# The Movie IT is only half the story **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 5, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569 "2017-09-05T18:07:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/21 "2017-09-06T00:48:33Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > He’s in the trailers at least. And if we leave out the circle jerk (which I am a-ok with), do we do away with the fart lighting? Hell no! Kids lighting farts would be a much needed bit of levity, before Patrick goes to open his fridge :shudder: ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/22 "2017-09-06T12:10:12Z")
Curious to know how they deal with “that” scene. Didn’t bother me too much in the book but doubt that it’ll transfer very comfortably to film. To be honest, I think a passionate and meaningful kiss would work just as well. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/23 "2017-09-06T12:23:42Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > wanna bet there making a sequel ? Huh? You mean apart from the second half movie that was planned from the start? Like a sequel beyond that? ---
**Author:** ![Fleetwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fleetwood/32/271_2.png) [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/24 "2017-09-06T13:01:18Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I was only just today made aware the movie IT that comes out this week is only half the book. Presumably the Kid’s half. Rather than alternate the story they are showing the flashbacks as a complete movie and then the “present day” stuff as a separate movie later. This makes sense but I was unaware of it and figured other might be too so figured I would post something. Was already brought up [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=834728). ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/25 "2017-09-06T13:19:42Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Curious to know how they deal with “that” scene. Didn’t bother me too much in the book but doubt that it’ll transfer very comfortably to film. > To be honest, I think a passionate and meaningful kiss would work just as well. Not in the film. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/26 "2017-09-06T16:57:16Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The only other movie adaptation of his that I recall him publicly disliking was _Maximum Overdrive_. Which was also the only movie King ever personally directed. He made them take his name off of _[The Lawnmower Man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lawnmower_Man_(film))_. Rightly, because that movie had _nothing_ to do with Stephen King’s short story about a creepy guy who eats grass. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/27 "2017-09-06T19:49:42Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I was only just today made aware the movie IT that comes out this week is only half the book You evidently missed [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=831608). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/28 "2017-09-07T23:25:08Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Curious to know how they deal with “that” scene. Didn’t bother me too much in the book but doubt that it’ll transfer very comfortably to film. > To be honest, I think a passionate and meaningful kiss would work just as well. It bothered me in the sense that it completely pulled me out of the narrative because it made no sense with respect to character development or plot. I have no idea WTF his editor was thinking leaving that in. I’m glad they ditched it because it would not go over well in this era. Even with that WTFness I still say it’s one of King’s best books. I never saw the original movie or series, so I’m going in with new eyes. Really looking forward to it. I’m not into horror but I’m into King, and this one looks creepy as all hell. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/29 "2017-09-08T08:42:25Z")
Just saw It. Loved it. It is my all-time favorite King novel. I was very pleased. Not enough one liners from Pennywise, not enough parental or Derry background, maybe too much CGI, but story-wise, excellent. “Beep-beep, Ritchie.” ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/30 "2017-09-08T12:52:02Z")
Going tonight. Really looking forward to it. Glad to hear it’s worthwhile. ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/31 "2017-09-09T04:24:16Z")
I think Kubrick’s Shining was unappealing to King because Nicholson’s character was actually too close to the “I-guy” he would naturally want to distance himself from. However, if you read the novel, there was an early scene in which Jack (and a co-worker) drunkenly hit some guy on a bike and it was kind of waved away. That, and the casual familial abuse not shown in the film, is much more terrifying than any Kubrick interpretation. IOW, Kubrick made no apologies for the main character, whereas King’s novel was filled with justifications for his character’s flaws. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/32 "2017-09-09T04:32:32Z")
> [@Elemenopy](#): > > I think Kubrick’s Shining was unappealing to King because Nicholson’s character was actually too close to the “I-guy” he would naturally want to distance himself from. However, if you read the novel, there was an early scene in which Jack (and a co-worker) drunkenly hit some guy on a bike and it was kind of waved away. That, and the casual familial abuse not shown in the film, is much more terrifying than any Kubrick interpretation. IOW, Kubrick made no apologies for the main character, whereas King’s novel was filled with justifications for his character’s flaws. I’m not sure they were justifications. Jack Torrance was a monster, but he wasn’t born a monster. King tried to show us how he became a monster. Torrance and many of the abusive adults in It make me wonder what Kings’ own father might have been like. ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/33 "2017-09-09T04:50:20Z")
Perhaps. I’ve thought that “The Shining” was about how anyone could become a monster despite their best intentions. And that was, perhaps, rather more biographic than King originally intended. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/34 "2017-09-09T05:38:43Z")
