meant to be. Chapter 1, with its slow reveals and strengthening group dynamics, hit the intended mood better, and seems further separated from Chapter 2 as a result.

Chapter 1 did a great job with balance - it knew when it was appropriate for the funnies, and how to shift that into the horror elements seamlessly. It also did a great job throwing in Richie’s one liners without ruining the balance of the scene, but Chapter 2 had several instances where it took those quick Richie moments and turns the focus entirely on him, breaking up scenes in a jarring way. An even more disruptive example is the “Richie said it best last time” bit before they entered Neibolt. The entire scene shut down for Richie’s moment, and it ruined the suspense of what could have been a really nice parallel to Chapter 1. We didn’t need the tension broken in many of these instances, and it was difficult to go back and forth. The focus on Richie is because of the positive fan response to his character, which is well deserved in my opinion. However, this could have been done better.

Tonally, Pennywise’s script also came on too strong. The Pennywise we know and love is a lurker, manipulating humans and taking other forms rather than doing all the dirty work directly. Chapter 2 has moments of this, but more often has Pennywise as an aggressively taunting antagonist. It becomes loud and exaggerated. Part of this can be attributed to rising tension as the Losers return to finish It off, but Its dialogue is hammier than I expected. It’s become almost petty - and not to needle at the Losers, but more because It’s bitter and childish. I don’t know if it’s too much to use the term “eldritch horror” again, but I don’t know how else to describe what we were set up for with Chapter 1 and let down on in Chapter 2.

As a whole, I felt like the film was stitched together in places. After Chapter 1, I felt that I had just had an experience, but after Chapter 2, I actually looked at my best friend and said “I liked it, but I’m not sure what just happened.”

Let it be clear that I love Chapter 2, and will happily rewatch it many times in the future, but I do think that compared to Chapter 1, it is a far weaker film overall. You can watch them together for a similar experience to the miniseries, but it will be less cohesive and will feel like it fell apart a bit the longer it went on. I don’t fault the writers for this entirely, as the second half of this story is a daunting undertaking, but I think removing the sci-fi elements with the ritual of Chud and tightening down the horror aspects/tone would have made this a stronger continuation of Chapter 1.

#film criticism #it chapter two #it chapter 2 #stephen kings it #essay length

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wickedpaths · 6 years

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some unasked for pain for the one and only @mindshatters

readmore for length. tw cancer, tw death.

the rain is softer than he remembers.

overcast skies are washed out into fading grey as he wanders along quiet roads. he still remembers so much: remembers scenes and pictures from his childhood like through a view-master - like dias clicking into place, forcefully yet comforting as they push themselves in front of his inner eye. the sharp steep towards the barrens as he rests cold hands on the railing of the all too familiar bridge, the abandoned clubhouse as he gets his shoes dirty in the mud of the kenduskeag shores. it’s still there, hidden under layers of fresh earth --- years and years of rotten foliage turned into dust turned into mud turned into forgetting. the now closed pharmacy --- mr. keene’s name nowhere to be seen, instead a faceless, generic drugstore chain that breaks through the foggy air with stinging neon lights.

it’s all still here, he thinks, like a picture underneath a picture. i know how this road looks today, i can see it; but the memories are there. they’re still there, even though blurry and shapeless like ghosts from the past are supposed to be.

it’s all still here.

he makes it a point to not think about where he is going: let’s his body decide, hands buried deep into the pockets of his chinos. lets his feet carry him wherever they feel like going, slowly wandering through town until he thinks he might turn into a ghost himself. not a soul is to be seen, not a whisper of the wind in leafless trees. a town full of families, full of people who used to be someone --- until derry buried it’s claws into them, into their very hearts with its cold, lifeless grip, its whisper of death even now, even now. even twenty-seven years later, he can feel it, feel it tugging at his core, pulling and driving him in ways he doesn’t understand.

the spring in his step has left him the second he had set foot into town again --- his life seems aeons away, as if he has never lived it at all: as if he’d always been waiting for this call, as if something inside him knew he was just wasting time, trying to build a life that was bearable until the time came to leave it. the thought of myra briefly crosses his mind -- what she would be doing now, what she would look like with her apron tied to her fleshy hips and her meaty cheeks covered in sweat from cooking. how the steam from the pot would be filling the kitchen, fogging up the windows, and how he’d stare at the blind glass, wishing he could get up and draw a face, a smiley face that looked sad despite its painted on expression. it feels like watching a movie, a movie about a distant man wrapped up in blankets of fear that felt like safety when he didn’t look too hard. the american dream, cars, money, good food. he had it all, didn’t he? and if it felt like a lie, who was to say that a lie had to be bad? when it helped you through nights filled with terror and nightmares, how could it be?

