A Desperate Deconstruction of Stephen King's IT

[@MertKayKay]

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[@snookoplasm7950]

😊❤

[@sarahlevin6888]

Being a fan of King means accepting that several times through each of his books, you will suddenly happen upon a very direct, targeted, strawman portion and can only respond with “Oh, hi Steve.”

[@Laura_5757]

Yes! The Constant Reader knows there will be roll your eyes moments but the positives vastly outweigh the negative

[@TheZombieButler]

SNORT oh yea , nicely said.

[@TheCreepyLantern]

Tommyknockers was the worst for that. 'do you wanna see the main character brutally put down strawmen in a debate about nuclear power? WANNA SEE IT AGAIN?????'

[@sarahlevin6888]

@@TheCreepyLantern I genuinely tell people to skip the bulk of the “debate” chapter and you lose nothing. Like… we get it. You’re scared of nuclear power. Did you really need to write in that the pretty wife of the guy who works for the plant starts screaming and crying as you explain Chernobyl to her? Did you need to include that the guy who works for the plant is a NukePlant Virgin, being torn down by AntiNukeAuthor Chad??

[@owenleal]

I dont read Stephen King, but this puts me in mind of the obligatory Neil Gaiman sexually charged scene, that will sometimes veer into straight up erotica.

[@coolbeans5911]

Stephen King: why force social agendas into a narrative? Just let a story be a story Also Stephen King: it is of immense importance that i communicate the cup size of each female character, as well as the breast development of preteen girls. For story

[@xRaiofSunshine]

It’s so nasty 🤨📸

[@manliovalenza7955]

King writes the "plot" 👀

[@ambergerhamburger]

@@coolbeans5911 I think male authors over conflate the sensitivity of women's nipples ( are guys nipples triggered by emotion?). Also male authors tend to have female characters oggle at/ admire their own breasts often or think about there breasts in the weirdest situations .. it's like nah.. that's you dude.

[@coolbeans5911]

@ambergerhamburger 100% it's like they assume it's all we think about as if it's not just another ordinary part of our bodies. I usually enjoy King's writing but his habit of characterizing breasts does become very juvenile at times

[@stephensmith7327]

I always found some of his self inserts to be self depreciating though. Jack is one of the main villains of The Shining (although in the book it's a Walter White like Gradual Shift) and the one in The Stand is a self important asshole who betrays all the protagonist and kills the best character in the book.

[@warlordofbritannia]

How IT got a miniseries and two movies while Dark Tower got one quarter-hearted attempt at a film adaptation will forever boggle the mind.

[@crizmeow8394]

Well, considering the dark tower has a disabled back woman with double personality that spends a long time being sexually aggressive I’m not really clamoring for an adaptation of that one either

[@Glassandcandy]

It’s a book starring a band of children about coming of age set in the nostalgic past and involving sex and death and the obscene and morbid laying underneath the mundane and idealistic. It’s like David Lynch but for dummies. It’s essentially catnip for mediocre screenwriters desperate for recognition. Honestly I’m surprised that they’ve only adapted it twice.

[@paniccleo]

People think clown scary. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@about99ninjas56]

I'm not sure the dark tower is for the masses. It's too deep and beautiful for the average movie goer to really appreciate.

[@about99ninjas56]

9:59 oh nooooooo.......

[@Kevin_Theadore1]

"And yes, we'll talk about the child orgy" The fucking what.

[@agostinodublino1387]

a lot of schoolmates were amazed by that book, so finally I decided myself to read it as well (as a fan of books and horror). I was fucking disgusted. Namely by that scene. what the hell I was reading.

[@ChristopherSadlowski]

​@@agostinodublino1387 okay, this isn't an excuse, but King was eyeballs deep in cocaine, booze, and maybe more substances when he wrote IT. I'm not sure even he was fully aware of what he was writing. That his editor or the publisher didn't reign him in is strange. My belief is they were more than happy to let America's "prestige horror author" go on his bender and bang out a million pages of text, wrap it up in a pretty cover, and throw it on shelves without even reading all of it because King's name alone would make sure it sold out instantly. I mean, this book has as many pages as the fucking Bible, if not more. Pretentious publishers can point to the book and gloat about how its length goes to show King's "literary genius" and "fearless exploration of the darkest human experiences" or some shit when people start asking, "what's with the minor orgy fam?"

[@MertKayKay]

Written by Cocaine Co-authored by Stephen King

[@WobblesandBean]

​​​@@ChristopherSadlowski I have been caught in the throes of addiction. I know full well how addled a brain can be when high. I'm even an artist and writer myself, albeit not professionally, just for the joy of it. Not once, not even in the many furious drug-fuelled writing sessions vomiting words onto my laptop screen, has such a wretched thing as a child σrgỵ ever crossed my mind, let alone went "that's a good idea to put in one of my stories". So although you can blame a lot of bizarre decisions on the coke, there are many things that you simply can't.

[@TheMasterUnity]

@@ChristopherSadlowski Also It was written at the height of his popularity, so i wouldn't be surprised if he had the power to veto publisher/editor opinions. That being said i get what he was going for with the scene. The name of the book itself, "it." Makes me think of how kids talk about sex, "Have you done it?" "Do you think they did it?" etc. And they needed to become adults so they did the most grownup thing they could think of. That being said, he could've just had the implication. The intimate detail was, in layman's terms........unnecessary

[@egmorox13]

You can tell the Kennedy assassination was a core memory for King. JFK gets a name drop in almost every king book

[@nordwithnovelty]

Lol, he wrote an entire book about it where someone takes a portal to stop it from happening - 11.22.63

[@elmtree9951]

​@@nordwithnovelty(spoilers for those who haven't read that book) Richie and Beverly make a cameo and there's a whole section that takes place in derry, it's very cool

[@nordwithnovelty]

@elmtree9951 oh for sure! I love that book, and I'm currently listening to Kingslingers discussing that one specifically right now. That's a great podcast with 1 constant reader and 1 newbie going through the entire Dark Tower series (hence the name) and have been highlighting 1 book from each decade since King started publishing. I know that they have also done IT, The Stand, Duma Key, Desperation, and... several others but I don't remember them all right now lol

[@TheRedDeath25]

He even has a book involving the JFK assassination.

[@lolkthnxbai]

JFK assassination is to boomers what 9/11 was for millennials, and both can't shut the hell up about it when you ask where they were.

[@cutecat3004]

Stephen King aggravates me because his stories are such interesting, intriguing concepts and he writes really well but he CANNOT stop talking about people's nipples. Like please Stephen King I'm at the edge of my seat, mesmerized by the story he's weaving and then I have to read a detailed description about someone's nipples getting hard because it's cold or whatever and I want to throw the book at the wall ;-;

[@emeraldviqueen]

And dicks. He focuses on how hard they get, balls shrinking from the cold and seems to think its important to describe the sensation of pissing when like… bro. Not saying this is perfectly equivalent to paying so much focused detail on how someone’s nips are behaving - just saying its something he also does to AMAB characters that feels really odd and at BEST is just plain unnecessary.

[@jbear3478]

Right, I noticed in night shift that his portrayal of women is always whiney, subservient, boring, and weak. I like his writing but he definitely has gone through some phases 😂

[@rebeccareyes6171]

​@@jbear3478 it's been a while, but I remember in high school being a fan of Wendy Torrance. Also Desperation has more variety of prominent female characters. He's still really keen to talk about their breasts and nipples, of course.

[@DWSmith-x6c]

Carrie's gym teacher being "nonbreasted" and Carrie herself shuddering when she touches them while in jer bedroom. Yeah, huh.

[@erinhaury5773]

Alizee has a great video here on YT where she goes through every mention of breasts in every Stephen King book... It's four hours long. >.>

[@airshow406]

Relistening to It on audiobook recently made me realize Stephen King's human villains almost aways scare me more than the monsters. It is wicked and malevolent and spiteful, but all cartoonishly so. It acts like a supervillain. But when he gets into the heads of Henry or Bev's husband or Patrick Hockstetter, I find myself deeply disturbed at their much more mundane and yet horrifically human thoughts and actions.

