Mob of the Marginalized strikes back
It Chapter Two mounts a defence of social media outrage, one bad tweet at a time
Note: This story contains spoilers
Of all the complaints that could be levelled against It Chapter Two, the most curious is that its opening moments — featuring the murder of a gay young man by Pennywise the Clown (Bill Skarsgård) after said young man was beaten up by some local toughs for the supposed crime of flaunting his homosexuality in the dark ages of 2016 — represent a case of stark homophobia.
As one viral tweet breathlessly and caps-lockedly put it, “THE OPENING SCENE INVOLVES THE BRUTALIZATION OF 2 GAY MEN AND THE MURDER OF ONE OF THEM. I FELT
SICK AND IT THREW OFF MY ENTIRE MOVIE EXPERIENCE.” A more nuanced take appeared in Slate, where Jeffrey Bloomer acknowledged the scene in question appears in Stephen King’s magnificent novel, but argued the movie simply didn’t know what to do with the murder other than to treat it as a moment of shlocky violence signifying Pennywise’s return. Bloomer also suggested the filmmakers were aware of this weakness and tried to compensate for it by revealing a member of our heroic Losers’ Club, Richie Tozier (Bill Hader), is himself in the closet.
There are numerous ways one could critique It Chapter Two: It has a sort of video-game logic, one in which fetch quests substitute for action or plot and the weakness of a giant final boss must be discovered and exploited.
But, for all their flaws, It Chapter Two and its predecessor It are like the novel on which they are based, very much movies about the evils of discrimination and oppression. Furthermore, they are films about the ways in which marginalized victims can band together to destroy their oppressors. And the creative decision to emphasize Tozier’s gayness in the sequel is the key to understanding what the movie’s up to as it draws to a close.
Friends Beverly Marsh (Jessica Chastain), Bill Denbrough (James McAvoy), Mike Hanlon (Isaiah Mustafa), Ben Hanscom (Jay Ryan), Eddie Kaspbrak (James Ransone) and Richie have gathered beneath the town of Derry to do ritual combat with Pennywise. After the ritual part of the ritual combat fails, they are left to scurry from an enraged Pennywise who has grown to the size of a building and is trying to smash them to pieces.
But then the group starts ... yelling at him. Insulting him. Cutting him down to size, literally, by insisting that he is not a terrifying manifestation of evil incarnate but a weak and impotent bully. Soon he’s a Pomeranian-size puppet, snarling weakly as they loom over him.
As the camera spins around, we realize this is a Mob of the Marginalized. Bev is the victim of sexual abuse. Mike is a poor African-American whose dead parents were called crackheads. Ben was an overweight child. Bill grew up with a stutter, the butt of jokes. Richie is a closeted gay man — which we now know, an important change, since otherwise he’d be just a rich, cisgender, heterosexual white guy, out of place here.
The film’s conclusion reveals itself as a metaphor for social media. Those who were once losers have found their voice; they now shout down the shamers and the scolds. The Mob of the Marginalized hunts evildoers one bad tweet at a time and cuts them down to size.
The next time someone tells you an outraged mob can’t do any good, just remind them of It Chapter Two. You never know when a Mob of the Marginalized will come in handy.