lightning fills the sky for just the blink of an eye. like a photograph of his misery: he knows he will never forget this particular moment, how he felt, what he saw. sharp forms of naked trees against the sky, drowned in the angry, dusty pink of the lightning bolt that cracked to earth with force. how the air felt electric, how his hair stands on end as he walks down the street towards an unknown destination. ( it’s fate, isn’t it? or something much more cruel. ) no, he will never forget again.

but you did before, didn’t you? left behind a childhood that crushed you to death, that pressured your entire being into a cold, hard diamond, smooth on the surface, formed by overwhelming love and heart-wrecking trauma. a child filled with pain and fear so profound that the words just simply didn’t exist, that even today it only feels like a vast, dark emptiness that festers inside him and makes him hold onto rituals and habits that should be long cast-off. and still, you forgot: forgot what it felt like to be that kid, forgot what you fought for, what you promised. you forgot and then you remembered, but only the things you needed to remember: who mike is. what you did, what you did when you were just a child, what strength felt like when you held those familiar hands in that divine circle. seven of us. seven. seven hearts beating in unison, and then: another heartbeat, a weaker one, one that jumped and jumped and jumped and never seemed to find its rightful rythm.

eyes had been blind to where he was walking, too enraptured by introspective and memory to pay attention to where his feet carried him, but that heartbeat -- that heartbeat, that hand -- not the one he thought it would be. not bill, not richie. not.. no, not beverly.

he should remember. he knows he should remember, feels the purpose of that heartbeat echoing in his every cell, knows that the knowledge is still there. a name, one he hasn’t thought about in years ( hasn’t spend a single second of his life not remembering / deep down / buried buried buried so deep because it was too much it was too much for a heart so young he should have lived oh god how he should have lived how he deserved so much more how he deserved the world and then he got nothing but death ) and at once, he knows where he is even though he doesn’t know why.

the cemetery is contained in old, broken walls: thick stones stacked atop each other in frantic patterns by unpracticed hands centuries ago, too high to be anything else than silent reminders that the dead do not rest easy in this town. the gate is rusty metal, feels wrong under the palm of his hand as he pushes it open. its creaking goes through mark and bone, like a shrill scream of agony, and he almost wants to leave. but it’s not his decision anymore, being pulled forward with force as he keeps walking, gate falling shut behind him with a bang like a gunshot. no turning back now. whatever it is you need to remember: oh, how we are going to make you remember! how you will feel it all! every second of immeasurable pain, every minute spent crying over lost friend, oh how you will feel it!

he knows he has arrived before he even lays eyes on the inscripture, before the engraved letters spring into form. the name - the date - the name - the date - the n a m e : the name, the name he had sworn to never let ring out, the one he had repeated over and over and over and over because it could not be real it could not be happening this is a nightmare and i will soon wake up surely it is just a dream but it is not oh god it’s not a dream this is reality and how will i ever live with that how can i go on if nothing makes sense anymore when everything falls apart in your palms and you try to hold onto it with shaky hands that grasp nothing but emptiness a hollowed out space that once held your entire heart and now it’s just an abyss that eats you alive and

his knees go weak with the sheer weight of remembering, and suddenly the world goes black.

it’s a day like any.

tiny feet tipper-tapper over mint-green laminate floors, echo suppressed by seemingly randm paintings and the occasional houseplant every here and there, by colorful curtains that cannot hide the stale visuals of a hospital.

it’s a day like any.

he turns the corner where he always turns the corner, knocks swiftly on the door just for the sake of it before he barges into the room, arms full of new comics and old promises and a bit of giddish excitement because he’s allowed to stay an hour longer today. ( at the arcade, of course. dear mother would never allow fragile boy to be in the presence of sickness. so: he improvises. )

excitement drains when he finds the room empty. a second of confusion: has he walked into the wrong room? the numbers on the door deny it, so do the paintings and the polaroids and the stack of toys in the corner. ( a broken firetruck. an old police car. childish games that are secretly still very much enjoyed. ) with a shrug, magazines are discared onto the empty bed, and then he tries to find a nurse, more tipper-tapper, more laminate floors.

the worry only actually starts to set in when he finds the nurses’ room empty, too.

heart is suddenly going harder, breath going shorter, and nervous hands find his aspirator at once. it’s fine, he thinks. maybe they’re just busy. maybe he is getting some sort of treatment right now. he will be back.

