#he's not a natural storyteller like richie

[planetallure]

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ fic recs

CW: these works contain explicit content intended for those 18+. make sure to read the rules of the writers before interacting.

@peterthepark : coming back to this blog made me realize when exactly i started back reading fanfic fr. the moment that was eddie mf munson, touched something in me. reign was one of my first intros that really stuck with me. it kinda blew my mind and scared me at the same time because i was like…how do i move on…what’s better than this??? brilliance. creative genius. like what more do you want from me? reign, i miss you. <3

i rec literally anything she’s written about eddie or tasm!peter parker.

@ohcaptains : i really don’t know what to tell you man. leah. is. HER. she simply does not miss. funny story: when i first started my old blog, it was ageless so i ended up getting blocked. so i pm’d her basically begging to come back home because i knew what i had lost. i’m not ashamed.

"dealers choice" - if you happened to miss the moment that was eddie munson or you miss his character or you were never really into him, this lil universe is for you. <3

"learning in public" - carmy x fem!reader. he needs it. he wants it. he has to have it. a man on his knees. enjoy.

"don't you dare fall in love" - heads up this one was discontinued and will not be continued (so don’t go harassing her about it) but the last part has an open ending so don’t let that stop you. college student/dealer!ellie x fem!reader. it’s beautiful and perfect. enjoy.

also ALL of her frank castle, abby anderson, tasm!peter parker fics. thank youuu

@inknopewetrust : this woman is a W R I T E R. the beautiful angsty things that come from her brain need to be cherished. thank you for your service.

“hoping i’ll find [a glimpse of us]” - when i tell you this shit was so fricking good!!!!!?! another piece of LITERATURE that i couldn’t believe i got to read for free on tumblr. i am such a sucker for a angsty slow burn and this still lives in me head rent free to this day. the tension had me giggling and laughing and biting my nail and crying. i need to spin back. i need to feel something!!

“secret” : now this one was a sexy forbidden romance. eddie’s our man who isn’t our man but is and oh m gee the angst in this one got me too, though it wasn’t as much. preppy!reader x eddie munson iykyk.

@etherealising : the absolute sweetest person i’ve met on here. every interaction i have with her just makes me smile. on TOP of that she’s a beautiful writer and storyteller. vee you have my heart.

“all i ever knew only you” - the best carmy x oc fic i’ve ever had the pleasure of reading on here. i’m so emotionally attached to this series, its characters and i think it has such re-readablity . the characterization is also so well done carmy x baby 4life. it’s currently discontinued but she is currently doing a rewrite and it’s going really well! in the meantime, please don’t let that stop you from reading the original while it’s still up. you won’t regret it.

“a buried and a burning flame” - vee single-handedly has me looking a richie different now. like…wait a minute :)) the bickering and banter is so fun. tension? check. spice?? check.

“flew like a moth to you” - a continuation of the one above. babyyyy!!! yes, yes, uh huh 🙂‍↕️ these two? LOVE EM. he’s officially in my heart.

@totheblood : star is so kind and super creative. she has created some of my favorite ellie williams smau’s on here.

"the hard way" - rockstar!ellie williams x ex-gf!reader smau. you guys are brought together again to solve the mystery that is the anonymous account blackmailing the two of you. mmm, nothing like the takedown of a shady mf to bring the girls together again :)

@cherriesxinthespring : another sweetheart with a beautiful mind. ik people get the characterization/true nature of ellie so wrong, but not rosie. she gets it.

“wasteland, baby!” - the wlw true enemies to lovers slow burn i’ve been dreaming of. tap in. right now.

@elliesbelle

“nobody compares to you” : a deliciously angsty slow burn second chance romance (ex!ellie x f!reader)

all the text convos for abby and ellie.

@newasskid : this blog makes me so nostalgic. THE first fic series that i read and rebloged when i started my first ff blog, came from this writer. i honestly feel it was my first time reading fanfic that wasn’t a silly little wattpad story or imagine and i was honestly gagged. i was like, “this…this is literature.” what can i say? i love good ass characterization! and this one was no exception.

“hard knock life” - like i said i was gagged with how good it was. i read the first two chapters back in 2022 and i still remember the feeling i felt reading them. this new blog i’m making is a fresh start for me and a chance for me to get back into old fandoms. will be revisiting this one soon.

@lovelettersfromluna

"one of your girls" - biker!ellie/roommate!ellie/camgirl!ellie x f!reader ALL rolled into to this ridiculously sexy little universe!! i love these two so much :’(

"compass" - vampire!ellie !!!! my new favorite thing. the way luna writes her feeding on reader ALONE is the most erotic and intimate thing. my god this was hot.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

sending all of this beautiful writers my love and respect y’all are amazing and so important. <3

[dark-dragon-8]

In case you guys couldn't tell, Dick Grayson, AKA Nightwing, is my favorite DC character. Specifically because I can just write/imagine him however way I want, within the realm of (fanon) reason, and someone will agree with me/there's already a fic about it.

Want to read about a murderous character? Nightwing has once killed the Joker and (as far as I know) didn't regret it. Not to mention Renegade also exists (along with former Talon AU, secret/resolved "killer" AU, where he kills but doesn't tell anyone, and more minor ones as well) and there are several fics where he takes on that alias in order to deal with some "unfinished business" regarding his family.

Want to read about an undercover character using their looks and flirting to their benefits (and having the attention of everyone at the bar by simply existing and being hot)? I have read so many undercover Dick Grayson that wore the sluttiest outfits just to get info. Even read a few where he did it to make his siblings (mainly Jason) more comfortable since they weren't comfortable with it yet that was his forte (regardless of whether or not he liked doing that as well).

Looking for a rich (kinda spoiled, an act, but still lovable and amazing) Nepo baby that everyone thirsts over in the gala? Richie Wayne is right there and is the eldest Wayne/heir, that's bound to cause some drama at parties/Galas (esp with protective Batfam) and I love that (please give me more fics like that, I can barely find any).

Want a badass vigilante that can beat the absolute life out of criminals and defeat Batman with relative ease? Nightwing is one of the strongest members of the Batfam, if I remember correctly he even defeated Cassandra/an opponent equal to Cassandra before.

Want to read an angst filled story about a character that feels like they're being objectified all the time and just wants a break? Do I even have to say it?

Want a character study about how the annoyed/stubborn/exhausted guy from the comics turned into an "attention whore" on fics? I remember reading (and even writing) character studies where Dick is suffering from stuff such as hypersexuality and anxiety issues where he needs people to see/notice/pay attention to him as a result of his sexual trauma (the assault & other stuff he went through).

And so much more. The duality of that man, when a character has such a variety of interpretations and ways to write about them it just fills that writer/storyteller/reader in me with joy. That complex potential that I seek in characters, like being able to kill someone while also being a hero loved by the hero community, a celebrity loved by the world and a few beyond it, a spoiled rich kid when he likes to indulge himself and a victim that has suffered through so much, it's natural to give them different ways (separation anxiety, exhibitionism, aversion to touch, etc) to cope and deal with the horrible hand that was given to them. It's just something that is very rare to come across in a character, especially one so well known and loved for all of those different things rather than only one or two of them taking over the entire character and its interpretation, and I really love Nightwing for being that character for both writers and readers looking for somethings and finding all they could ask for and more in just a singular tag (ofc I know the other characters have a variety as well, Dick just has such a big variety and his "spectrum" is so big, vast and versatile, he has a piece of the fandom for everything, like a bunch of different characters smacked into one, all sharing the same name, it's why I chose him specifically and why I love reading about him the most specifically).

[freedelusionshere]

Mikey, Cicero, and the mob as a representation of toxic masculinity.

Keep thinking about how Mikey is denigrated by Lee and others in Fishes for trying to come up with side businesses constantly, but to me it reads like someone who desperately wants to go legit but can’t? Same thing with franchising The Beef. Gets him out from owing Cicero or passing on that legacy to Carmy or Sugar. Mikey always has to act tough and untouchable and fake confidence to navigate this, which was probably handed off to him when his father went wherever he went. And it earns him admiration (Mikey was "cool") while internally he's self-destructing. And like Donna, whatever he wanted or dreamed for his life was pushed to the side.

Btw, the name Cicero could be a very “on the nose” reference to a Chicago town that was taken over by Al Capone to protect his territory. Like Capone, Cicero really “owns” The Bear one way or another right from the go. On the surface it appears he has guilt over Mikey’s death, wants to help the Berzatto family, etc.

But the entire time he’s around the family, even in flashbacks like Fishes, he’s trying to talk business in one way or another. Think about him (update: it was Lee, not Cicero, but my point stands, because Lee is also in on this) trying to bring up real estate to Donna in the kitchen (which she tried to beg off) or him jumping in on convos, Richie’s ask for a job, etc. Later all his convos are about money, about how he doesn’t want to take it from them, but he will. Tapping Sugar to handle all the financial stuff for him (I bet it will come out in S4 Donna does that for him on the real estate side).

Here are several other examples:

Mikey hid Cicero’s money away in tomato cans for Carmy to find and Carmy tells Cicero and his reaction? Thank God he didn’t put it in a bank. LOL.

Carmy “joking” in S1 about how he doesn’t want to get his legs broken. (Carmy is portrayed as very straight-and-narrow, not tolerating drugs being sold in the alley outside, and having a strong reaction to Claire admitting she liked to shoplift as a kid).