[@MertKayKay]

I completely agree! There's an aside Henry Bowers has about Beverley that was insanely creepy

[@ashleightompkins3200]

You should read Rose Madder. There's supernatural elements but the true monster isn't the one in the maze. It's the man in the mask.

[@The_Algae]

Annie Wilkes from Misery is arguably his best villain.

[@rubeuspotter719]

Have you read the green mile? I can't think of his name (Percy??) but he's a really annoying prison guard who set someone on fire because the prisoner was getting the electric chair and he was the one who was supposed to wet the sponge that went on the guys head

[@involith]

@@ashleightompkins3200THATS THE STEPHAN KING MOVIE I READ. when i was in like sixth grade, i found a king book at a used bookstore and got it, but my ma accidentally sent it thru the washer bcus it was tangled up in a blanket. i never got to finish it, i only got as far as her painting starting to change, but i have never forgotten some of the things her husband did to her, even over a decade later

[@azmenthe]

I hated how the remake gave Mike’s local history interest to Ben. It completely guts Mikes character and role as the sole Derry adult and caretaker. Great video, I just never had a place to vent that opinion out loud so here it is 😂

[@Ravuun]

GAWD yes. And they take away the slingshot from Bev...so the only two minorities lose their specialties so Ben has something to do, since they also eliminated the dam-building

[@elmtree9951]

​@@Ravuunthey also pretty much made Eddie and Richie (heavily gaycoded) a huge joke

[@13fyrefli]

Even my husband, who isn’t a reader or king fan overall, noticed they took Mikes role as historian. It was important to remember the past through history and such, and as the one who remembered, it just fit.

[@Ravuun]

@@elmtree9951 You know, I had never picked up on that in all the times I've read the book. When they were kids it always struck me as how siblings will pick on each other and push each other's buttons.

[@helenam00n]

Yes!!!!! I think it makes much more sense for Mikes character to leave with the others instead of stay in the town given the other things that happened in his past. I was looking for this comment too haha Im glad we share the same braincell on this matter. Edit: It makes more sense to me as well to have Bill the one who stays, if not out of an interest in town history but out of revenge, guilt, despair and fear of forgetting his brother.

[@parkery371]

Something I absolutely could not stand when the modern IT movies came out was the weird moral backlash against the "gay bashing" scene and its inclusion. People were calling Stephen King a homophobe, they were calling IT (the actual monster/character) a homophobe. People were acting like it was a completely useless scene added only for shock value by an author who hates gay people. It was so bizarre. Nice to see someone aknowledge that writing scenes like that, scenes that are accurate to the attitudes and actions of the time setting, isn't somehow indicative of the author's attitudes/beliefs/politics. Stephen King has been an outspoken supporter and ally for years, and a book he wrote SO MANY YEARS AGO really shouldn't be anyone's main indicator of his political/social leanings 🙄

[@MertKayKay]

Completely agree! I heard about the backlash first before I read the book so I was braced for something malicious, but King's views are so clearly anti-homophobia, it's baked into every line

[@Ravuun]

It was based on an actual event, if I recall correctly, so it was very much calling out the homophobia in his community at the time.

[@StephenLeaSheppard]

Murder of Charles O. Howard in Bangor in 1984. My impression of the death of Adrian Mellon in IT was fueled in large part by King's own outrage over the murder, and given that Howard was killed 1984, when hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people were not typically well- or sympathetically-covered by mass media, I suspect more people are aware of Howard's murder due to the association with its fictionalization in an internationally best-selling horror novel than by news coverage of the event itself. Bury Your Gays is a beloathed trope for a reason, and I'm sympathetic to people who don't like to see it in the media they're watching, but, like... the way I see it, when King was writing this book he got mad about a terrible thing he saw on the news and put it into his book so everyone who read that book would be mad about it, too, at a time when he had much better reach than the news.

[@harrylane4]

@@Ravuun hell, maine is STILL like that in a lot of parts of the state.

[@Blue-hx8qu]

The movie didn't come out in the same day and age as the book, so it's perfectly understandable to criticise the movie as a piece of media of today (because it is).

[@kail9036]

Beverly's scenes and everything could've been the horrors of girlhood, and subsequently, how much society forces women to hate themselves because...well, there's a reason your father would hit you and it's your fault, next time stay a little 5 year old girl forever; now sit in a corner and think about whatever sins your father believes you may one day be capable of. In abusive households, the fathers often fear what their daughters could become. They can go from loving their little girls and swearing they'd kill anyone who hurts them to noticing that suddenly there's money going towards pads & tampons and he can't see his little girl as his daughter; instead she's some sort of temptress monster who will suck the life out of some poor boy. This isn't uncommon nowadays and I doubt it was rare back then. And the SA one goes through (talking from experience again) can crop up in many ways. One time I had an extreme, freezing flashback after just making out with someone and I couldn't shower for a week afterwards But none of her segments come across as someone who's greatest sin was being born a woman in a world where that is the greatest atrocity one can commit. Her biggest sin was being born as she was and King became another one of her abusers, brutalizing her & her trauma and making it out as "well, secretly, this was a dark fantasy of her's, so it's ok. Yes she's saying no, but her boobs say something else, so is it really that bad?" You can be confused about your trauma, where it fits in the cracks it left behind, but King doesn't write her as confused. He doesn't even write her as in denial. He writes her as if she asked for it using her own words and that she loved it, not that she lied to herself that she had to love it because the alternative was Earth shattering. Just matter of factly, yes she wanted it, that she's just another character "confused" by sexuality because she doesn't know what she REALLY wants, that she actually yes REALLY wanted all this to happen to her. Everything that was sacrificed at her expense was all because she wanted it, even if she said no

[@MertKayKay]

I agree! I think your point about "what the daughters could have been" is really poignant, and it's something the movie nails. Also, I'm sorry to hear about your past traumas :(

[@kail9036]

@@MertKayKay I think I've already gone on a tangent on your channel before about it so I'll keep it extremely brief; horror writers (especially men) love the appeal of the horrors of feminity because deep down they know it's wrong, and yet most of them have never even spoken to a woman, nevermind long enough to notice anything other than how big her boobs are

[@Halliwell0Rain]

The last part of your comment speaks to how as a man without those lived experiences can only see from the outside. Perhaps he saw a woman in a similar situation turn out the same and couldn't see that she was lying to herself so he wrote her from his perspective.

[@escalatingbarbarism5096]

Bill's experience in college is based on Stephen King's real-life college experience, where genre stories were dismissed in favor of more "pretentious" work. It's exaggerated, but it was a very real problem where tons of authors who are household names today for writing mid-century sci-fi or horror or fantasy classics were laughed at by the establishment when they started out.

[@AugustRx]

Universities still don't give passive entertainment the respect it deserves but yeah thats how self insert characters work

[@escalatingbarbarism5096]

@@AugustRx It's just important to note that attitude. King came within a hair's breath of completely giving up on his manuscript for Carrie and remaining an anonymous, underpaid high school teacher for the rest of his life because he believed no one wanted the stuff he was interested in writing, largely due to the sensibilities of his college professors. Thankfully his wife stepped in and gave him a pep talk.

[@JoyToy1312]

Harlen Ellison, rest his soul, had that treatment, if I remember correctly, a teacher in college told him he wouldn't amount to shit and so after writing all these stories, he would send his awards to that teacher as a fuck you.

[@ORIGINALFBI]

Ironic he has Bill say this this since he himself brings his politics into things all the time.

[@stephensmith7327]

​@@ORIGINALFBII do think there is a layer of Self Deprication. Not to the extent of Jack Torance but at least a Vaneer

[@WoodsRunning]

I am five minutes in and this is already the best deconstruction of Steven King I've ever seen.

