'..."Uh, yup." Richie shrugged. "Just all reconnected this weekend for some good old fashioned sewer clown fighting and murder."'
I love the IT movies.
- That's the modern, 2010s, IT parts 1 & 2.
(Technically the films are IT, and IT: Chapter 2, but you all know what I mean, so expect me just to call them parts 1 & 2 throughout this post.)
I haven't seen the Tim Curry adaptation - though I might get around to it one of these days, purely because Tim Curry.
I also haven't actually read the Stephen King novel because it's one of those 1000+ page behemoths that you have to kind of psych yourself up to tackle, and I'm yet to summon the sufficient energy and desire to do so.
Again, I might get around to it at some point, since I'm a general Stephen King fan.
OK, this is a SPOILER zone from here on out.
- For the films, and possibly the older adaptation/s and the book.
SPOILERS, OK? SPOILERS
In IT part 2, it's revealed that - unlike in the book - Richie Tozier was in love with Eddie Kaspbrak.
Which, y'know, makes sense that one of the characters I was most drawn to in part 1 was actually Queer 😅
Reception to this turn of events was mixed.
Ignoring the bigotted views, which aren't worth my time, I can say that a lot of people loved that, what fans had interpreted in the sub-text ever since the book came out in the 1980s, was being made canon
- but a lot of people thought that the last thing we need is another addition to the 'bury your gays/tragic Queers' trope/s, given that Eddie dies before Richie comes to terms with his sexuality.
That view definitely has merit and validity, but I personally loved Richie's identity and portrayal in the second film.
It was heart-breaking, but in a way that was, from this Queer girl's perspective, so relatable (minus the sewer clowns... thank God,) and was done pretty damn beautifully.
And Bill Hader's performance was spot on and totally... argh! Amazing.
(Fandom notes:
canon = official stuff in the book/film/TV/whatever
trope = a set of conventions in storytelling - kind of halfway between a theme and a stereotype
Bury Your Gays = the trope where Queer characters, or in this case the Queer Love Interest, get killed off at some point during the narrative
Tragic Queers = any Queer characters present in the book/film/whatever are subject to extreme, sometimes exploitative and gratuitous, levels of tragedy - Queer people don't get to be happy within the narrative.)
But where fanfiction comes in is when you want a character to... you know, not be dead.
(Which is a common complaint amongst fandoms in general.)
At that point, the fic author decrees: everybody lives!
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| Via Giphy |
...Which brings us to this week's fic, in which everybody does, in fact, live.
(Except maybe Pennywise/IT, but f**k that guy.)
So we pick things up with Eddie Kaspbrak, trying to convince his emotionally abusive wife that he spent some time back in his home town fighting an evil murder clown who isn't actually a clown.
(And also he kinda sorta maybe wants a divorce because he kinda sorta maybe would much rather be with Richie Tozier.)
This fic is actually surprisingly funny
- partly because the fic author has The Losers Club (i.e. all of the childhood friends/supernatural clown fighting squad) take a step back when it comes to discussing things with their spouses and realise just how surreal their lives have been.
I mean, self-awareness, ftw.
It's also very satisfying for anyone who wanted to see Eddie leave his wife and run into the wise-cracking arms of Richie Tozier.
Because fandom can provide us with the happy endings we don't always get in mainstream media - certainly not in horror films 😉
A few Content Warnings:
- casually Ableist language ('crazy' 'insane' etc.)
- emotionally abusive spouse
- injury
References to:
- emotionally abusive parent/child abuse
- general childhood trauma
- murder
- general violence
- IT-related horror elements
This week's fic, then, is:
Happy Wife, Happy Life by Car
Are you a fan of the IT movies?
Do you think that Richie's story arc is good?
Talk to me! 😊💬
Previous fanfiction posts:
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