Richie having a gun to protect the shop and later telling Carmy he’ll come after Cicero if he comes for them.

Richie dealing with the mob associates lingering on the sidewalk outside The Bear, who are obviously conducting business of some kind.

The way The Beef has magically always had just enough money to stay afloat all this time and has things hidden in its walls. The story about Mikey trying to burn it down to collect the insurance money rather than allowing all this to continue when he spiraled.

Claire “joking” about sending Faks to beat up Carmy. I guarantee you there are Faks who do this, the Cena character 100% reads as a body man, you see him physically intimidating his brothers to be "funny".

The sudden presence of The Computer as a numbers guy coming to reconcile Cicero's accounts for someone(s).

Mikey not allowing Carmy to work at The Beef and pushing him away emotionally to make him want to GTFO of dodge.

The partnership agreement that seemingly comes out of nowhere, as Cicero now tries to rope Sydney into the family operation? Which is super triggering for her because she already has trust issues around Carmy as a business partner?

This also plays into the show liking to make references to Shakespeare which had violent family factions who controlled things (Romeo & Juliet being the most obvious) and Michael Mann who often focuses on organized crime in his storytelling.

This is all background noise and not the main driver of the show, but I was curious to see what others think about this and if anyone is noticing all of this? Especially when it comes to the kind of masculinity that is being idolized by characters like the Faks, even though it appears to go against Neil's actual nature.

[james5-doe]

Favorite Couples

Oh boy. There are so many issues and touching moments to consider. Ranking these pairings will not be fun. But love is in the air, so I'll give it a try. This is just my opinion, of course. Other people will, naturally, have preferences that differ, which is something to celebrate. It's all about what works for you.

8. Sheila and Flash

With this pair, we're talking about people from two different worlds -- literally -- and two very different sides. It's no secret that their respective families don't exactly get along, but the fact that she'd been sent to take him down was a secret at first. To her surprise, Sheila found herself falling for Flash instead. Things got rocky for them once the truth came out, but the couple's affection ultimately conquered all. Also, this relationship showed that Flash could love again after Dale, and that this love could be just as powerful.

7. Tori and Richie

The clashing personalities made this bond a lot of fun from the beginning. Their feelings got deeper over time, and they found themselves truly drawn to each other.

6. Rick and Jedda

Probably the most well-known and beloved 'pairing' from the show. They have nice moments in episodes like "100 Proof Highway" -- which, notably, revolves around Jedda dating someone else -- and "The Golden Queen." It's all about that magic subtlety. I like how their bond has progressed in fan fiction. They basically discuss respective issues in their pasts while considering a future together.

5. Dale and Flash

This legendary couple reunites in numerous tales, but they find that getting back together isn't quite so simple. There are various issues awaiting them, old and new, including Dale's deepest secrets (collusions with enemies, familial ties), and Flash's new love life. However, these two have an unbreakable bond, which endures whether there's romance involved or not.

4. Kristina and Rick

Possibly the most controversial pairing after Krotan and Jedda, these former opponents find themselves working together and having discussions that lead to some unexpected warmth between them. The attraction grows as their adventures continue, and nature takes its course.

3. Phantom and Hadea

Hadea and Kit have some of the longest, most intimate conversations in DoE storytelling -- and some of the most engaging as well. In a nutshell, she's a queen, and he's a soldier. On occasion, they find themselves at odds when her methods and ambitions clash with his values. Despite that, their great affection -- based on mutual respect, Hadea's love for his daughter, and her displays of compassion when it matters most -- usually brings them back together.

2. Krotan and Jedda

This is probably the most interesting couple in DoE fan fiction, because the bond is, ultimately, about two people escaping their respective fathers' legacies. It's all been covered before, so I'll make it short: Krotan becomes a better person via his interactions with Jedda, and Jedda accepts that it's okay to take a different road in life than the one that she was always expected to take. After they become parents, Krotan's old habits threaten to pull him away from the family -- which would leave their children raised as Jedda was raised, with only one parent present. So Jedda puts her foot down, and insists that he gets it together. He does, and their love prevails.

1. Amy and Rick

"I'm making a bargain with Damian Dark."

"No," he said, eyeing his lap.

"Rick..." she mumbled.

"No, no, no. Ames..." he groaned, "have you lost your mind?"

"It's easy for you to sit there and judge. You don't know what it's like being me."

"Sure," he said, chuckling a bit. "Growing up wishing that your dad was around? I have no clue what that feels like. Thinking that a sibling gets most of the love? I guess I can't relate to that one either."

Rick and Amy discovered a surprising and undeniable chemistry as they started to bond. While accompanying each other amid various endeavors, they found that they had more in common than they realized, which led to a strong tenderness and a lasting commitment. When comparing the top two couples on this list, I maintain that the Jedda/Krotan pairing probably features the most character development, but Rick and Amy are the most fun.

------------

Scenes 8, 7, 6, and 5 by Plustina

Scene 4 by MoogleSorbet

Scene 3 by EdMoffatt

Scenes 2 and 1 by Neldorwen

[n1fonseca-global-cinema-blog]

Kurosawa's Critics: The Rejection Of His Homeland

Akira Kurosawa is considered to be a master of filmmaking by many, including filmmaker peers as outlined in previous blog posts. His works have influenced many western filmmakers and brought many eyes towards Japanese cinema on an international scale. From George Lucas’ Jedi stemming from the samurai his films to receiving remakes, Kurosawa had a major impact on the West. However, many believe that this is due to his “western” style of filmmaking standing apart from typical Japanese filmmakers. This topic of discussion typically comes up in relation to Kurosawa’s first major film: Rashomon.

Released in 1950, Rashomon followed a series of differing accounts on the same incident: the murder of a samurai and the raping of his wife. With its thought-provoking storytelling that meditates on the truth and subjectivity, this film would go on to be the first Japanese film to have won a major award at a western festival: the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival in 1951. It’s believed that what helped the film most in its appeal at the festival was Kurosawa’s mixture of Western influences, such as the films of John Ford and Frank Capra. Due to this, many Japanese critics would then go on to accuse him of making films which pander to western audiences.

As noted by author Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto, “By many Japanese,  Kurosawa is regarded as the most westernized Japanese director” (Yoshimoto, 2). Yet, it’s through his winning of the Golden Lion that is considered to have brought Japanese cinema to the global level, thus making Kurosawa one of the first major representatives of Japanese cinema to the world. However, this didn’t lighten any criticism from his fellow country men on the authenticity of his films to his homeland.

When interviewed by Donald Richie, Kurosawa had been discussing fellow Japanese filmmaker Mizoguchi and said, “People always say that [Mizoguchi’s] style is purely Japanese and mine is foreign. I don’t understand that” (Cardullo, 6). During this conversation he divulged into his differences with Mizoguchi and his films before saying, “Yet, of all Japanese directors, I like Mizoguchi best, and after him, Kinoshita. It might even be nostalgia- after all I am Japanese, and those two create a film which is purely Japanese.” With this thought, he returns to speaking on the critics, “But the Japanese critics go on and on about how Western I am. And mainly just because I do my own cutting and happen to prefer a fast tempo and am really interested in people” (Cardullo, 7).

Pictured: Kenji Mizoguchi

Here, Kurosawa expresses a distaste towards this critique, sensing it as an attack on his identity. With his statement, “after all I am Japanese” there’s this sense of disrespect felt by the director and how surely the concept of his cinema being ‘foreign’ never settled well with him.

Down the line, Kurosawa had then also been interviewed by Dan Yakir and claimed, “I don’t think I’m Western at all. I don’t understand how I could have that reputation… But it may be true that, as I was growing up, my education – like that of most people of my generation – compared to younger people today, covered a broader span: Shakespeare, Balzac, Russian literature. It’s quite natural that my education would manifest itself later in my work” (Cardullo, 74).

Within this 1980 interview, Kurosawa had to defend his films once again from the critique of being too “western” when Yakir had asked the director for his thoughts on that reoccurring opinion. Here, instead of expressing how Japanese he is, he instead opts to defend the evidence used against him: his western influences. Claiming his western influences to be more of a product of old-school Japanese upbringing, Kurosawa here then refutes the idea that he actively panders for western audiences.

Throughout his lifetime, Kurosawa would face the criticism time and time again of being too “western” of a Japanese filmmaker. One that, as seen here, has caused him to wrestle with his sense of identity. While considered by many in the west as an ambassador of Japanese filmmaking, in his own country he’s considered to be a foreigner. It’s that western viewpoint of respecting him as a Japanese filmmaker that makes this side of the filmmaker is seldom seen, but the tragedy of being seen as an outsider by much of his own countrymen is an aspect that should be given more thought. Despite having been a Japanese filmmaker who had dedicated much of his filmography to the culture and society of his homeland, he would be followed throughout his career by critics expressing that his works were too “foreign”. Meanwhile, the western opposition to this opinion which cemented him as a Japanese filmmaker thus made it so that even if Kurosawa had embraced being “western”, he wouldn’t even be accepted by the west. Kurosawa then is left in the limbo of being too “western” to be Japanese yet too Japanese to be “western”. Much like the crime in Rashomon, Kurosawa's westernization is left to the subjectivity of the people.

Sources:

Yoshimoto, Mitsuhiro. Kurosawa : Film Studies and Japanese Cinema. Duke University Press, 2000. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat06985a&AN=bsu.190979&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Kurosawa, Akira, and Bert Cardullo. Akira Kurosawa : Interviews. University Press of Mississippi, 2008. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat06985a&AN=bsu.242974&site=eds-live&scope=site.