[@MertKayKay]

I read this comment out loud to my mum, thank you so much

[@WoodsRunning]

@@MertKayKay I have now watched all of this and it is an incredible video. Please show this to Mother Mert and tell her this stranger from the internet gives it 10/10

[@alpaca6462]

Meet has some awesome commentary for sure

[@CassetteGlitch]

I actually quite liked the reveal that It is female, for the very simple fact that it provoked a feeling of "Oooooh shit, it's trying to make more of itself!" in me the first time I read the book. When they say that it's bloated with eggs, my mind immediately flickered to a world where there isn't only one It, but several, perhaps dozens of them. To me that's where the horror of that reveal comes from, the fact that just like any other animal, It can reproduce and that's terrifying. (Also while there is no male It in the vicinity, I wouldn't put parthogenesis above cosmic horror entities, as horrifying as the concept is.) I do agree on your point about too much exposition though, creatures and monsters become less scary the more we know about them.

[@Ravuun]

In another book set in Derry (I can't recall which one) somebody had scrawled "Pennywise Lives" across a memorial. There was a suggestion that maybe Ben could have missed an egg in the dark...

[@thepriceisright048]

@@RavuunI think it’s Dreamcatcher friend

[@Laura_5757]

I, too, enjoyed the reveal. I first read It when I was 10 years old or so, and I distinctly remember being horrified at the thought of stomping all the It eggs in the pitch-black darkness of the sewer, hoping against hope that you destroyed them all.

[@13fyrefli]

If you remember the eggs were fertile. That may not be the right word, the eggs had living creatures inside them. Ben talks about them skittering across his boots and having to stomp them out, and how he could feel their blind hatred of him. If I’m remembering correctly.

[@Laura_5757]

@@13fyrefli Ew, yes, I had forgotten that part!

[@Enzo_honey]

Absolutely love your videos, as a gay guy the over-sexualisation of Beverley by her close friends is weirdly relatable and how due to a single difference in gender or sexuality you can still be semi-ostracised in friend groups

[@pyro380]

Buh huh

[@CodeNameX001]

I see Stan as acting the way a child imagines an adult would act. Being more devoutly Jewish and having his Bar Mitzvah, he's someone who's been given adult expectations earlier that everyone else. In an odd way, he's kind of the opposite of Beverly: a child forced to endure adult trauma, while keeping the facade of a child. Unlike the others who forgot about their experiences in Derry, Stan willingly repressed those memories. Pennywise's return meant they all had to go back and confront a dreaded past. But Stan, who desperately WANTED to departmentalize and forget his trauma, was placed in a unique position where he is FORCED to remember.

[@StephenLeaSheppard]

Excellent video. I am, for context, a 41-year-old straight cis man (as far as I know!); this book was published when I was three. My first experience with It was when I was about eight or nine years old at a friends' house, his parents had taped the 1990 TV miniseries and me and my friend watched it during a sleepover. I then had screaming nightmares about Tim Curry as Pennywise for literally weeks, unable to sleep soundly, I'd wake my parents up multiple times over the course of the night, and I gather they had words with my friend's parents for letting us watch it. At about age... 13? 14? ...I found a copy of the book and, that period of nightmares still being formative part of my psyche at the time, read through it in fascination over the course of about a week. It is not appropriate to let a 13-year-old read Stephen King's It, but my parents didn't know that because (despite being big readers themselves) they hadn't read it and they just knew it was a famous and well-regarded best-selling horror novel an adaptation of which had made an impression on me years earlier, and thought it was a good sign that I was enthusiastically reading that big of a tome at that age. It puts me in the weird position of being one of the only people I know who read Stephen King's It while being at about the age of the kids in the Loser's Club. I dunno if I'd call it my favorite book, but it's one of the books that's had the most influence over me just because of when I found it. (And what kid who loves books didn't end up reading something completely age-inappropriate that left a profound impact on them? Better Stephen King than Ayn Rand, at least.) Couple of notes! Regarding Stephen King's portrayal of abuse and human evil, there's a haunting passage in... either Danse Macabre or On Writing, I forget... where he notes that the protagonist of Carrie was based on three different girls he taught when he was a highschool teacher, all of whom lived in poverty with extremely restrictive religious parents and all of whom died before graduation. It left me with the impression that, through the window into the family lives of people in poverty afforded by his teaching job, King saw some bad things. Sometimes I see people criticize the domestic violence King writes into this book as gratuitous but ever since reading that passage I've always assumed it's all based on extrapolation of what he saw there. In the case of Beverly, you mentioned that it seems a weird missed opportunity for her not to be a victim of sexual abuse by her father, but my read of it all the way back to when I was 11 was that her trauma wasn't associated with abuse but with the lingering horror-anxiety that abuse was in her future, a subconscious sense that her father, a figure who's supposed to be a source of protection, would become more and more a danger to her as she matured and that she had no escape from that. Her mother asking her if her father ever touched her inappropriately registered to me as a scene of horror because it was external confirmation that her sense of unease was justified. And I keep coming back to that Carrie anecdote when I ponder whether this is an appropriate inclusion in the book. (I agree its inappropriate to use Beverly's abuse as a source of both horror and titillation, but I've read a lot of books from that era and oh, boy, was that the style at the time.) Regarding the murder of Adrian Mellon, I mentioned this in another reply but I'll repeat it here: This book was written between 1980 and 1985. In 1984 in real life, Charles Howard, a gay man, was murdered in a hate crime in Bangor when three teenagers chased him and his partner down, caught Howard himself, and threw him over a bridge into the Kenduskeag where he drowned. I am not super familiar with media coverage of the case, save for Wikipedia mentioning it wasn't widespread, but I remember how homophobic culture was during the late eighties and early nineties so I doubt it was comprehensive or particularly compassionate. It has always seemed to me that Stephen King saw that go down on the news, got mad, and put it in his book because he figured everyone else should be mad about it, too; the sheer amount of effort he puts into Adrian himself and his partner Don Hagarty, and everyone associated with their lives right down to (as you mentioned) the guy running the Derry gay bar, makes it impossible to see Mellon's murder as anything but a tragedy, and my memory of reading that bit *probably* helped me overcome my own shitty 80s-era homophobia in my later teens. Other folks have already mentioned that Bill Denbrough's experience in college is heavily based on King's own experience being told by teachers and fellow students that science fiction and horror are worthless schlock and that real writers write profound theme-forward works about e.g. college professors having affairs with their students; King was also consistently bitter during this period of his career about being one of the best-selling writers in the world but constantly being heckled by literary critics for writing populist garbage. I agree completely with your thesis that the book is leaden with themes and failing to acknowledge them is myopic, but I also find utility in King's assertion in On Writing that your first draft can be for exploring ideas and flights of fancy, that themes can be for finding and reinforcing in your second draft, and that his peers and teachers in college were full of crap when they told him a writer has to put themes first from the start or else they weren't writing anything of value, so I don't personally find any contradiction between the assertion that a story can just be a story and the assertion that themes and politics can be allowed to arise naturally from a story if it's well-told. It is jarring how much that bit is just Stephen King getting up on a soapbox, though. You briefly mentioned the disappearance of the Roanoke colony as still being unsolved; I've got good news and bad news about that one. It is technically still unsolved but... the colony was founded in 1585 but resupply missions were interrupted by things like the Anglo-Spanish War; when it was visited again in 1590, everyone was gone and the word CROATOAN was carved into a tree, Coratoan being the name of a nearby island. And then bad weather prevented anyone from Europe actually checking Croatoan island; they just wrote the colony off as a loss. Hundreds of years later, local indigenous populations demonstrated European features, so, like, it's not much of a mystery. The site was uninhabitable without regular supply missions from Europe, which didn't arrive, so the colonists left, carved a note saying where they were going into a tree, and assimilated. None of this was widely known when King was writing It; I remember reading about the Roanoke colony as a Great American Mystery as a kid in books about UFOs and bigfoot, but it's more clear now. So, the good news is they probably were not gobbled up by some mysterious monster or anything; they were fine! They just moved in with folks who actually knew how to survive without supply drops from Europe! The bad news is it's not a very compelling mystery and books like It that try to use it as one seem kinda silly in retrospect (not that this is the silliest thing in this book). In retrospect, the Mystery of the Roanoke Colony Disappears mostly seems to be a product of the racist assumption that good European colonists would never fall so low as to assimilate with the locals so something spooooooooky must have happened to them instead. Uh. No comment on the orgy scene. I didn't question it on my first read when I was the Losers' age ("Yes, this seems like a reasonable attempt at ritual magic using the tools available to escape Its influence by crossing the threshold into adulthood; very clever, you guys") but in retrospect yikes. Could have stood to cut that bit, Steve-o! Also, subscribed!