and so he sits, alone ( scared ) on dark-blue chairs neatly put in a row in the waiting area. he buys a soda from the vending machine down the hall, he waits. he gets one of his comics from jax’s room, he waits, flips through pages without actually seeing them. he buys some candy from the other vending machine down the hall, doesn’t eat them, waits.

he should be back by now.

he really, really should be back by now.

and finally: finally, a nurse, eyes puffy and red, cheeks glistening, and he gets curious. it’s a cold curiosity, one that doesn’t seem to be his own - one that observes, like he is an unfazed bystander. just steps out of his body, watches himself walk over to the nurse with wobbly legs. watches his mouth move as he asks the question, innocent interest, and the nurse seems choked up and maybe she is crying. no, she’s definitely crying, eyes as sad as the empty sea, grey and stormy. watches her shake her head, just once, before she continues down the corridor too fast, as if fleeing a scene of a murder. but she’s not fleeing from a murder, now is she? she’s fleeing from fate, from cruel, unforgiving fate, from not fair not right not how it should be.

he watches himself sit back down, and he rips open the packaging of the candy, eats the chocolate bar, feels nothing, tastes nothing. he looks very small from here, very small and very alone, like he is the only person in the world right now. like time is standing still for just a second, and everything goes so quiet that your own breath rings like booming thunder in your ears.

it’s not real, he decides, throws away the wrapper, picks up his comic and goes to jax’ room. he sits down on the bed, a hand smoothing over the covers. they’re very cold, but that doesn’t mean anything. nothing means anything, really, he decides, so he’s just going to wait here until jax comes back and they’re going to read the comics and maybe play cards or just stare out the window in the kind of meaningful silence children sometimes fell into: the one that held all the wisdom of the world, that held so much purpose in the most profound way. the silence that said: i am here, and i’m not going anywhere. this life is mine, and i will live it to my full potential, because that’s what kids do. they grow up ( or die ), they go to school ( or die ) and learn things, they play baseball in the summer ( or die ) and have snowball fights in the winter ( or die ) and then they grow up and become adults and pass their childhood on to their own children.

or they die.

but that’s not what is happening here, because it’s ridiculous and just cannot be.

ridiculous.

he walks over to the board with the polaroids, filled with smiling faces of nurses and other staff, of eddie and jax and jax alone and eddie alone, names scribbled in warped letters on each one, and dates. so many dates ( and yet, still not enough! ) - dates of birthdays, dates of a next meeting ( today ), dates of important things that don’t matter anymore because he is dead and there’s no pretense or elaborate lie that can change that fact.

except that’s not what’s happening here. just another minute of waiting and he’ll come back. everything else is just ridiculous and not true and if he’s crying it’s just a coincidence and doesn’t mean anything.

the memory is vivid and bland at the same time, like it’s happening right now and yet never happened at all. fingers trace along engraved letters on the tombstone as sobs shake his body. how could he forget? how could he forget the one that he had sworn to never forget?

it’s derry, he thinks. it’s this godforsaken evil town that sucks all of the happiness right out of you and leaves nothing but a vile taste in your mouth. that’s what death tastes like, he thinks. it tastes like forgetting and fading away.

he's on his knees in front of the grave, hands shaking as he places them neatly in his lap, tears burning in his eyes. if he was religious he would probably pray now --- pray that jax could forgive him, that he knew he had never intended to forget. but he’s not religious, and so the uttered words vanish before they have even left his mouth.

i hope he knows anyway.

i hope he knows i never stopped loving him. not really.

i hope he knows that i will never forget again.

we were just children, and yet we were so much more.

and then we weren’t at all, and maybe that’s the cruelest of realizations: that no matter how big, how important the thing feels when you feel it, it won’t last. it will fade and disappear, and then it will be no more.

( except that’s not what’s happening here. there are things you will never forget: like the trees and the lightning and the distant thunder rolling across vast lands. like the way the wet grass feels under your trembling hands. like the way jax’s name burns into your retina like fire. like the way your heart aches and aches and aches and breaks. these are the things that last. and if pain is everything that’s left of you, then so be it. i will feel it, i will embrace it, i will cherish it. i will make it a part of me, will fill that aching void with the agonizing hurt that’s you, because you cannot feel it anymore. )

#ic:eddie.#jax. ( ʳᵒᵘᵍʰ ˢᵉᵃˢ ʷⁱˡˡ ᵇᵉ ᶜᵃˡᵐ / ʰᵒˡᵈ ᵒⁿ ʷʰⁱˡᵉ ʷᵉ ʷᵉᵃᵗʰᵉʳ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵗᵒʳᵐ )#mindshatters #tw cancer #tw death

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