[yesiwasateenagewerewolf]

Want to know what my take on a Barry inspired AU would be? No one has asked, ever, but here it is.

Eddie Kaspbrak is a limo driver who witnesses a mob hit and goes into hiding. He goes home, packs a bag and runs because he doesn't trust the cops and he knows he mob will kill him if he sticks around.

He's been in hiding for a year and it's been fine. He didn't have much of a life before, and he doesn't have much of a life now, but he thinks he's safe. He has a job at a little garage and he's even made a few friends at the weekly writing workshop he attends, taught by eccentric novelist Bill Denbrough who was once a best-seller, but who hasn't published a book in years and now supplements his income by teaching.

What Eddie doesn't know is that the mob have been tracking him and that they've finally caught up with him.

Richie Tozier is the hitman who gets the contract put out on Eddie's life.

Richie decides to join the writing group so he can get close to Eddie, lull him into a false sense of security and then finish his contact.

What he doesn't expect is to fall in love with Eddie at first sight, nor for Bill to take an interest in what Richie wrote - a short story he scribbled out in his car based on a story from his own life. It's sad, poignant and gut wrenchingly funny.

Richie finds out he has both a passion for telling stories and a passion for Eddie. He forfeits the contract and stays in town, determined to protect Eddie from the next guy the mob sends.

Eddie for his part thinks Richie is a loudmouth attention seeker. He'd never believe the big goof could be a hitman, not until Richie saves his life by stabbing a guy with a ballpoint pen.

[skinks]

ur tag about “why do we allow fiction to have this much power over our emotional states” ... i think about that all the time and sometimes it makes me feel so stupid!! like it’s a book! it was literally just a movie that came out almost 3 years ago but i still get so sad about it for what? why has it affected me so deeply i really don’t understand sometimes. it honestly has changed me as a person but like... why. it’s not real i don’t get it

I wish I knew, man, I really do

I mean, I guess you could go down the route of the macro explanation, about how human beings have been using fiction and storytelling as a way to connect with each other and learn things about themselves since a time that probably predates spoken language and so it’s only natural that we get sad about things that never happened, but that’s not really the issue we’re dealing with here, is it? or what I was talking about in those tags

It’s about THIS story in particular, these characters, this setting. This tragedy. It makes me feel dumb too sometimes! It’s just a book! It was actually ten years ago THIS WEEK that I finished the book, loved it and cried at the injustice of it, disbelief that they all just forget again when they leave Derry the second time. What was the point?

I mean, I know it’s a horror and so just because Eddie overcame his trauma in the end doesn’t mean he then gets to live, but isn’t the theme all about learning from the past, using the tools of friendship to break out of negative cycles, not repeating the mistakes of previous generations? The subsequent forgetting feels like a particularly mean kick in the ribs pretending to be catharsis. I think, personally it’s that sense of injustice that keeps me both sad and interested, that drive to just FIX everything somehow. I wanna stop being sad about it but I can’t stop thinking about what’s making me sad!!!

And then.... the movies come along and somehow makes it hurt even worse! I’m gonna talk about this in terms of Richie and Eddie’s relationship bc let’s face it, that’s what I’m most interested in and saddest about, so. I already find small town coming-of-age stories very compelling, especially when they’re soaked in that faded 80s pop culture nostalgia. Even if I wasn’t born then, the whole pre-internet, running around on bikes thing is relatable. I’m like, primed to be sad about growing up and losing things and moving on from things you once cared so much about, and summers coming to an end.

But for me, making the childhood best friend thwarted love story CANON, acknowledging that a loser could be in love with his equally loser best friend in the face of so much hate, suddenly I’m not just sad about them, I’m sad about everyone for whom that was, or is, a reality. Everyone who was bullied and couldn’t tell someone how they felt, because they were scared. And it’s how quiet it is too, how suburban and overlooked all this trauma is, which was also King’s point; evil in the mundanity of small town life. That’s why I’m sad, I think. Richie’s so quiet in loving Eddie, he’s so loud in everything else but he goes and carves the letters both times in silence instead of ever saying it aloud, when he deserved to be loud in loving Eddie too.

I dunno. I didn’t answer your question, I’m sorry!! Thank u for commiserating and giving me an opportunity to just bleat sadly. I think it’s ultimately a good thing that it affected us and others deeply though. When you think about it, it’s pretty cool that something entirely from someone else’s imagination can have a physical effect on other people

[rwdestuffs]

Weiss has been, well, my least favorite character since forever just because, like, everything about her and her interactions with faunus feels *gross* and because they never made her give an on-screen apology, or even a definite moment where she obviously got over herself, it sours everything involving her. She's mean when she's not doing plot-stuff, and like, the only time I ever liked her was in v5 which is ABSURD considering how bad v5 was

I kidna ranted a bit, so this is going under a readmore.

The writers realized that having a main character that was racist was problematic. But instead of having her actually grow on-screen like how Sokka grew past his sexism, they decided to drop it and pretend that it never existed. They didn’t understand that they have to have the character grow on-screen. There is no point in having a conflict on-screen if it’s all going to be resolved off-screen.

I’ll be honest, I’d have more respect if they at least tried to have it resolved on-screen and they botched it. Because at the very least, they would have tried. They wouldn’t have come off as lazy or ignorant if they had tried and failed than if they just didn’t try and failed even harder.

Like… It’s okay to have your characters hold problematic views. A lot of people like Sokka, and that guy started off a sexist pig with an inflated ego. Then he grew on-screen, and learned his lessons on-screen, and became a better person for it on-screen.

These guys want to act like they’re on the same level, but they don’t come close. They didn’t put in the effort. Avatar put in the effort, and they’re still fondly remembered for their phenomenal storytelling.

When people look back on this show, they’re going to only remember cool fight scenes. There are clips on youtube highlighting fight scenes. But when you look up clips of AtLA, you see all sorts of character moments. All sorts of moments that highlight the characters and their growth. Yang’s speech to Raven or the moment where Ruby met Penny are likely the highest-viewed non-combat clips that are around. And that’s because those are really impactful character moments. Everything else is just… unmemorable. I hardly remember any of Ruby’s speeches that are likely only there to give her more lines and remind us that she’s one of the titular characters.

Honestly, Weiss had potential. Take Richie’s dad from Static Shock as an example. All characters directly called him out, and he ended up growing as a character because of it. Since he’s not one of the major characters, it’s more understandable that he wouldn’t get as much screentime as Weiss, who is part of the title, would but when we see him in a later episode, he’s on amicable terms with the Hawkins family. Weiss is a major character, and thus, we have to actually see her apologize, grow and be a better person.

Any material that implies or states that this happened is in supplementary material. So to an average viewer that doesn’t read the books, comics, or manga, Weiss never apologized.

Literally the absolute bare minimum they could do now is mention that it happened off-screen. But given the track record, even that’s unlikely to happen now. Like, here’s a way to make it seem natural:

Ruby: I really wish that this didn’t have to happen.

Blake: Unfortunately, not everything is fixed with a simple “I’m sorry.”

Ruby: But… You forgave Weiss.

Blake: She at least tried to make up for what she said. Ironwood can’t be reasoned with. Not anymore…

And there you have it. A pretty simple and straightforward way to have them mention Weiss apologizing. It stays on-topic of the situation at hand, and it’s pretty in-character. They could even throw in an old convo demonstration that I made earlier to give the audience something that they don’t have to go to any supplemental material to finally have.

[calamity-bean]

Reddie Fic Recs: Richie Does Stand-Up (and Similar)

This is such a specific niche, but there were getting to be quite a few of these in my other Reddie rec lists, and I feel like they’re distinct enough in form and focus to merit their own subgenre, y’know? So: the following list consists of fics that (1) focus on Richie’s work and/or public persona and (2) are primarily told in some sort of format other than a traditional, descriptive linear narrative — e.g., news articles, social media threads, transcripts of a stand-up routine, etc. As such, I haven’t included fics that are primarily driven by a surrounding narrative of in-scene storytelling, even if supplemented by articles or the like; stories like that can be found on my other lists.

All of these are at least implicitly Reddie but, by the nature of the genre, tend to focus much more on Richie than on Eddie. More will possibly be added at any time I feel like it. Enjoy!

And Please Welcome... Richie Tozier by dramaticagain

"So yeah, I had my Eminem moment as I too was ‘Cleanin' Out My Closet’ – with less mommy-issues and more identity issues.

“Now, I don’t know how many of you studied English Lit. But, there’s this thing called subtext. Can I get a cheer for English Lit?.

"I won’t bore you though. There’s other devices such as symbolism and allusion and whatever else – I can’t remember. Anyway, there’s a reason why I’ve decided to address the wardrobe problem – or the closet crisis as my boyfriend likes to call it”

Richie and Eddie’s relationship told through the whirlwind of Richie's 2019 press tour.

breaking free (soaring, flying) by QueenWithABeeThrone

 If you’re wondering how I, a comedian, got together with that, I’ve got no idea either. I guess [Jeff Goldblum Voice:] love, uh, finds a way.

or: vignettes from Richie's career, after coming out, as told through transcripts of his YouTube videos.

don't call it a comeback (seriously, don't, that sets expectations way too high) by lamphouse

Subtitles and audio description of a semi-professional recording made by Richie Tozier's manager of his first set after personal leave. Made unbeknownst to the performer, for promotional private purposes (i.e. to shop around at Netflix, etc.).

