Richie's fear was clowns.... - It (2017) Discussion

[–] Stringey (260) 7 years ago

Yeah noticed they skipped Richie when it came to showing each individual fear. What I mean was in the movie there was a scene for each kid when they were alone that established each individual fear. All the kids had a scene except Richie. I did not even think about this fact until the day after the movie. Also on YouTube there was a interview with the kids and each kid was asked to describe their characters background. Finn said that the character of Richie had a alcoholic mom and that he used humor to make himself feel better. Again another opportunity for a good scene to establish this just wasted. That movie was a little over two hours but they should have added on another fifteen minutes to establish the things I described.

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[–] Aafox90 (37) 7 years ago

I rather liked how they did it, it was like the clown already had him, so there was no need. And probably just hearing about a clown was enough to haunt him.

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[–] ArmadilloKnight (456) 7 years ago

I think that's exactly it. The clown was already there, there wasn't a real need for establishing his fear.

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[–] Stringey (260) 7 years ago

I still would have liked to see a scene. It did not mess up the movie or anything but would have been nice to see one.

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[–] ArmadilloKnight (456) 7 years ago

Yes, I think it would have made more sense.

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[–] Wint3rFir3 (6931) 7 years ago

...yet he never really exhibited much fear of clowns. He seemed more scared of a poster showing he was dead/missing than clowns. Dunno if the writers have ever seen a scared child, but they didn't show that with Ritchie at all. With or without visions he never actually seemed that scared.

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

I've seen the clip where a giant Pennywise comes out of the projection on the wall, and Richie's reaction is almost none compared to Eddie and the others next to him. I think that was the first time Richie ever saw Pennywise.

Of course, at the Neibolt house, Richie IS more terrified in the clown room.

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[–] Wint3rFir3 (6931) 7 years ago

I still don't think he seems that scared of clowns in the clown room. He knocks on a clowns face and calls it stupid. He later shows some fear of Pennywise when he jumps out of the coffin, but it's not anything extreme, like he's terrified - it's the kind of fear anyone who wasn't scared of clowns would have of a supernatural creature who magically appears out of a coffin and comes at you.

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

Thinking about the projector scene again, it's possible that because Richie had never seen Pennywise before, it was because he was actually in shock and rooted to the spot when the giant Pennywise appeared. I think it was Stan running away from the giant Pennywise who pulled Richie away from it, bringing him to his senses and making him run too.

In the clown room, didn't you notice the rapidly-increasing heartbeat that was Richie's? It slowed once he tapped on the clown and he said "stupid clown", but then he didn't expect Pennywise to leap out of the same coffin that only ONE SECOND before had contained that plastic maggot-ridden dummy depicting him. I think then that Richie realised that IT could take ANY form, if what he'd seen elsewhere in the house hadn't already convinced him.

I also think he just didn't want to admit he was scared of clowns, and putting a brave face on it, judging by his behaviour.

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[–] Wint3rFir3 (6931) 7 years ago

Yeah but that undercuts clowns being his deepest fear. It's either just a slight fear, or it's like heights. Heights might give you an increased heart rate even if you're not particularly scared of them when you're at the edge of, say, a balcony on the 25th floor of a building.

As stated earlier, he did express extreme fear at the missing poster - more fear than he showed toward his 'greatest fear'. That means clowns are either not his greatest fear or he was adequately portrayed as scared of them. Either way, it's not a reflection of bad acting because we know he can act frightened, it's bad direction and/or writing.

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

I know I'm trying to defend his character here, but here's another angle:

When Richie fails to react to Pennywise appearing on the wall in the garage projector scene, maybe Pennywise decided, when they went into the Well House at Neibolt, to target him personally for murder, hence the Missing child poster. THEN, when Richie sees that poster in a house he's never been in before AND knows is the domain of IT, AND realises he is personally targeted for death, he panics. Then all the stuff happens, like the slime from the mattress, the three doors, and the trap in the clown room. As I said, he's trying to act all brave, but for Pennywise to suddenly appear from nowhere and go straight for him is too much. Don't forget he was lured into the clown room by IT pretending to be Eddie, his best friend at that time.

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[–] Wint3rFir3 (6931) 7 years ago

Listen I applaud you for trying to defend his character. I'm not against his character. I just don't think all this conjecture, while possible, really shows his fear of clowns, least of all Pennywise. He just isn't written or directed to be scared of clowns. It is not present in the film. We can debate over a history of alcohol abuse his father experienced or we can point to things in the film to try and explain why, but he's just not that scared of clowns. And no one gets over their deepest fears that easily - to the point where they're the first person to pick up a baseball bat. This includes adults, and Ritchie is a kid.

But I would say this of all the kids in the film, not just Ritchie. It's not a well written film overall.

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

He may not be convincingly scared of clowns, but he is certainly afraid to die, which is what the clown promises. ;)

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[–] Wint3rFir3 (6931) 7 years ago

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

I remember discussing Richie Tozier over on a Facebook group a while ago, and it turns out that Richie's biggest fear is being forgotten, as he puts it in the book. Maybe that's why he's so traumatised by the missing child poster? The fear of clowns is secondary, also.

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[–] Wint3rFir3 (6931) 7 years ago

That might make sense in the movie if it was, you know, explained in some way. But it isn't, not even in the slightest.

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

There are a whole bunch of deleted scenes that will be incorporated into a Director's Cut next year, which fleshes out a lot of stuff. They are, however, on the soon-to-be-released Blu-ray as extras, and I look forward to seeing them all properly.

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[–] atd8vii (592) 7 years ago

To me that felt like a cop out by the writers just so they didn't have to have a separate scene with Richie having a run in with a clown, they could just kill two birds and play it out at the Neibolt house. Kept the running time down that way, and also having casually mention that he's scared of clown's in the park scene was also a little convenient.

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