Queering IT

Relatable, except for the sewer clowns

Cee Arr
3 min readOct 17, 2022

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Adult Richie Tozier looking into the sky and gasping
Gif: Via Giphy

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.)

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.

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Cee Arr

Writer, reader, poet, (book) blogger @ dorareads.co.uk , Queer, weird, bookish rebel. Welsh as a tractor on the M4. She/Her. Buy me a coffee @ ko-fi.com/ceearr