Or, I see your fics about Richie doing stand-up post-movie, and I raise you 13k of the in-universe transcript of a half-baked hour long routine.

Re tweet. by plinys

Everyone does social media au's where they are kids, which valid, but consider all of them as adults with Verified Accounts and Richie still just shit posting. That spawned this fic, which I wrote after taking cold medicine, so it might actually only be funny to me.

Enjoy?

richie tozier in conversation with beverley marsh: the internet's favourite funnyman interviewed by fashion's best comeback queen by 17826

Richie Tozier is the Emmy winning comedian and writer taking comedy by the throat after his return from rehab. Beverley Marsh is the world's new favourite designer who got her mojo back by revamping her life and her label. To mark the release of Richie's hotly anticipated new comedy special Motherl*ver, they talk fashion, love and childhood trauma.

RICHIE TOZIER IS...THE COMEBACK CLOWN by owlinaminor, tinypersonhotel

Griffin: You’re like, Richie, you’re like on a weird career roller coaster only you switched the ride up halfway through. Like, before it was a shitty wooden roller coaster that you think is gonna collapse right as you get to the top of the big hill, but now it’s, like, sleek and has real seatbelts, and you can go upside down, and you’ll throw up after—

Richie: You’ll Throw Up After. Title of my Netflix special.

In which Richie Tozier comes back and comes out. Featuring Who? Weekly, the McElroys, Billy Eichner, Tan France, et al.   

richie tozier: not an asthmatic by walmartofficial

“I’m getting word that I’m not allowed to tell this joke,” he tells the audience, “but it was gonna be about eating ass, if that wasn’t clear.”

Richie Tozier Settles Down by sleepcycle

As Richie Tozier prepares to launch his first national tour, a reporter from the New Yorker sits down with him to talk comedy, coming out, and life with his new husband.

Richie Tozier: The Manchild Tour by hellotailor

The Manchild Grows Up: An interview with comedian Richie Tozier, November 2019.

“Everyone in this industry either has a pill habit, or they can’t hold a relationship together for more than two months," Tozier explains. "Or they spend 16 hours a day arguing with people on Twitter. Best case scenario is you find a way to be reasonably well-adjusted about your desperate need for strangers to laugh at you.”

[izupie]

1, 30, and 46.

Thanks so much for the questions from this ask game~

1. who are your biggest inspirations? would you link your favorite(s) of their work?

Biggest inspirations... well, there’s a whole bunch from a variety of different fandoms. But usually the slowburns tend to stay with me the longest and impact me the most. I always strive to try and get to that kind of level of storytelling, which is funny because I’ve never had the patience to actually WRITE a slowburn myself. Ah well. Inspirational in any case. 

These are all pretty old, but I think they really shaped my writing style and how I try to write myself. They impacted me enough to remember them even after all this time.

Interstellar Transmissions by  LovelyThings, ricca_riot (Star Wars - Reylo)

Dirty Laundry by Gibslythe (VLD - Klance)

Lost to the Sands by Giga Bowser NS (My Little Pony - No Ships)

Between the Lines by Metalmark (Resident Evil - Steve/Claire)

Now the Light Falls by Lunar_Resonance (Soul Eater - Soma)

Oh and the very story that inspired me to write in the first place... behold! A Neopets story from the early 2000s because I can’t find it’s official publish date! This thing was the first time I had ever read a story by someone online. I was sat at like my dad’s huge windows 95 desktop computer, barely knowing how to use it properly, but I was obsessed with neopets and that fact that someone had just written this because they wanted to just Unlocked something in my head. I realised I could do that too. I was like 10 or something though so I ended up emulating this a whole bunch and writing loads of self inserts - I even wrote something kind of similar to this because 10 year olds do that when they find something they enjoy in that way ahaha.

All the Colours by hot_pink_lizard (even the username is so early 2000s) (Neopets)

A true relic. I had to HUNT this thing down using only what I could vaguely remember about it.

30. which character do you find the easiest/hardest to write?

I find Ochako the easiest character to write ever I swear. I barely even need to really think about her dialogue and actions, because they come so naturally. I channel a lot of her energy when I write her, so she’s just easyyy. I think that’s probably why I ended up writing so much Izuocha to be honest, like, I love the ship, don’t get me wrong, but it was nice to be able to just slip into writing something so easy and natural that it was always fun. But the flipside of that is that it no longer becomes very challenging and I wasn’t pushing myself as a writer much ;;

Hardest to write is Richie Tozier. Because I am NOT witty. At all. Give me like three hours after the fact and I’ll probably then come up with some kind of witty retort I could have said, but at the time? I usually just laugh and let other people do the witty banter thing. How do you write a character who’s supposed to be naturally funny without being funny yourself??? It’s tough.

46. how did you get into your fandom(s)?

My Hero Academia was something I’d seen online a whole lot, especially on tumblr. I think I followed someone who shipped Kacchako, and they posted some gifs of their sports festival fight and I was like huh, that looks interesting. So I youtubed it and watched the clip. Then I watched some more clips. And then I realised I was going to have to watch the show to get context to all of this stuff. And then I was Hooked. But I already knew some pretty random spoilers walking into it lmao. Curse my curiosity!

IT was really random because I enjoy watching some of the Nostalgia Critic videos (don’t boo me!) and I hadn’t been interested in the IT review, because I actually hate horror films, but I was about to wash some dishes and I just wanted to put something funny on my phone to distract me. What really intrigued me was when he said that Richie felt like a character from a different movie, because of how funny and obnoxious he was. So I decided to watch a recommended clip of like Richie Tozier being chaotic for however many minutes straight or something, and I was Hooked. Decided to watch more clips. Got hooked on fanfiction before I’d even seen the film. Needed context. Watched the movie. Loved it. 

I’m like that with a lot of stuff apparently???

[emmelfish]

Free to Good Home – CURIOUS SPAWN

(A 300 Follower Special)

Truth-seekers and secret-hunters, gather around! Strangetown’s mysteries may have long been solved – after all, TS2 has been in existence for over 15 years at this point – but I wanted to take the opportunity to pay tribute to the ’hood that got me into Sim Storytelling in the first place and give you some basegame-based gifts for gifting me with 300 followers.

Sure, sure, I could have included my Tycho, but friends – y’all games begin with a Tycho. Everybody got a Tycho. So instead, I’m gifting you these Curious babies I’m especially proud of. Three sets of parents, five kids, and I’m pretty sure you can guess their parentage just by looking at them.

Additional bonus is that you haven’t met a single one of them yet because my posts haven’t caught up with my gameplay. So... surprise?

Downloads and infos beneath le cut! Use Clean Installer pls!

_____________________________________

Holy neat points on these kiddos, Batman.

Upon playing Strangetown for the first time, not only are you greeted with Pascal as a cosmic-parent-in-waiting but you’re strongly encouraged to send eternal Middle Child Vidcund to the telescope where he’ll be blessed with his own green bundle of joy. In my game, I’d already installed a multi-PT mod... so Vid’s spawn I believe are the product of PT#7.

Holmes Curious

Sloppy/Neat: 10

Shy/Outgoing: 6

Lazy/Active: 2

Serious/Playful: 7

Grouchy/Nice: 7

Hobby: Cuisine

Aspiration: Romance

When Vidcund developed his stupid crush on Cassandra Goth in my game, he probably walked all the way to Pleasantview and drank its cursed water, because he had TWINS. I promise I didn’t do this to punish him. Holmes is lucky enough to have inherited the pointy PT#7 ears and was named for a comet. He actually grew into that pink-streaked hair as a toddler, and I couldn’t let it go. He pretty much has Vid’s exact face and much like his father, looks for love in all the wrong places (but UNLIKE his father, those plentiful nice points mean Holmes is vaguely successful on the dating scene). He plans to combine his family’s love of science and his own love of food into a Molecular Gastronomy career.

Download Holmes Curious

Halley Curious

Sloppy/Neat: 10

Shy/Outgoing: 3

Lazy/Active: 0

Serious/Playful: 10

Grouchy/Nice: 9

Hobby: Cuisine

Aspiration: Pleasure

While her twin focuses on sauce spherification and deconstructed goopy carbonara, Halley just wants to give the world a big hug with a massive plate of homemade cookies. Like her bro she too was named after a comet, and is at her happiest curled up on the sofa watching The Great Simlish Bake Off or in front of her own oven, baking up a storm (and cleaning up after herself at every stage even though it exhausts her). She’s not the most confident, but perhaps doing work experience at J’Adore Bakery will help her come out of her shell. She dreams of being whisked away on a romantic voyage to Champs Les Sims to eat pastries and bread and drink wine before noon... but needs to pluck up the courage to ask somebody on a date first. Once she does, the lucky sim will realize just what a catch Halley is when they get to know her – fiercely loyal and belly-achingly funny.