[@MertKayKay]

Damn, I wish I'd told you I was writing this script so I could have included all these notes. I feel like you think you've thought of everything (when writing) and then a comment comes along that makes you realise you barely scratched the surface Thank you for this!

[@StephenLeaSheppard]

@@MertKayKay Well, that swings both ways. I completely did not catch that Dick Hallorann from the Shining made an appearance in the Black Spot story.

[@13fyrefli]

Dude, you hit the nail on the head with Beverly. It wasn’t the actual abuse, it was the fear of possible abuse. The anxiety that it could happen at any time. And I felt the same about “that scene”. Seemed like the best idea at the time and it worked but eww, Really, Steve?

[@triciacarey2288]

I always thought that it was the build up towards her father eventually abusing her in her teen years tbh. The anxiety around it potentially happening and the weird interactions with her father always made it seem like her starting to develop sexually was the trigger for her father’s abuse becoming more than just physical and emotional.

[@StephenLeaSheppard]

So I've been thinking about this, and I'm not sure how appropriate it is for me to bring it up because, again, cis dude, but something I've seen brought up before w/regards to Beverly and her relationship with adulthood and fear and the monster in the book is that there's this sort of spectrum in the book of how real vs. how fake the things It uses to scare the kids are, and Beverly occupies the extreme end of it. Most of the boys are being stalked by fun Halloween monsters, although the video goes into detail how, f'rex, Eddie is being stalked by a personification of his own internalized homophobia. Mike is mostly not being stalked by a personification of racism because Henry Bowers covers that angle, and Stan isn't really being stalked by a personification of antisemitism at all. Bill, on the other hand, is pretty close to the real side of the spectrum because he's being stalked by the death of his brother. Beverly is being stalked by her own nascent sexual maturity and the fact that this inevitable process will place her in a world where she's seen as a victim/object for the men around her. It's why the manifestation of her monster is gouts of blood (just a bit on the nose, Steve!) and not, like, dracula-with-shaving-razor-teeth or a giant tentacle eyeball. I'm sure I've seen King talk about this, although I don't remember where -- the idea that boys and girls have a different relationship to fear and menace, because while boys (and, keep in mind, this would be strongly influenced by King's own upbringing and experience in the 50s and 60s) generally become more safe and gain more agency as they grow up, girls grow up into a world where they become surrounded by threat, so while It threatens the boys with the fears of childhood -- movie monsters, etc. -- It threatens Beverly with the fears of nascent adulthood instead. It chases most of the other Losers with monsters they'll be able to out grow; Beverly is chased by a monster she'll be caught by whether they kill sewer clown or not. And, indeed, after leaving Derry she is caught by it in the form of her abusive husband. As a kid, I definitely got this (well, okay, ironically I didn't get what the gouts of blood were a stand-in for, but I did get the general theme), mostly because my mom was pretty actively feminist during my childhood and spoke openly to me about the issues surrounding the fight for women's rights starting about when I was six years old, which is the point at which she began seriously pursuing a medical career and began running into the problem of the medical field being dominated by men and patriarchal authority. As an adult, looking back on it, though, it almost feels like King is trying to work through guilt about having grown up with male privilege -- Beverly comes across as the now-disfavored archetype of the girl who's tougher than all the boys because she has to be, because girl power etc. And I can definitely see how it's at the very least irksome for a woman reading It to find this story about little boys escaping the mummy and the wolfman while the one girl is being chased and caught by the spectre of patriarchy.

[@danielheflin6658]

Genuinely one of the best writers on the platform. Not many content creators can make a watchable 4 hour long video without waffling about it for at least 10 minutes of the run time. These are incredibly dense videos relative to the average video essay and I'm always left looking forward to the next.

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you Daniel! I've been trying to make my scripts more efficient so I really appreciate that you noticed it :')

[@danielheflin6658]

@MertKayKay I appreciate that the videos are made in the spirit of really engaging with and having a lot to say about the content, rather than feeling produced for some algorithmic niche audience. Just here's the ad, you saw the runtime, you know what you're here for, we are not slowing down and I promise not to waste any of your time. I just don't think I've ever seen so many words fit into a long form video that didn't feel long for the sake of it. Your writing has an almost academic, professional character compared to a lot of other pop-culture reviewers, but not in a way that is dry or pandering. It's really cool, huge fan

[@Laura_5757]

I agree completely. I got my degree in Literature and the writing in her videos are very much at an academic level (although my professors probably would have raised their eyebrows if I used the word “fuck” as much, lol). @@danielheflin6658

[@deathnstuff]

Fully agree. Wanted to leave a comment about this myself, but couldn’t word it half as well lol, so I’ll just leave u my +1

[@TindraSan]

I dunno how to feel about the way my mind immediately connected the "Just let a story be a story" with one of the many ramblings of FNAF's Mr. Hippo.

[@ThisIsCas]

You read and are able to analyse King in a way I could only begin to dream of. Holy shit Mert this is incredible.

[@urgon6321]

The part about Billy in class is loosely based on real experience King had in college, which he relates in "Danse Macabre". He was told that popular literature has no worth. In protest he placed copy of a check he received for his short story (IIRC he earlier presented it in class) to prove that it might not be as noble as "great literature", but it sells better.

[@MertKayKay]

This is so cool! Thanks for sharing

[@13fyrefli]

I’m kind of disturbed at how many of us read this at 9-13. I snuck my mom’s copy into my backpack and read it at the park. It’s a double edged sword. Do I want my seven year old son reading King next year? No. Did I start reading King at 8 and turn out okay. Yes. Except my lingering terror of clowns. Also, King is my autistic interest. For 34 years now. Would I deny finding his autistic “thing” to my son, who is also autistic? Food for my own brain to consume.

[@grimlesbians]

if i can offer some advice, u wouldnt be throwing him to the wolves. theres a lot that would challenge a child (obvs dont start with IT lol) but when hes rdy to approach kings novels u sound capable of unpacking them with him & having an adult ground u thru it helps a lot. when i was small my parents got tired of catching me watching horror movies from behind the couch, frankly they knew i was rdy cos they couldnt stop me so they sat me down with them & i didnt have any fear or trauma from that. those r fond memories for me

[@MayMoment_]

Do not let your child read king yet. If he's eight I don't think you'd be happy with him asking "mum, what's an orgy?" Why are the characters in this book doing one in the sewers?"

[@13fyrefli]

@@MayMoment_ I appreciate your concern and agree with you. 🙏🙂

[@MayMoment_]

@@13fyrefli it's definitely good brain food! Just maybe around 15-16 is probably a better time? I say this as a 20 year old without children, so take it with a grain of salt lol

[@siobhan_is_on]

Have I ever read this book? No. Did I eat up every second of this intellectual feast? Yes.

[@owenmahan2854]

Would recommend the audiobook but it is looong.

[@very_nervous133]

*in Tim Curry voice* What's the matter? One balloon not enough? TRY A BUNCH! *silly circus music start to play* 1:07:12

[@warlordofbritannia]

IT was how I was introduced to the wonderful world of Tim Curry. Though personally the man in the moon scene I find even funnier 😂

[@xRaiofSunshine]

I read that in his voice 😂

[@crizmeow8394]

Omg, you know I’ve always thought that so many reviews of IT, new and old never mention the demonic clown music and that makes me sad because while the new adaptation is better I miss the music

[@WobblesandBean]

​@@crizmeow8394 I love that midi soundtrack. It (heh) came out when I was very young, I think 3rd grade. I remember all of the kids at school being so scared of it, talking about it in hushed tones like we weren't supposed to be. It's funny how something can be terrifying to a kid that in hindsight is *_objectively_* unscary.

