Pennywise, Paul and Scary: What IT: Chapter Two Says About Faith, Hope and Love

Last updated on: September 10, 2019 at 3:38 pm by Paul Asay

Pennywise, Paul and Scary: What IT: Chapter Two Says About Faith, Hope and Love 2019-09-10T15:38:04-06:00 Paul Asay

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JAMES McAVOY as Bill Denbrough in New Line Cinema’s horror thriller “IT Chapter Two,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

Whispers in the Dark

Ben—the overweight “new kid” from the first IT—has slimmed down, muscled up and become a successful architect by Chapter Two. But Pennywise knows all those insecurities are still there, and he whispers to Ben that he’ll surely live, and die, alone.

Pennywise reminds Bev, the only female in the group, of her abusive father—and of acts that even though she bore no responsibility for, she still is deeply ashamed of. Pennywise reminds Mike of his “druggy parents” and suggests he might be going insane. Pennywise uses hidden guilt and fear on each member of the so-called “Loser’s Club” that brought him down the last time—knowing just where to poke.

The clown saves arguably the most devastating lie for Bill, the Loser’s Club old leader. Bill’s younger brother, Georgie, was Pennywise’s first victim when he woke up 27 years ago. Bill believes that Georgie would still be alive if Bill had just taken the time to play with him that rainy afternoon, instead of just giving Georgie a folded paper boat to pass the time.

Pennywise knows all this. He knows that Bill has never forgiven himself for that one act of selfishness. And the clown whispers, in one guise or another, your fault. Your fault. Your fault.

Bill’s sense of guilt and shame push him into a state of unreasoned vigilantism: He rushes after Pennywise to take the monster on all by himself. No one else should get hurt, Bill reasons. And somewhere, you gotta figure that Pennywise is laughing. Divide and conquer. Just as sin separates us from God, shame and fear separate us from each other.

So it’s strangely fitting that, even though none of its members act particularly or typically Christian, the Loser’s Club feels like it pulled elements straight from the Apostle Paul for its Pennywise gameplan.

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