Download Halley Curious

Quest Beaker-Curious

Sloppy/Neat: 6

Shy/Outgoing: 4

Lazy/Active: 2

Serious/Playful: 9

Grouchy/Nice: 5

Hobby: Games

Aspiration: Knowledge

Skintone: Between S2 and S3

You KNOW that face is unmistakable, right? Of course that’s Lazlo’s son, he even grew up into purple clothes without me doing anything for crying out loud. But pray tell, where do those twinkling green eyes come from? Yep, Quest’s the result of one of my favorite new pairings! And with Erin and Lazlo for parents, of course we’re evolving from Vidcund’s slightly-silly-but-still-somewhat-socially-acceptable kid-naming scheme to all out ludicrousness. I legit lifted ‘Quest’ from a website called something like Hippy Baby Names. Cute as a button and a barrel of laughs to boot, much more comfortable interacting online than in person, I’m genuinely impressed that he’s relatively capable of keeping a... fairly tidy living space when his genetics held him at a massive disadvantage. Most likely destined for the Gaming or Game Development career – in the meantime he co-runs a rather popular Twitch channel with his cousin Jack. Will beat you at both Solitaire and Hearthstone.

Download Quest Beaker-Curious

Anaïs Beaker-Curious

Sloppy/Neat: 0

Shy/Outgoing: 9

Lazy/Active: 2

Serious/Playful: 6

Grouchy/Nice: 9

Hobby: Arts & Crafts

Aspiration: Popularity

Skintone: Between S2 and S3

Narrowly escaped being named Moonunit at my SO’s suggestion (who, fun fact, also came up with the name Anaïs). Just... if you let this sim into your game, you’re gonna need a maid. In sharp contrast to her cousins, ya girl is a complete slob. Maybe one day I’ll have her share an apartment with her cousin Halley, and between Halley’s 0 active points and Anaïs’ 0 neat points, we’ll see if literally anything gets done (apart from cookie-baking and clay-sculpting... girls, please don’t accidentally mix those two doughs up). Much more extroverted than her bro Quest, she’s also far more of a people person than he is. (Jeez, the majority of these Curious kids are hella nice, right?) Her natural hair color is her mother’s blonde, but I thought I’d have a bit of fun and dye it lilac for her. Fun fact: Sims 3 Erin’s favorite color is violet, Lazlo wears a violet T-shirt, you do the maths. (Let’s just ignore Vid’s love of African violets shall we.) If she had the remotest liking of physical activity she might be a surfer girl, but instead she just loves wearing shells and Salt Rock clothing. Enjoys making busts that look like that creepy Lionel Richie one in the ‘Hello’ video. 

Download Anaïs Beaker-Curious

Jack Smith

Sloppy/Neat: 7

Shy/Outgoing: 6

Lazy/Active: 2

Serious/Playful: 10

Grouchy/Nice: 10

Hobby: Games

Aspiration: Family

(That’s my half-hearted attempt at making it look like Jack took a selfie.) It’s always a gamble when you give PT#9 and Jenny Smith (née Curious) a genetically correct kid. Will they even have a nose? Will their cheekbones poke peoples’ eyes out? Well I truly struck gold with Jack, who has the best of both wonderful worlds. Frequently to be found in the butt-groove of a beanbag embroiled in Fortnite battles with Quest (Quest ‘5 nice points’ talks fairly gentle smack on his headset while Jack cringes and apologizes for him), he’s inherited both parents’ Family aspiration and adores being at home with the entire massive extended clan (also Jen and PT have like 5 dogs at this point). Probably the kind of kid who comes home from college to do a bit of laundry and ends up staying the whole weekend. He’s easily the most fun of the Smith kids, and his maxed out nice points mean he is truly too pure for this world. Please look after him, Johnny and Jill can only protecc him so much.

Download Jack Smith

[skeletonscribbles]

what did it cost?

this took...longer than expected, but finally! she produces some content!

this is partially self-indulgent and partially for the @fyeahreddie “heat” prompt. I took some artistic liberties and used “heat” as “heat of the moment”. if you’re feeling like that phrase pops up Too Much in this, that’s why.

anyways. here you go, Marvel friends. enjoy my non-crossover crossover :) (and if you want it on Ao3, it’s here.)

title: what did it cost? rating: G af word count: 2500 warnings: MAJOR Avengers: Infinity War spoilers summary:  “You would punch Thanos for me?” “I would,” Richie confirmed, finally looking up. His eyes were a little watery, which made Eddie smile. “At the expense of the universe, I would punch Thanos every time. For you.”

“I still don’t fucking understand this game.”

Bill sat back in his chair in a huff, crossing his arms and looking thoroughly sour. They were three hours into a knockoff game of Dungeons and Dragons that they were using as a joke predictor for Avengers: Infinity War , and Bill’s characters were dropping like flies.

“You’re just mad because you lost Loki in the first five minutes,” Ben pointed out, nudging Bill’s knee under the table fondly. “We all told you that trying to covertly stab Thanos was stupid.”

“He was the only character I actually wanted to play,” Bill grumbled, “and like half of my other ones are immediate toast. There’s really only like a 20% chance when push comes to shove that I actually get to keep Vision.”

“I get it, bud. I’m still kinda mad we sent Valkyrie and Korg off early, too.” Bev patted Bill’s shoulder sympathetically. “I really wanted to play her.”

“I really wanted to play Korg,” Richie cut in, eyeing Bill narrowly, “but SOMEone--”

“Enough.” Mike, their long-suffering DM, was somehow still patient even through the chaos and absurdity of the last few hours. “It is how it is. It’s not like this is the way things are actually going to go down in the movie.”

“I fucking hope not,” Bill said, eyes flashing dangerously. “This is a shitshow.”

“Thanos still has two stones to get,” Mike reminded them, “so things could turn around if you keep him away from them.”

Richie stared blankly back at him. “Isn’t the Time Stone at Thanos’ base right now? With Thanos? Things are looking bleak, my guy.”

“The stone is still in my posession.” Ben was looking thoughtful. “Mike, can I roll for clairvoyance, but instead of having a sensor, can I like...see the future? You know, because I have the Time Stone?”

Mike grinned excitedly. “I kinda hoped you would ask. Yeah, sure, Benny boy, rev it up.”

Ben carefully picked up a die, rolled it, and then let it come down on the table. It was a nat-16, and Mike peered thoughtfully down at it.

“Okay, not perfect, but...you can look at my whole manual except the last five pages, and you can’t tell anyone else what any of it says. Cool?”

“I’ll take it,” Ben said, making grabby hands for Mike’s painstakingly put together campaign notes. Beside him, Bill rolled his eyes.

“Can we speed this up so we can get back to the Earth plotline? I’ve got a Cap I’ve barely gotten to use yet.”

“You can hang out with me for a while if you want,” Stan called from the other group. Despite having a healthy interest in both Dungeons and Dragons and Marvel, once they’d started divvying up the characters and Richie had grabbed Starlord, he’d opted out, claiming he was “too old for this”.

“No, I wanna see if they screw this up,” Bill decided, leaning his elbows on the table.

“Same,” echoed Bev. “Who’s there again? It’s you, Ben as Doctor Strange, Rich as Starlord, Drax, and Tony, and Eddie as Spidey, Mantis, and Nebula, yeah?”

“Yes,” Mike confirmed, “so, basically, Richie and Eddie versus Thanos, with a guest appearance by Ben. Ben, how’s that reading coming?”

“Getting there,” Ben replied distractedly, flipping back and forth between two pages with a slight frown.

“Okay. Richie, Eddie, you ready to move forward? Got a plan?”

“Ready,” Eddie said firmly, looking over at Richie with a shy smile. Eddie had been relatively quiet all day, partially because he hadn’t gotten to play Richie’s love interest because Bev had snatched up Gamora almost immediately (and then Bev had fallen into a Thanos trap and gotten her killed, which he was pretty salty about) and partially because he loved to listen to Richie through games like these. He was such a natural storyteller. They were all dying for him to actually run a campaign instead of just dicking around with characters, but he claimed that he was too lazy to put in the work of putting one together. Only Eddie and Stan knew better; knew that he was too afraid of disappointing them to be able to write anything at all, knew that it was often a chore for Richie to get out of bed, much less write a whole campaign.

Someday, maybe.

“Yeah, Spaghetti Man, we got this. Let’s kick this purple asshole in the nuts.” Richie leaned back in his chair, an easy smile on his face. “Tony Stark surprise attacks from above.”

“Roll for stealth. How much damage you can do will depend on how this roll turns out.” Mike moved towards Ben so they could share his notes while Ben finished reading, and the fight proceeded. Richie and Eddie had put together a really impressive plan, which culminated in Eddie’s Mantis putting Thanos to sleep so that the rest of them could pull the Infinity Gauntlet off of Thanos’ arm. It should have worked easily and seamlessly, but then Eddie’s mouth got ahead of his mind in his excitement.

“Mike. New thing. Nebula taunts Thanos about Gamora.”

Mike tutted, shaking his head. “Nebula hasn’t been told any details about what’s happened to Gamora.”

“Nebula can infer,” Eddie insisted. “And she does, to make Thanos suffer more.”

“Roll,” Mike said, gesturing broadly with his hand. Eddie quickly grabbed the dice and rolled a nat-10. “Okay, so it’s not a taunt, per-se, but Nebula says out loud that Thanos has killed Gamora. Reminder that this is the first time any of the rest of the Guardians have heard about this. Mantis, Drax, Starlord, do you do anything?”

“Mantis does not,” Eddie said confidently. “She’s a little busy.”

Richie didn’t answer right away. He was staring at Eddie with an expression that was bordering on anguish.

“Drax? Starlord? Anything in the heat of the moment?” Mike waved his arms in front of Richie’s face. “Earth to Rich?”