Does anyone have a problem with the way the film diminishes the role of Mike and of Derrys racism in general? I really wish that they had kept Mike as the historian; kept the novels portrayal of Mikes parents. And I wish they had stayed truer to the Patrick Hostetler character. I understand it might not be possible to portray most of it and keep an R rating But they could have hinted at it. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/35 "2017-09-09T18:25:19Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > It bothered me in the sense that it completely pulled me out of the narrative because it made no sense with respect to character development or plot. I have no idea WTF his editor was thinking leaving that in. I agree re: the editor. It was a definite misfire of a scene and should have been handled some other way. The ickiness was enough to pull me a little out of the story as well. That said I disagree it made no sense. Thematically and plot-wise it made perfect sense, both as necessary bonding to reconnect and as the transition from child to adult. I could see why a drug-addled King might make that choice. It might have even seemed boldly transgressive to him, in a 1970’s New Wave sf sort of way. But tweener orgy is not gonna work with 90+% of your audience because _ewww_. Which is why an editor should have slapped him upside the head and persuaded him to use a more reasonable way to get to the same place. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/36 "2017-09-09T18:41:16Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > wanna bet there making a sequel ? You’d win that bet. [New Line is already working on the sequel.](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/it-sequel-plans-moving-forward-at-new-line-1035456) It was clear, given the bipartite nature of the book, that Hollywood would make two movies from it thus doubling the profits. [It’s bad news for real clowns though.](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/movie-causing-legit-clowns-lose-work-1033435) They were already losing business because of the spate of scary clowns last year appearing by roadsides and freaking people out (also blamed on Stephen King’s book and the first movie.) Now they figure things will just get worse. > [@](#): > > With the current remake tracking toward blockbuster business — Pennywise this time around is played by 27-year-old Bill Skarsgard in a costume inspired by “medieval, renaissance, Elizabethan and Victorian eras,” according to costume designer Janie Bryant — legitimate clowns are battening down the hatches for another spate of bad press. > > “Last year we were really blindsided,” says World Clown Association president Pam Moody of the evil clown sightings — typically pranksters in store-bought clown masks who lurked near schools and in residential neighborhoods, sometime with weapons in hand. “We’ve since created a press kit to prepare clowns for the movie coming out.” ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/37 "2017-09-09T19:04:16Z")
Aww. That’s sad. Sad clown. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/38 "2017-09-09T19:19:40Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Torrance and many of the abusive adults in It make me wonder what Kings’ own father might have been like. Absent. Left when he was 2. > [@aldiboronti](#): > > [It’s bad news for real clowns though.](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/movie-causing-legit-clowns-lose-work-1033435) They were already losing business because of the spate of scary clowns last year appearing by roadsides and freaking people out Not to mention the dying out of circuses. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/39 "2017-09-09T19:21:59Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > I agree re: the editor. It was a definite misfire of a scene and should have been handled some other way. The ickiness was enough to pull me a little out of the story as well. > > That said I disagree it made no sense. Thematically and plot-wise it made perfect sense, both as necessary bonding to reconnect and as the transition from child to adult. I could see why a drug-addled King might make that choice. It might have even seemed boldly transgressive to him, in a 1970’s New Wave sf sort of way. But tweener orgy is not gonna work with 90+% of your audience because _ewww_. Which is why an editor should have slapped him upside the head and persuaded him to use a more reasonable way to get to the same place. It just didn’t seem realistic to me that a young girl rumored to be the town slut and sexually terrorized by her own father would find any sense of safety, security or connection in having sex with every one of her male friends in the middle of a sewer. There was no sense of her as an overtly sexual being throughout the novel or any indication that she was considering banging all of her friends. I do understand what King was trying to do in his drug-induced stupor and I don’t really hold it against him or think badly of him because of it (some people see it as indicative of misogyny, but I think overall he’s great with telling women’s stories) but from a pure storytelling perspective I saw no narrative justification for it. His job, as a writer, was to make us believe that moment needed to happen. If it was so important thematically, it needed to feel “inevitable but surprising” as the Story Grid guy would say. For me, he failed to do that. My immediate reaction was “where the fuck did _that_ come from?” I wasn’t disgusted or shocked, I was confused. In a well crafted novel, that shouldn’t happen. And as I have a pretty big writer-crush on Stephen King, it was a disappointing moment in an otherwise beautiful novel. ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569/40 "2017-09-10T03:21:16Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > It just didn’t seem realistic to me that a young girl rumored to be the town slut and sexually terrorized by her own father would find any sense of safety, security or connection in having sex with every one of her male friends in the middle of a sewer. There was no sense of her as an overtly sexual being throughout the novel or any indication that she was considering banging all of her friends. I do understand what King was trying to do in his drug-induced stupor and I don’t really hold it against him or think badly of him because of it (some people see it as indicative of misogyny, but I think overall he’s great with telling women’s stories) but from a pure storytelling perspective I saw no narrative justification for it. His job, as a writer, was to make us believe that moment needed to happen. If it was so important thematically, it needed to feel “inevitable but surprising” as the Story Grid guy would say. For me, he failed to do that. My immediate reaction was “where the fuck did _that_ come from?” I wasn’t disgusted or shocked, I was confused. In a well crafted novel, that shouldn’t happen. And as I have a pretty big writer-crush on Stephen King, it was a disappointing moment in an otherwise beautiful novel. I don’t recall any hint of Beverly being “the town slut” in the novel other than her father’s projections (is this something from the new film?). However, while I completely understand why the scene in question would be left out of a film, I’m going to go ahead and support it in the book. It made a weird sort of sense to me (as to the motivation of the characters) when I first read It–and I was roughly the same age as the characters, 11 or 12–and when I reread it a year or so ago. As a corollary example, the book was roughly contemporary with the novel “Flowers in the Attic,” which had some similar objectionable content (I won’t comment on the awful film version), but made sense and was fairly tasteful within its own context, to me. However, I couldn’t get through even half of “Lolita” and I refuse to even consider the film version. It’s all a matter of context. Was King being deliberately edgy? Hell, yes. But in a way that made sense to his novel, and certainly no weirder than some other writers of the era (cough _Anne Rice, Robert Heinlein, Piers Anthony_). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-movie-it-is-only-half-the-story/795569.md?page=3)