[@kevlaxer]

Bill’s rejection of themes and underlying meaning of haunting stories is directly a reflection of him suppressing the the forgotten trauma that inspired those stories, not a reflection of King’s outright belief the great writers are story tellers who don’t care about theme Love the video though

[@MertKayKay]

I personally don't see him rejecting the themes of other people as a way to reject his own trauma, but thanks for sharing the interpretation regardless! Another commenter has said that King is writing this from his own experience, when he combatted a discussion of themes by showing the lecturer his first payslip for a published short story, it could be worth considering that

[@nm9688]

Exactly, I don't think that was directly reflecting Stephen King's views. Considering how packed with social themes and psychology "It" is, I don't think he genuinely believes that.

[@derpkipper]

​@@nm9688 or even, maybe he did at some point when he was younger.

[@darkwitnesslxx]

King was a English professor who's favorite works of fiction are books such as The Lord of the Flies, and Watership Down. His favorite author I believe is Shirley Jackson. He is most definitely NOT criticizing theme. When he was young or otherwise. He has talked fondly of pulps, Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler, but that's the closest he's ever talked about story over substance in any of his consumption.

[@batsaubattler3200]

When she said "Mike hanlon, he's black" I died laughing 😅😂not gonna lie . P.S. I'm black 🖤 so lol

[@crizmeow8394]

King is fascinating to analyze because his body of work is so extensive and his life public enough that you can pinpoint the parallels between what he had going on and what he was reading. The things I loved the most about IT have never been adapted, the huge bird, the maze under the town they have to traverse to get to IT and how they get lost there after it’s gone , nor has the sense in inevitable doom that drips from Derry, I loved that part specially when the day they fight IT for the first time they can feel it in the air, and Beverly gets chased in an incredibly distressing way. It’s also very interesting to compare the way themes are used in works form this era compared to his “woman in trouble” series, like Gerald’s game, Dolores Claiborne, and one of my favorites, Rose Madder that shows both growth and also troubling elements

[@tonystark106422]

I remember reading Dreamcatcher when it came out and really not enjoying much of any of it. And then there came that moment maybe halfway through, where we suddenly have Mr Gray see the graffiti on the statue base, and it says, "PENNYWISE LIVES", And good lord, I must have jumped 12 feet. Great video and tremendous analysis, phenomenal work, I love everything you're doing with the channel!

[@danhughes1814]

Why'd they make the clown so hot?

[@panzramstransam7695]

Screaming

[@kspoo10_]

​@@panzramstransam7695 I think you accidentally added an s 😊

[@ameliaconaway1953]

THANK U

[@Roseforthethorns]

I’ve maintained since I read the book in 2017 that it is the perfect example of “cocaine is a hell of a drug” I also remember this being the book where I realized King couldn’t write women very well. Like, I’m sorry, I don’t pay attention to how my boobs feel against my clothes. Usually I’m bitching about my bra straps and looking eagerly to take off the damn thing at home. Also. That scene in the book. Was it really necessary? I’m so excited for 3.5 hours on this let’s gooooooooo

[@nordwithnovelty]

So... bitching about your straps is how the thing holding your boobs feels, and when you get home and take it off, do you not notice a difference? (As a boob owner, I don't wear a bra regularly and enjoy the feel much better, so, ymmv). As a teenager, the size of my growing boobs and how they felt was also something I thought about all the time, as did most of my friends because they were new and different and felt a certain kind of way depending on the situation. As for that scene, it's basically the only time she gets the chance to have agency over her own body and how she uses it. Is it good? No. Does it make sense if you think of how children view the difference between kids and adults? Sure. Does the scene with Patrick... visiting his brother get anywhere near the discussion? Because honestly, if you want to cancel this book over something, it should have been that. This book was written almost 40 years ago, and in a lot of ways it shows that in the writing. But at the end of the day, it is an insane, terrifying, emotional tome that is also an amazing description of what is like to be a kid and growing up losing innocence constantly. But again, ymmv

[@Roseforthethorns]

@@nordwithnovelty it was more just how pointed all the mentions of Beverly’s nipples and how sexualized her characterization felt compared to the guys. Honestly, if a bra fits well, I don’t notice it as much. Reading the novel scared me. It absolutely did. Learning about Patrick made my blood run cold. There’s also a lot in it that was unnecessary and could be cut out with no detriment to the story.

[@Roseforthethorns]

And, for the people I know who *have* gotten themselves out of similar situations to Bev? None of them talked about their nipples against their clothes. I’ve read several other of King’s books, and some of his writing of women has improved. But not all of it.

[@TheMasterUnity]

I can't remember if it was from kid Bev's POV, or adult Bev. If it was kid Bev it's atleast understandable since it was a relatively new thing for her at the time. But if it's adult Bev? Yeah no way lol

[@nordwithnovelty]

@TheMasterUnity it's from the kids pov, and from her understanding of how adults act and how adults express their love for one other. Is it gross? Super, and not just because they are in a sewer. But it was entitely her choice, and not in any way pushed on her by any of the boys, which is how most people frame it.

[@panonymousbloom5405]

42:35 I'm crying, did you almost say "Richie had once or twice caught himself wondering what color underwear Stephen was wearing"?? 😭 That's so funny dhsj

[@MertKayKay]

freudian slip ¬.¬

[@panonymousbloom5405]

@@MertKayKay i mean... If King wanted to write himself into the story, why not go all out? 🤷😏

[@apatheticobserver5290]

We're starting up a loser's club of our own with this one 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️

[@Veestar88]

I agree w much of critiques of Beverley but I disagree w some of what you said about her as a child. I developed a lot earlier than my classmates so I heard the same rumours that I was a $lut and I was hyper aware of my own body and how my clothes fit. My family didn’t have a lot of money so a lot of my clothes were too tight, so that felt very real. As for her father, I never had that “smell” in my own home but I know that smell, it describes to me the way certain adult men would leer or just their body language made me uncomfortable. To me “the smell” was never about a mutual attraction, it was about someone who had authority over her who wanted to SA her. Sure, king described her in a gross way, but there’s some truth to it (at least to me)

[@screams6157]

Genuinely did not think i could get through an over 3 hour book review but your writing, delivery and editing are top notch

[@MertKayKay]

Damn, thank you very much!

[@SinisterChris]

The sequel to It is It Follows and I won't be told otherwise

[@badenlily]

I deliberately had friends over for a double feature of It Chapter One, followed by It Follows.

[@robynmarler1951]

Interesting.

[@Ravuun]

I read this book when I was 12. I loved Bev's character as a child, and I related to her immensely, having come from an abusive household myself. I remember when my breasts started coming in and how exciting and scary it was. We learned about periods in 4th grade and THAT was a terrifying prospect! I remember talking with my girlfriends about sex, wondering how it worked, much like the girls in the book. Acting like preteen girls DON'T think about that stuff is disingenuous at best. Maybe it was because I grew up in the 80's and without the internet the world was a much more mysterious and unknown place. Really loving this breakdown of one of my all-time favorite King stories btw! I always pictured Maturin as the turtle in the swamp in the Neverending Story 😁 It's funny, compared to most of the female-presenting characters I saw growing up, Bev came across to me as a survivor, and someone who had steel at her core. That's why taking away the slingshot and making her a damsel in distress in the recent films was so aggravating. Your interpretation of her characterization is interesting to me. It really shows a difference in how gender is perceived now, as opposed to back then.

[@MertKayKay]

For sure we do! I had similar experiences!

[@levischorpioen]

A damsel in distress? I’m convinced you haven’t seen the recent films if you think she’s a damsel in distress. I feel like there’s a subset of people who genuinely believe any female character going through trauma is immediately a damsel in distress, which is a fundamental misunderstanding of that trope.

[@Ravuun]

@@levischorpioen Pennywise kidnaps Bev on the first movie and she needs to be rescued AND LITERALLY KISSED by Ben. Nothing remotely like that happens in the book. THAT is what I am referring to.

[@nm9688]

The "nipples hardening" thing being mentioned when she was scared, might sound weird but I had similar bodily reactions when I was her age. We are just hitting puberty at 11-12. But I do think King's depiction of her was oversexualized and misogynistic.