“Heat of the moment…” Richie muttered, eyes never leaving Eddie’s face. “Yes. Starlord punches Thanos in the face.”

The entire group sat still for a moment, too stunned to move, and then erupted into chaos.

“He does WHAT now?!?”

“Oh, I’m so glad I’m not a part of this particular plotline, they’re fuckin’ done now…”

“Richie, no!” Eddie’s eyes were frantic. “You can’t! You’ll undo everything!”

Ben stood up and looked around, and the rest of the table fell silent, waiting for him to dispense his newly-acquired wisdom. They were not expecting anything like the words that came out of his mouth.

“Let him do it.”

“We’ll die!” Eddie protested loudly. “Richie--”

“Let him,” Ben insisted, meeting Eddie’s gaze with a solid, zen look of his own, and Eddie knew he was defeated.

“Will you roll, Richie?” Mike asked gently, trying to get Richie’s attention. Richie was STILL staring at Eddie. It was unclear whether or not he’d been cognizant of any of the commotion that had ensued around his decision. “You gonna go through with this heat of the moment kamikaze?”

Slowly and deliberately, Richie nodded. “I’ll roll for damage.”

Mike passed him the die, and he blew on it quickly for luck, shook it once, and then let go.

The roll was a five. Eddie dug his fingers into his thighs to keep himself from trying to flip the table.

“My shit decision’s starting to look pretty good right now,” Bill murmured as Mike sighed and took his notes back from Ben.

“You land the punch, but it doesn’t do anything but snap him out of Mantis’ sleep. He gets the gauntlet back and easily begins to defeat your team. He goes after Tony Stark specifically because he sees him as the biggest threat.” Mike pulled his chair back a little bit and took a deep breath. “Things aren’t looking good, and I think we should break there. Take ten minutes.”

“Cool,” agreed Bill and Bev in unison. Bev stood and began walking towards the back door, presumably to go out and smoke, and Bill headed for the study, where Stan was waiting to hear about what had just happened. Mike collected his notes and walked towards the front door, maybe to review, maybe to get some fresh are, or maybe just to scream out into the street in frustration about how ridiculous his friends were. None of them knew for sure.

“We can still win, right Ben?” Eddie was still too jarred by Richie’s rash decision to feel like he was able to speak to him, so he turned desperately to Ben. “You saw outcomes where we could all live, right?”

“I dunno about all ,” Ben answered carefully, backing towards the back door, “but there’s hope.”

“Ben--” Eddie tried again, but Ben had sped up his retreat.

“There’s hope!” he called again, and then Eddie heard the back door slam.

Slowly, he turned back towards Richie, who was studying his hands with an uncharacteristic amount of focus.

“Care to explain?” Eddie asked quietly, drawing out each syllable in an attempt to convey his dissatisfaction.

Richie didn’t meet his eyes. “No.”

“No?” Eddie nudged his leg to try and get him to look up. “Just an impulse decision, then? I mean, dude, it was just Gamora--”

“I was thinking about you,” Richie muttered, nudging Eddie’s leg back but still not making eye contact. “The whole thing just...made me think about you.”

Eddie had no idea what to make of that.

“I don’t get the connection,” he finally said, tired of trying to puzzle things out by himself.

“Because you’re like, my Gamora,” Richie continued reluctantly, pulling at the beginnings of a tear in the left knee of his jeans. “Not like. Green. But. You’re both strong, bad at dancing, and laugh at my jokes even when it pains you to.”

“Gamora laughs at your jokes?” Eddie asked teasingly, trying to ignore the fact that his insides were blooming in a way that made him feel like a flower moving towards sunlight.

“Starlord’s jokes. You know.” Richie stomped lightly on Eddie’s foot in mock-exasperation. “Anyway, I was thinking about what I’d do in the heat of the moment if I found out you were dead. You know, a little light thinking.”

Eddie gave up on stopping the blooming feeling. He was a whole-ass flower, and Richie was the sun. “You would punch Thanos for me?”

“I would,” Richie confirmed, finally looking up. His eyes were a little watery, which made Eddie smile. “At the expense of the universe, I would punch Thanos every time. For you.”

“You can’t go around making stupid decisions for me,” Eddie chided, but it was obvious he didn’t mean it; his hands and body were moving forward almost robotically to wind around Richie. “Especially with the universe at stake.”

Richie watched Eddie curiously, hands moving reflexively down to grab him for support when he climbed on to Richie’s lap. “You really don’t know me at all, huh?”

“I know you,” Eddie insisted, looking down at Richie’s slight frown and mirroring it.

“I’m always gonna be the ‘punch Thanos’ guy, Eddie,” Richie said simply. “Stupid decisions in the heat of the moment are my thing, especially when there’s feelings involved.”

“Feelings?” Eddie asked, not sure whether or not he was teasing. It came out a little strangled due to his indecision, and he pulled back a little bit, embarrassed.

Richie took a moment, composed himself, and then looked back up, sliding his hand along Eddie’s jaw and gently moving his face so that they were making eye contact.

“I love you,” Richie said, so quietly Eddie wasn’t sure if he’d imagined it at first. “Of course I would punch Thanos for you. I love you.”

Eddie was no longer a flower; he was a cherry tree in bloom, and flowers were opening up through his face, his chest, his arms.

I love you.

“Was this...is this...a stupid decision in the heat of the moment kind of thing?” Eddie asked after  a few silent, explosive seconds.

“I dunno if this qualifies as heat of the moment,” Richie replied carefully, “and it really wasn’t intended to be stupid. That doesn’t mean that it’s not, but.”

“It’s not,” Eddie confirmed, leaning down and brushing his lips against Richie’s. “It’s not.”

Richie reflexively kissed back, closing his eyes and sinking back in his chair. Both of them knew that there was an implicit promise in Eddie’s actions. It would take him a while to respond the way he wanted to - years of self-hatred and his mother’s conditioning meant that he was still in the beginning stages of learning not to bite back soft, affectionate words - but in not running away, in staying and holding on to Richie the way that he was, there was an understanding.

“Seems to me you shouldn’t be rewarding the man who killed the universe.” They broke apart upon hearing Bill’s voice, and turned to see him watching them from the kitchen with a strange, contorted look on his face. Beside him, Stan was picking at a fingernail, obviously uncomfortable.

“Just making the most of the time we have left,” Eddie responded neatly, sliding off of Richie’s lap and back into his own seat. “Are we ready to start again?”

“We’re picking up in Wakanda.” Mike had reentered quietly enough that none of them had noticed he’d come back, and his emergence sent a ripple of surprise through the room. “We need a break from space. Bill, are you ready?”

“To fucking die?” Bill grinned. “Sure, why not. Let’s go out with some style, though, yeah? Bev, you ready to have Shuuri yank this Infinity Stone out of Vision’s head?”

“One minute!” Bev called from the back porch.

“See?” Richie said, gesturing broadly, “there’s still stuff to be done. Game’s not over. Not a decision with terrible repercussions at the end of the day.”

“No, it was,” Bill disagreed, moving back to his seat, “no matter what you’re trying to tell yourself.”

Eddie slid his hand into Richie’s under the table, and held his gaze as Bev and Ben finally reappeared, looking suspiciously windblown.

“It wasn’t,” Eddie whispered to him. “It wasn’t.”

“I know,” Richie whispered back. “Bill doesn’t fucking understand this game.”

“Or Dungeons and Dragons, for that matter,” Eddie said, grinning, and they both fell into peals of laughter, much to the confusion of the rest of the table.

If Eddie had to give up the universe for that specific heat of the moment decision again, he knew in that instant that he would do it - as many times as he had to, or maybe even as many times as he could.

A single I love you from Richie Tozier was maybe, probably, definitely more powerful than any Infinity Stone.

[wazafam]

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This rivalry comes to a head in the season finale, which sees Christopher and Paulie whacking Mikey Palmice as he goes for a jog. It's as predictable as the story got, as viewers long assumed that Mikey would be biting a bullet before long.

9 Surprised: Livia's Off Screen Death

The Sopranos would grow increasingly unpredictable, and that arguably began with Livia's off-screen death in season 3. Livia was the primary antagonist of season 1, but she took a major backseat in season 2 owing to Nancy Marchand's failing health.

Unfortunately, Marchand passed away nine months before the premiere of season 3, and Chase was forced to write her death into the show. Fans were expecting a climactic confrontation between Tony and his mother, and what they got instead was Livia dying off-screen from a stroke.

8 Exactly What Thought: Meadow's Storyline

The show loved to subvert expectations when it came to individual character storylines, but it did pretty much exactly what fans were expecting with Meadow Soprano. Throughout much of the early show, Meadow was portrayed as a highly intelligent girl who was both ambitious and knowledgeable of the family business (despite Tony's efforts to keep her ignorant).

She eventually becomes a law student and becomes engaged to Patrick Parisi, the implication being that she will become a lawyer for the mob.

7 Surprised: Ralphie Made Captain

The entire third season was building to a violent confrontation between Tony and Ralphie. Ralphie had been continuously annoying Tony through his aggressive behavior, and their relationship was permanently tarnished after Ralphie brutally murdered Tracee.

RELATED: The Sopranos: The 10 Best Fan Theories

It was obvious that Tony was going to have Ralphie whacked. But then Gigi Cestone dies of a heart attack, and Tony surprisingly promotes Ralphie to captain. Viewers were expecting blood, and they got a promotion of the villain.