[@Ravuun]

@@nm9688 I don't disagree, it's interesting to me how differently I interpreted her when I initially read this 36 years ago. Our standards have really, really shifted and it's not a bad thing

[@fallforever8967]

This is a brilliant video! It's been my company while I did some necessary clearing out, so thank you for the long listen. I grew up reading King (when I was way too young for his books) and IT terrified and unsettled me. It's probably the only Stephen King book I've only read once.

[@blueeyedwitch9840]

I just saw another video talking about Flowers in the Attic and I feel like you would be able to cover that in such a respectful and introspective way that it deserves. Your very understanding and respectful about subjects of SA and abuse and I would love to hear your thoughts on the series

[@ambergerhamburger]

@@blueeyedwitch9840 oooh a VC Andrews deep dive yeeees

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you! I haven't heard of Flowers in the Attic, I appreciate the recommendation

[@blueeyedwitch9840]

@@MertKayKay oh it's a wild ride and it's INCREDIBLY dark and messed up, but I think you would be amazing at covering the subject matter. Just trigger warning: themes of child physical abuse and SA, imprisonment, religious trauma and indoctrination and just lots of really weird incest plots

[@Laura_5757]

@@MertKayKay100% agree this would be a fantastic text for analysis! Honestly, I’d love to see a similar breakdown of Cujo, written during King’s heavy cocaine use era. Theres a lot of subtext about gender and motherhood below the surface.

[@libraofmojave2772]

Yooooooo was it the biz one? If not someone called biz made an in depth dissertation on the series on youtube thats def worth checking out.

[@whereconfusionisarhyme]

not this getting copyright claimed RIGHT as i was about to watch it 😭

[@jonahthejedai4973]

“….Gay shit like themes…” got a hearty laugh out of me and totally locked me in for this odyssey

[@willemmmmm]

To me at least, Stephen King's books have always suffered from being 20% really interesting and 80% quite boring. The adult side of the IT story is way weaker, even in the book. The movies are even worse: boring, not scary, overwrought. But this is an incredible feat of a YT video, and I am enjoying it much more than I enjoyed the book or the movies themselves!

[@MisterZimbabwe]

King doesn't give enough credit to his co-author, Cocaine, for that period in his life.

[@sidnew2739]

You know nuthin, John Snow.

[@cranberryrosebud]

This is exactly what I want in a book review/analysis; just diving in and exploring every little thing the story and writing has to offer. Excellent job on this video! I've never read Stephen King, but this level of passion that his readers have has made me consider it. The whole element of childhood nostalgia here is already working on me, through the second-hand experience - I've had this deep urge to write my own story that includes childhood experiences for context/themes throughout, and IT is adding to the inspiration. So glad I got the opportunity to get closer to this story, since I don't know if I would've picked it up or watched the movies.

[@heathermuffins]

I appreciate all of the time and research you put into this! As a huge Stephen King fan, really happy to see this in-depth, balanced analysis.

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you Heather! It was so cool to chat with you during the premiere

[@ambergerhamburger]

This is the only book I ever to read that I recall literally feeling like I needed a shower and that I went into an abyss of full ick for not much of anything. As a fan at the time- I attributed solely to King weaving evil all through the town/story so much that it permeates into the reader's psyche...but now that I have a full frontal lobe I also realize that it was full of cognitive dissonance and a ridiculous amount of unnecessary commentary... And of course the ending...Jesus Christ...🤦🏼‍♀️

[@pajamanerd7633]

I was a little disappointed that the newer movies leaned away from tie more supernatural aspects of the kids' friendship and leaned on behavior friction that leads to them breaking apart for a portion of that summer. I really liked how in the book their friendship was so solid that even Eddie's mother couldn't stop them from fighting Pennywise. Also thought it was a real loss that they changed the way Eddie confronted his mom.

[@bariyou]

IT will always hold a strange place for me. My father let me watch the original 1990 version back when I was like six or eight, and as a result seeded a fear of clowns in me that persisted for a decade. Now I'm 37, and reeling from the fact that something which terrified me for so long had a child orgy scene in it, and an obsession with the sexuality of one pubescent girl. Child me was onto something, it seems.

[@ziodyne.]

not even a third of the video in yet, but this is phenomenal. you're bringing a fresh perspective in a very dynamic way, would love to see more literary analysis from you!

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you Ziodyne! I'll make some more soon B)

[@megan3576]

2:13:00 thinking about Bev’s adulthood abuse, her connection to her father, and your prior statement that the losers club grow up to live out the dream jobs of children. Thinking about how Beverly probably couldn’t conceptualize an adult dream life that didn’t have abuse behind closed doors but perhaps she could conceptualize an adulthood where at least the abuse was titillating. (I dont think that Stephen King is really the writer to write this kind of storyline)

[@HiddenGemCollector]

Slowly going through this video. But at the point I’m at… Did Stephen King name his turtle god thing by lopping the “g” off of “maturing”? Little on the nose ain’t it?

[@sparrowslife5142]

To be fair, I wouldn't describe King's writing style as subtle...

[@HiddenGemCollector]

@@sparrowslife5142 Fair enough.

[@MertKayKay]

Omg I didn't even notice that, I am the lowest common denominator for his writing

[@mlj3347]

Wowowwowow

[@ashboren6845]

@@MertKayKayactually he was named for a person! “The name Maturin is a reference to Stephen Maturin, a naturalist from the Aubrey-Maturin series of novels, written by Patrick O'Brian”

[@sciencefantastic]

I personally think genre fiction can be better at talking about broader topics than "realistic" fiction ever can.

[@leopoldmolitch4040]

Every time I hear someone talk about this book, I am thouroughly struck by just how much of it I do not even slightly recall

[@cosa_oscura]

I’m not arguing that King writes Beverly poorly in general, but there ARE people whose trauma manifests similarly to Beverly. It’s difficult to listen to an analysis that consistently seems to assert that the way your trauma manifests is difficult to believe and bad for women. Sometimes bad things happen to little girls, and instead of becoming traumatized in a way that shows their vulnerability or strength, they become drawn to or addicted to the pain of their trauma. I’m trying to talk around things but I always understood the way Bev was written. The way she was written made me uncomfortable because I related strongly to it, not because I felt it was wrong.

[@maxreis9534]

You never go wrong with a MertKayKay video.

[@corvidae_s]

Very weird hill for me to die on, but it's not an orgy.

[@Mallowolf]

This comment is so funny asdfh

[@UmbraKrameri]

The surface of water in many european folklores is designated as barriers between worlds, especially signifies the barrier between life and death. It wasn't a conscious thought in mind when reading the book but maybe this is another association between Pennywise and water.

[@davesonofdave8612]

I really liked this essay, and had to agree with pretty much everything you laid out. I hadn't considered the differences between Eddie's moment of redemption versus Bev's, so that was an interesting viewpoint to learn.

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you Dave! :D It means a lot

[@CheziahKatt]

Theory four: they all have The Shine. It's also in universe to the shining. (Dick haloran being mentioned in both)

[@Laura_5757]

Doesn’t King describe Speedy Parker in The Talisman have a bit of the shine too?

[@CheziahKatt]

@@Laura_5757 tbh i havent listeened to the talisman yet (its part of the dark tower, and ive avoided most of that for a long while due to not feeling ready? so working through it all now) but i think so? i think he might also be a twinner? but i only know the plot from listening to the derry public radio podcast over it

[@phaeton01]

You’re on the same level as Lindsay Ellis and brooey deschanel now mert

[@KelsieSaunders]

I just can't get over the misogyny plastered all over Steven King's work. Women aren't people in his books, they're sexual objects. I also can't get over how disgusting the books are. I was really excited to start reading Steven King because of his reputation of being the king of horror, but when I finally did start reading, I found myself not being scared, but disgusted instead. The amount of unnecessary descriptions of just the worst things, the obsession with nipples, the way he describes fat people, the weird way he makes everything sexual. I just can't get into it.

[@lavenderscare4995]

I like the reveal at the end of the novel that It is a mother. Idk what the implication is supposed to be in the wider Stephen King book universe, I've only read a few of his novels, but I took it as a symbol that the great evil under Derry wasn't actually all that unique. There's potential for It to be present all across the world, in any community that's complacent with "little" evils. It is letting bullies terrorize weaker children, It is blaming your surviving son for the death of the other, It is controlling your son with health scares, yada yada yada lol.

[@pajamanerd7633]

3:07:35 I always thought it was weird that King used this as an example of their instincts regarding danger, because...who the heck **bites** into a fortune cookie? There's paper inside.

[@ricardoherrera9405]

Hi MertKayKay. I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your analysis of Stephen King's IT. This novel was really important to me during my childhood, and a few months ago, I revisited it after almost 15 years. I found myself searching KZbin for content that delved into the themes, valuable elements, and problematic aspects of the book, but couldn't find anything until now. Your detailed examination of the novel's various components was incredibly insightful and interesting. I’m sure I’ll be revisiting your video again. Thank you so much for your hard work on this. Greetings from Chile!

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you Richardo! I am glad you resonated with the book AND my video >:) really glad you enjoyed it. Also hello to Chile! I flew through Santiago airport once so I've technically visited B)

[@jshiggity]

I really hope you're prepping an analysis of The Dark Tower that is of this video's size and depth (if you haven't already). Loved the book growing up, and really enjoyed your perspective on it. Best of luck with whatever you've got cooking. Looking forward to it.

[@iknowhowtoteleport5470]

You are endlessly entertaining, funny, insightful, smart. I could listen to you talk about anything for how ever long you felt like. Love this channel !!!

[@roomtomush]

25:20 just saying, this experience is indeed very literal for me- not sure if it's a common thing or what, but I very genuinely hear the voice of my mother in my mind. Especially in situations when I'm really deeply triggered, I can get stuck in something of a loop where my internal monologue will come through in her voice and I'll need to completely reset in order to get out from under it. Like, chances are King was just being dramatic with it but felt noteworthy

[@enchantedspikes3342]

Okay so I’m going to need full analysis videos like this about every book and movie on planet earth please. I would LOVE if you could continue to do this because it made my entire week. I love deep dives like this and I would love to see you do the original universal monster movies and other horror classics!

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you! This video took SO LONG but I loved making it. I shall make many more

[@enchantedspikes3342]

@@MertKayKayYES PLEASE I feel so much closer to this piece of literature now and I want to feel this way towards more of the horror I love. I would love an analysis of alien 1979. I would also love to hear 3 hours of the masterpiece of aliens and how it has undertones of motherhood. I literally sat with my bf and ranted about Beverlys character writing and the other points you had brought to my attention

[@definitelyhooman7939]

As someone whose always had mixed feelings about Stephen King, I appreciate the tact with which you dissected this book. You've done a frankly incredible job of exploring the cultural context, thematic layers and character archetypes, while not only confronting It's problematic qualities, but giving space to really understand them. There are very few video essays that can create emotion through the sheer power of their writing, but I feel you have weaved a critical narrative so strong, you have sucked me into a different world

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you Steph, it is the highest compliment to hear this from yourself :'( I'm so glad you enjoyed the video!

[@chaosheaven23]

God it's just a joy to get a big hulking fuckin' monstrosity of a video from you. Always love getting notified when your stuff drops!

[@MisterZimbabwe]

As a massive King nerd, just want to say that Dandelo and IT are two distinct monster with no real direct relation. IT is a horrible Lovecraft monster from Todash Space, which is the chaos non-space that exists between universes and sits outside the universes of the Dark Tower meta mythos. Dandelo is a more or less wholly mundane monster native to the tower universe(s) in part (like the crimson king who is half human and half horrible Todash monster) or in full and is just a magical predator native to Roland's world. More fun facts about Kings Dark Tower Meta Mythos: The Dark Tower is the closest thing to the physical manifestation of actual God (called Gan by the people of the Dark Tower world) and most of kings novels and short stories take place in one of the infinite multiverses contained within the 6 "Beams" that extend from the keystone Dark Tower world, comprising of 12 spokes that have an animal representative. Maturin is the actual animal spirit of one of the spokes of one of the beams, and the characters of the Dark Tower have to fight and kill a horrifically mutilated version the animal spirit of the Bear beam, (Shardik) who had some 10,000 years prior been captured and rendered into a cyborg under the control of an evil futuristic version of Camelot that lived on the Keystone world of the Dark Tower in an attempt to gain total control of the multiverse until they tried to knock over the Dark Tower itself and replace it with one of their own artifice only to cause a reality warping apocalypse on themselves and subsequent massive damage to the multiverse worlds of the Beams by literally injuring and destabilizing God, which caused the creation of cracks in reality across the multiverse (Large, obvious ones were called Thinnies, due to them being literal chunks of reality that had "worn thin". You do not want to ever go anywhere near a thinny, as a fate worse than death), allowing Todash monsters to slip in to many worlds which is implied to be the source of a lot of the supernatural scary stuff in kings novels and short stories connected to his tower meta mythos. Merlin (Called Maerlyn by the people of Rolands world) was a real dude and a real wizard and he was the one who taught the ancient super advanced Camelot people of Roland's world how to create literal doors (As in actual house doors, the ones Roland and co. use to travel between worlds in the DT series) to other worlds of the multiverse, explicitly as a way to fuck with people and to set up the dominoes that would lead to the destruction of Gan/God and all realities because Merlin was also half Todash Monster like the ultimate antagonist of the DT series was, the Crimson King. Speaking of which, Gan/God is technically just a really powerful Todash monster, and everyone in the FT meta mythos are extensions of it/live "inside' of it. Before the DT universe/Gan was fully formed, the world existed in a freaky fusion of Lovecraft oogly googliness and more mundane form and matter, and during that time magic was both ever present and strong. Magic is the primordial timeless chaos that makes up the non-space of Todash space, which people who existed in those times called "Prim", and as the DT universe matured and closed itself off from the constant predations of other monsters in Todash space the prim receded and allowed Gan/The tower to make things permanent and solidified causality. There are some humans born with psychic powers that manifest in many forms, from classic telekinesis and pyrokinesis (Carrie and Firestarter) to more weird powers like being able to intuitively draw a series of nonsense symbols that, when viewed by a specific person they were coded for, will hijack their brain and force them to kill themselves (Everything's Eventual short story) these unique individuals are ultra rare, like you might get 1 or 2 in a single universe along any of the worlds of the beams. The worst part of being one of these people is that using their powers, even passively, causes unseen damage to whatever Beam they live in. One of the primary ways the Crimson King intended to destroy the Dark Tower and collapse all realities was to literally send out headhunting squads of furries disguised as humans to cross the multiverse(s) and collect these people and then plop them all down on the keystone world of the Tower and force them to use their power to break the beams. By the time the Roland and co. in the DT mainline series encounters their compound, it's confirmed that they've already totally un-made at least one entire beam, or at least one spoke, with a second beam near destruction. (Fortunately the Gunslinger Gang destroys the compound and frees the breakers, and it's stated that given time the Tower will heal itself and make a new beam). Weirdly, with all that known, you'd think the Shining and the Mist would totally be meta-mythos books, but they aren't. The shining is it's own separate, self contained continuity and the mist was caused by a government particle acceleration experiment that accidentally tore open a hole to a separate but more or less mundane universe that just happened to have a bunch oogly googly native life forms that by happenstance had a lot of really dangerous predators.

[@Laura_5757]

Hello, fellow Constant Reader :)

[@13fyrefli]

I love you, marry me lol. I’ve been obsessed with the dark tower since 1990 when I was 8 and this is how I try to explain it to people and they’re like, “huh?” 😅

[@Sartorius8772]

The Meta Mythos of the Kingverses are Peak. However I thought that Breakers where a far more common phenomenon, just that the really powerful ones where extremely rare. (NGL I thought that the losers were “weak” breakers endowed by Gan)

[@Mallowolf]

Hey, I love the Dark Tower series! (despite its many flaws, some of which it has in common with the ones laid out in this video). I did have to read the books in the random order I could acquire them in, which made the experience even more hard to grasp, so I appreciate your concise and funny synopsis very much!