6 Exactly What Thought: Big Pussy's Hit

Much like season 1 was building to Mikey's hit, as was season 2 to Big Pussy's. Viewers had long been aware that Big Pussy was working with the government, but the characters remained unaware throughout much of the first two seasons.

It wasn't until the second season finale that Tony, Paulie, and Silvio killed Big Pussy in a move that viewers had long been expecting. The kill itself wasn't surprising, but the lead-up certainly was - Tony finally acknowledges what his subconscious is trying to tell him about Pussy, resulting in a violent bout of diarrhea and vomiting.

5 Surprised: Janice Kills Richie

Richie's murder at the hands of Janice is arguably the first major time that The Sopranos zigged when viewers wanted it to zag. The entire second season was building up to a violent confrontation between Tony and Richie, and viewers were eagerly awaiting the bloodbath.

Instead, Janice kills Richie after Richie insults his effeminate son and punches her in the mouth. The image of Janice shooting Richie in the heart remains one of the most iconic Sopranos images - and also one of its most unpredictable.

4 Exactly What Thought: War Between Tony & Phil

Viewers didn't get their anticipated war between Tony and Richie, but they got one between Tony and Phil. Phil Leotardo makes his first appearance in season five and quickly becomes the series' primary antagonist and final boss.

RELATED: The Sopranos: The 10 Best Mob Wives, Ranked By Likability

Following Carmine and Johnny's deaths, Phil became acting boss of the New York-based Lupertazzi crime family, effectively becoming Tony's primary rival in the process. Their rivalry eventually escalates into an all-out war, and Phil is whacked at a gas station by Walden Belfiore.

3 Surprised: Tony Kills Christopher

The show had been building to a rivalry between Tony and Christopher, but viewers never anticipated the manner of his death. After getting into a major car accident, Tony sees his opportunity and strangles a gravely injured Christopher, the car accident providing the perfect out.

But the filmmaking also proved surprising, with a major character death coming in the first ten minutes of a nondescript episode (that being a non-season premiere or finale). It's arguably the most unpredictable death of the entire series.

2 Exactly What Thought: Tony Kills Tony

The Sopranos loved building to climactic confrontations. Season 2 built to Tony v. Richie, and season 3 to Tony v. Ralphie. In both cases, the show subverted expectations and did something viewers weren't expecting it to do. However, that wasn't the case with season 5, which built to a violent confrontation between Tony and Tony B.

As was the case with Big Pussy, it was Tony's dreaming subconscious that brought about his decision. Following the dream, Tony took matters into his own hands and executed his cousin to prevent war with the Lupertazzis.

1 Surprised: The Ending

There's one thing that all viewers can agree on, and that's the surprising nature of The Sopranos's ending. The ending is now a legendary piece of television history, being an ambiguous masterpiece that resulted in endless discussion, theorizing, and even some frustration.

One half of the fandom believes that Tony died, and the other believes that the ending sequence served as a visual metaphor for Tony's unending paranoia. Whatever the case may be, the ending was wonderfully surprising and unpredictable.

NEXT: The Sopranos: 10 Actors Who Also Appeared In Goodfellas

The Sopranos: 5 Times The Show Did Exactly What Fans Thought It Would Do (& 5 Times It Surprised Them) from https://ift.tt/3h65WXh

[poorquentyn]

Why don't the adult versions in IT(the book) not remember what happened to them as kids

Accidental double negative, I’m guessing :) as to why Bill, Bev, Ben, Eddie, Richie, and poor Stan don’t remember the deadlights until Mike, the one who stayed, calls them all to tell them the murders have started again and to ask them to come home like they promised they would, home to Derry, home to the killing floor, to fight It once more…there are several reasons why, which tie into the multiple interwoven narrative layers upon which It is built. 

The first is sheer trauma. As kids, the main characters were hunted by a shapeshifting monster preying on their worst fears. They faced death, again and again; they spent some of the most formative days of their lives mired in horror. As such, after escaping Derry, they shoved what they’d seen to the farthest corners of their brains, where it lay in wait. Part of what makes It work despite the bloated overreach and some truly terrible storytelling choices (the preteen gangbang being only the most infamous) is the focus throughout on traumatic remembering, on skeletons crawling out of closets. Our heroes basically have PTSD; they have repressed their memories of It in order to cope, and Mike’s calls bring them back to the light. All six of them suffer for it, but Stan suffers the most. He was both the most rigid and brittle of the Losers’ Club and the one who understood best the nature of what they were fighting (it’s later revealed that he was the only one of them who realized as a child that It was female and could bear progeny). Remembering that, being called back into that, is more than Stan can bear. It shatters his sense of a proper ordered universe, and he kills himself rather than face that. Throughout It, King emphasizes the primal power of the kind of “children as prey” fairytale on which he’s riffing. In this case, the monster in the basement is so traumatizing that Stan chooses the abyss. “It,” then, comes to signify that thing you’re trying to forget, that part of yourself and your past that you’ve buried, that thing, that it, forever in the back of your thoughts and the corner of your eye. I would go so far as to argue that King built It around drip-by-drip traumatic flashbacks in part to evoke what abuse victims go through: the agony of remembering, bit by bit, what was done to you when you were alone and afraid. 

The second layer is the strong sense that these six made an unconscious deal with the devil–they sold out their memories, and made out like gangbusters. Mike quietly notes that the six who left turned out far more financially and professionally successful than him, the one who stayed in Derry and (thus) held onto his memories. When he calls them, they’re forced to acknowledge how much of their adult lives flow from the childhood they can’t consciously remember. Bill, a popular horror author (and a transparent stand-in for King himself), realizes that all along he’s been writing about Georgie, his little brother who was killed by It in the book’s iconic opening scene. It’s only when Bev and Eddie are called home that they really face down the undeniable truth that they married their father and mother, respectively. (That’s pretty reductive in execution, but it fits the theme well.) Stan’s been riding a spooky wave of luck for years, recalling only deep deep down why that might be (“the turtle couldn’t help us”). Ben’s a hotshot young architect who shed all those pounds, but he also swiped the look of his controversial new communications tower from the design of the Derry Public Library, his refuge as a lonely child. He’s rich and famous and handsome, and yet he keeps flying west because he’s so afraid of the darkness catching up to him, not because he remembers what’s waiting in the shadows but because he doesn’t. After Mike calls Richie, the latter notes in a daze how terrifyingly easy it would be to tear up everything he’s accomplished since leaving Derry. They are so very fragile, these American dreams of ours, and they’re rooted in nightmares. 

Indeed, the third layer goes beyond the personal to the political. As King has a one-off character note early on, It is Derry. “Somehow, It got inside.” The monster has been feeding on and encouraging the town’s worst instincts for years, happily soaking in the violence whether it’s motivated by racism or homophobia or bloodthirsty revenge. This is where Mike, my favorite character in the book (by a notch above Stan the Man), takes center stage. As the town librarian, he devotes himself to unearthing Derry’s singularly ugly history, and it is he who discovers the pattern of It. Every generation, It emerges to take Its toll; Derry is its “private game reserve.” As Mike asks: “can an entire town be haunted?” This is something arguably even more traumatic for our heroes than the memories of It Itself: the terrible revelation that the adults were in on it. In this way, King ties the fall-into-knowledge central to stories about the dark side of small-town Americana (per Blue Velvet: “I’m seeing something that was always hidden”) into his beloved monster-movie pulp. 

Finally, we get to what the titular entity actually is: a cosmic predator from beyond spacetime, thirsting for meat flavored with fear, using glamours to project images of Itself as whatever Its victims fear most. It’s easy to mock such LSD-soaked Lovecraftian lore as overblown, and it definitely is that. But it resonates with all those other layers. Lovecraftian horror drives mortals mad, which dovetails with the trauma and repression our heroes undergo. The idea of an ancient monster that everyone knows is there but no one wants to talk about, even as it inflicts its wounds on the next generation, is an apt metaphor for all variety of social ills, many of which King addresses directly. There are multiple kinds of horror struggling for the spotlight in It, from abuse to bigotry to the Eater of Worlds variety. What makes the book interesting–if also more than a little silly–is the author’s insistence that all these kinds of horror are linked. That’s why our heroes can’t remember It: not only because the movie monster turned out to be real, but because It was far worse than the movies suggested, and It’s wearing your father’s face. 

[ambivalentman]

AN ATHEIST KING: THE LOSS OF BELIEF AND CHARACTER IN MUSCHETTI’S IT (2017)

This essay features several spoilers for IT (2017). You have been warned.

A DISCLAIMER BEFORE WE BEGIN

I was, at one point, a hard core Stephen King fan. When I entered my 20s, I owned every book written by him in hardcover -- with the exception of special edition stuff like My Pretty Pony -- including several first editions (like a beautiful first of The Shining). My copies of George Beahm’s The Stephen King Companion and The Stephen King Encyclopedia were already dog-eared and annotated. My prize possessions were the four issues of Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction I had which featured the first publication of The Gunslinger, and the other I had which included “The Moving Finger.” My parents thought I was weird, most girls thought I was scary, and at one point even my grandma suggested I seek therapy.

This was until about 2000. Then, an event took place which caused me -- like those in the Loser’s Club -- to abandon childish things. It was a bad decision, but I gave up my Stephen King collection.