[@arieldee2665]

He mentions the tongue biting ritual in another one of his books (Later, for reference), and while I also haven't done research into the ritual enough, I'd say it’s either a shared universe with It, or the ritual is based in actual folklore or mythology that he's drawing from.

[@simonholmes6473]

I was 10 when I read this book (My dad had it on his bedside table and I'd sneak in and read it whilst he was at work) so a LOT of the deeper stuff went over my head and I mostly loved it for the idea that children have a sense of magic that is powerful because of their belief in it but lost that power as adults because they no longer had that belief. That's about as deep as 10 year old me managed. It's why older me really loved the dark fairy tale feel of the IT miniseries with Tim Curry. I never got into the new films as there was this kinda jarring feel that they were trying too hard, if that makes sense? It was really good to hear such a comprehensive breakdown from someone with your level intelligence, knowledge and insight. Cheers 🙂

[@warlordofbritannia]

I agree with you with IT having one of the few, if not only (haven’t finished Dark Tower yet) worthy conclusions. One of the first King books and miniseries I invested myself in was the Tommyknockers; despite the apparent similarity between each of their endings, with the town destroyed alongside the underwhelming alien baddie who had been living underground the whole time, IT felt far more emotionally resonant.

[@Laura_5757]

Tommyknockers was the first book King wrote after getting clean and sober, so I always felt that the writing suffered from the immense change in his life/mind, but I always admired how he persevered and I think there is a lot of symbolism to the ending of Tommyknockers and the end of his drug-induced lifestyle. I’m fairly certain that It was written after he got sober but those are demons that one doesn’t just rid oneself of right away. But I always felt the ending of It with the destruction of their memories nicely symbolized the end of childhood and the fears we lose as we grow up.

[@warlordofbritannia]

@@Laura_5757 That…makes so much sense-thank you for sharing the King-lore!

[@Laura_5757]

@@warlordofbritannia I’m a big Stephen King fan, so I’ve probably commented more on this video than I have in a while 😂 But I always love a good discourse, and MertKayKay’s analysis was full of interesting things to discuss. I’m glad I was able to add to the conversation!

[@ceres090]

The way King denies the importance of intentional themes is story actually makes him sound like one of the adults in Derry: Completely unwilling to see the truth.

[@jerseyfanel]

Oh this is gonna be interesting.

[@Mekarah]

idk how the algorithm knew i needed to get back on my SK bullshit, but the fact that it did only days before you dropped this exceptional vid on my favorite SK book is surreal but not unwelcome. tysm for making this! what a great listen and analysis.

[@joannjames7985]

Wooooooo yeah! Mertkaykay vid! I never got the appeal of IT, personally

[@nicholascarter9158]

In the case of Beverly's first scene, I'd always made the assumption that the 90° turn in Beverly's personality is her version of Bill's stutter- the supernatural reimposition of her pre-teen personality on her adult intelligence.

[@Brandon_nodnarB]

King is a much better writer when he’s not writing monsters. When he gets into the deranged minds of “ordinary” people is when he’s at his best. The Green Mile, Misery, Dolores Claiborne, The Eyes of the Dragon, and Joyland are my favorites from him

[@excaliburknives3572]

Don’t forget Shawshank Redemption.

[@nicholascarter9158]

At one point in, i believe On Writing, King mentions that a weakness of his as a writer is that he cannot hold narration and thematics in his head simultaneously: if he realizes a theme is present in one of his books while he's still writing it, he can't finish it. Only in the editing process, rereading the first draft, does he have a chance to gain insight into his own thoughts, and no better insight than we get from reading said draft.

[@DarkArt888]

I have a very strong personal connection to this book. When I was way too young to understand it, I read it, and saw the Nostalgia Critic's review of the mini series--- and from that, decided it was dumb. Later on I was shocked to find out my uncle, a big Steven King fan, adored this book. It was his favorite. That blindsided me, I was so confused as to why a middle age boomer banker would like a silly scary clown book with a magic turtle. Years later when I was much older but still a teen it hit me like a freight train out of the blue, what the metaphor was actually supposed to be. Not sure what caused me to realize it, but suddenly I did. My uncles, aunt and my father were very complicated people with extremely complicated pasts and childhoods that was hard for me to wrap my head around--- why they were all so profoundly damaged. I read the book again, and suddenly, I was given a kind of clarity about them I just never had before. My father and uncles aren't the type to really be able to express themselves, but through narrative i gained a understanding of them regardless. That experience was one those core memory moments for me that really shaped me as a creative myself--- it was the first time I saw narrative and art as a way to express that which is sort of too hard to put into words. It's not a perfect book, but it's always going to mean a lot to me because of that alone.

[@Cody27]

Such an intimate moment mr king. She whispered into his ear moaning out "nuclear launch detected"

[@jackalopexjackalope9870]

What an incredible examination. Your breakdowns of media are always such a joy to watch!

[@grace-4072]

this is literally one of my favorite video essays ive ever watched! If you have the time, energy, and patience, I would pay so much money to see your analysis of The Stand as it’s probably my personal favorite King work thus far.

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you so much Grace! I've never read The Stand, maybe this is my sign to

[@Ishdh.2]

So ready for this

[@pkae]

IT is a huge facet of my personality and I have so many complex feelings about it; I am so excited about this video!!

[@BrandiG31]

I quit reading this book halfway through because the King-isms were getting too strong for me to handle, but this video was incredible!!

[@artificialdevil7828]

Yes! Kept this in my watch later for too long the first time you uploaded it and missed it as a result. So happy that I get to see it now!

[@hamlet8046]

The part at 1:49:16 immediately made me think of the Polish painter Zdzisław Beksiński, none of his paintings were ever titled and he said that none of them held any deeper meaning. However knowing that he was but a young boy when Germany invaded Poland in WWII you can see that he is clearly scarred by what he witnessed during that time and shows it through some of his paintings. Every artist, be it book, painting, music etc. is always going to subconsciously work their own experiences and beliefs into what they are doing.

[@Mj-ck8gu]

I've always adored the old movies and loved the new ones but I have awful dyslexia so I could never read the book even with several attempts. This video is so awesome I binged it all while playing Minecraft, you are awesome.

[@MertKayKay]

:'( omg thank you so much

[@alxndria1]

You should try the audiobook! I listened to most of it the first time through and later bought a copy of the physical book to revisit. It’s a LOT of reading so it was nice to be able to listen to it while I did chores and such.

[@jasonmurdoc9533]

The book is an amazing experiment in writing on drugs. It kinda reminds me of Tolkien where there will be an amazing story that will take like a 25 page break to do a song, and right when you’re about to put the book down the story comes back. That’s IT just replace the songs for Coke rants.

[@R0omwithoutawindow]

thank you for fighting the copyright claim

[@MertKayKay]

My pleasure, it almost beat me

[@thestargamers3325]

Im glad you were able to get this back up!

[@AW.2020]

yay, it's back up!! I can't wait to finish

[@clementineshetheyfae8312]

I’m really high but your soundtrsck choosing for this video is phenomenal like %100 AMAZING

[@humansadness3749]

i adore IT and am currently in the process of reading it for the 3rd time + annotating! thank you for the video!

[@FIRE_BOMB1]

King is the most Lovecraft esc writer since Lovecraft as he sets up an indescribable being beyond description or detail then goes into great detail describing it physically

[@twindrill2852]

35:50 I never got this when it came to IT. Part of Ben’s arc focused on his status as an outcast due to his weight, with his place in the Losers showing that he was still a valuable asset and that his weight didn’t define him. Why end up slimming him down, besides only serving to prove King’s insistence that all fat people are gross and undeserving of respect?

[@themarxologist]

I always felt like Mike Flanagan would make an amazing IT series. Like a 5-10 episode, 40-80 minute per episode series in his own style

[@MiaKirina]

Best feeling coming home from the pub and seeing a 3 hr video Abt my favourite book, ty for your service 🙏🙏

[@MertKayKay]

Watching the euros perhaps?

[@Briannnah]

ive been waiting 2.5 days for this to be back up yayyyyy