I didn't rediscover my love for King until recently. Sure, I dabbled a bit these last few years, reading Under the Dome and 11/22/63, but I never fully re-embraced the hero of my youth. Until I decided to re-read IT, his 1986 masterpiece about a group of wounded people forced to face a truly terrifying force as both children and adults. I saw that Andy Muschetti was adapting the novel for Warner Bros., taking over for Cary Fukunaga, who -- despite being a true auteur -- fell out of Warner’s graces. All news surrounding the new adaptation was overwhelmingly positive, and it had been a long time since we last saw a great movie based on King’s work.

Back in April, I broke my right hip. After two surgeries, being fairly immobile has given me time to read more, so I picked up IT. Revisiting IT transported me back to that time when I was obsessed with King. The experience was overwhelming, like when adult Bill Denborough gets back on his enormous metal steed, Silver, and recalls how he once raced the devil on that bike to save Eddie Kaspbrak. A flood of joy came from reading King’s pulpy prose again. Going back to that tainted town of Derry to hang with the Losers helped make my rehab a little easier. And though I am still on the mend, I am ready to rekindle my love for King.

Which brings me to my other love: cinema. I don't write much about the movies anymore, but I am chomping at the bit to discuss and evaluate IT. There hasn't been a more anticipated film this year for me.

And no film has both pleased and disappointed me more.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD KING ADAPTATION?

Because of The Dark Tower, IT, and the forthcoming Gerald’s Game, there have been lots of clickbait “Stephen King Movies . . . Ranked” lists popping up online. Nerdist had a particularly interesting one, in which their top 10 looked like this:

10. Creepshow (1980)

9. IT (2017)

8. The Dead Zone (1983)

7. Dolores Claiborne (1995)

6. Stand By Me (1986)

5. The Mist (2007)

4. The Shining (1980)

3. Carrie (1976)

2. Misery (1990)

1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Despite the ranking, most King fans and movie lovers alike will agree with this list (although Creepshow over Pet Sematary or Christine? Really? Sincerely?). Two of these films are directed by Frank Darabont (Shawshank, The Mist), and two by pre-what-the-f-happened Rob Reiner (Misery, Stand by Me). And the new adaptation of IT made the cut. So, if we can acknowledge these are the canonical King adaptations, what makes them the best? It's a pretty steep drop off in quality after the top 10. There's Pet Sematary, Christine, 1408, and The Green Mile, meaning that out of 44 movies based on Stephen King’s novels (not including TV mini-series), there’s really only about 14 good-to-great ones. If this were baseball -- King’s favorite sport -- Hollywood would be batting a respectable .318. Be that as it may, this is not baseball, and producing only 1 solid movie for every 3 is pretty awful.

This suggests that adapting Stephen King is tough. Why, though? His books are packed with memorable characters, scenes, and visuals. You could almost say he writes movies. His dialogue is colloquial and specific, and he has a great sense of pacing. While you could easily point out that lots of his stories share only a couple variations for endings -- destruction or aliens -- he is a strong storyteller with a keen understanding of cause and effect and narrative fairness. There's a reason, after all, that he inspired a generation of writers and filmmakers like JJ Abrams, Damon Lindelof, and the Duffer Brothers.

My theory is that King's greatness resides not in his ideas or execution, but in the spirit of his writing. King's voice is the soul of his work. When you read him, it feels like you are sitting down with a friend, listening to him share a great story. King feels familiar, like family. And the filmmakers who get that make films which reflect it.

Take, for example, the number 1 film on Nerdist’s list, The Shawshank Redemption. The use of Red’s voiceover narration immediately brings us into the tale of Andy Dufresne. Stand By Me and Dolores Claiborne also use great voiceovers. But in films like Misery, Carrie, and The Dead Zone, we are given protagonists who become our friends. We find Paul Sheldon to be kind and thoughtful, Carrie White to be sweet and misunderstood, Johnny Smith to be tortured and alone. These films understand deeply what King was aiming for with his characters. So, when Reiner changes events in Misery, it doesn't matter because not only did he truly “get” Paul, he also truly “got” Paul’s relationship with Annie Wilkes. Each of the films on this list, with the exception of IT (and Creepshow because it was an original script), truly grasped the core of King’s characters and their relationships to each other.

King is often considered a humanist author. His characters, including his villains, are often subjects for sympathy. In his work, there is a lot of insight into human nature, both light and dark. King is an observant author, grounding his most supernatural stories in a real world, with real people. This is best illustrated in his character relationships and interactions. Red and Andy develop first respect, then admiration, then deep friendship over their years in Shawshank. It is a relationship founded on honesty as they are the only honest men in the prison. Their mutual trust is what establishes the foundation for Andy’s escape plans, and ensures his success. In The Dead Zone, Johnny’s broken relationship with Sarah is haunted by lust and vitality, the very qualities Johnny loses touch with after his accident leaves him with a power which zaps the life from him with each use. Carrie White’s naive hope she can actually fit in is fulfilled by the compassionate Tommy Ross, which makes the tragedy of her coronation that much more devastating. The films capture these ideas to profound effect, which is why they endure. Once the novelty of plot dissipates, you are left with characters and their connections to each other and yourself. We enjoy a movie for plot; we love a movie for character.

King writes wonderful characters, and the best films based on his work never fail to capture those characters ideally.

Except IT.

Sigh.

THE PART WHERE I EXPLAIN WHY THE NOVEL IS A MASTERPIECE

It is not hyperbole to call IT “King's masterpiece.” Lots of critics have done it. By its publication in 1986, IT was the purest, most ambitious distillation of themes and ideas King had explored since Carrie in his fiction (and even in non-fiction dissertations like Danse Macabre). If you're reading this, chances are you know the story:

Every 27 years, the seemingly quaint hamlet of Derry, Maine becomes the feeding ground for an entity that has dwelled under the town’s surface for centuries. In 1958, after 6-year old Georgie Denborough is murdered by the creature -- assuming the shape of a murderous clown called Pennywise -- big brother Bill and his Losers Club come together to put an end to the evil. They are only marginally successful, as 27 years later, the Losers are called to return to Derry to kill IT for good.

IT is a multi-generational horror novel, spanning hundreds of years. We meet the Losers first as adults, all of whom (with the exception of Mike Hanlon, who chose to stay behind in Derry and become its resident historian and librarian) no longer remember the events that took place during the summer of 1958. Mike’s ominous phone calls, reminding the adults of the promise they made -- to return if IT ever resurfaced -- unlocks each adult’s dormant memory. As the novel unfolds, so does their collective remembrance of summer ‘58 and all the horrors it contained. King uses the flashbacks to highlight the differences between childhood and adulthood.

As with any epic sized novel, there are a myriad of themes to unpack. IT dives deep into ideas about childhood trauma, the power of personal shame, community corruption, racism, generational sin, and the coming of age ideas expected from a novel about kids becoming adults. For me, where the novel finds its most compelling thematic territory is in its exploration of belief. King wants us to recognize it is the purity of innocence, and the simplicity of belief that binds these kids together, and that the jaded cynicism of adulthood, with all its fears and anxieties, is what threatens to destroy them.

This theme hinges on the role of Pennywise. He is a shapeshifting, Lovecraftian monster, tapping into the fears of his quarry to exploit during the hunt. He appears to Ben as his dead father, to Mike as a pterodactyl-like bird, to the germaphopic Eddie as a leper, and to Richie as the lycanthropic Michael Landon in I Was a Teenage Werewolf. When Pennywise goes after Bev, it is by turning her sink into a geyser of blood which only she can see. Bill is tormented by the memory of his dearly departed brother, whose school photograph Pennywise animates and makes bleed. Children have very primal fears, and that which adults see as fake or absurd, kids often embrace as real. Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, chupacabras, zombies . . . children do not reject fantasy outright as adults do, making them susceptible to both profound fear and hope.

We see this in the Losers’ response to IT’s attacks. They are terrified, but never stop seeking solution. They find their weapons in objects. Even after he learns his asthma inhaler is a mere placebo, Eddie still uses it to calm his nerves, and later fires it at Pennywise, believing its contents to be battery acid. With Bill’s help, Ben melts down two silver dollars into bearings for Bev to shoot at the monster with a slingshot. When Stan gets trapped by Pennywise after finding himself alone in the house on Neibolt Street, he manages to escape by chanting the names of every bird contained in his field guide. The kids build an underground fort, which they convert into a smoke house to go on a Native American “Vision Quest.” It is during this dangerous endeavor that Mike and Richie seem to travel through time back to a primordial era where they witness IT’s arrival. The Losers’ passionate adherence to ritual and talismans give them a collective power. This power keeps them unified, and even frightens their tormentor. Belief is their truest weapon, especially belief in each other.

The other themes King addresses throughout IT are compelling, but it is this idea about belief that gives the novel its soul. There is no cynicism in King's approach -- he captures the imagination of these children with remarkable affection, and this results in each kid winning our hearts over. Pennywise may be the allure the book needs to attract its audience, but these kids are what inspires guys like me to re-read a 1,000+ page book.

They are also what inspired me to struggle with a movie engineered for my celebration.

IN PRAISE OF MUSCHETTI’S IT

Before I tear apart IT, which is very popular, having made over $200 million domestically in its first two weekends, I want to praise it. Despite having some huge issues, the film does some things very well. There is a good reason why this movie works for so many people.

The major reason IT works is because of its energy and general nostalgia. While these elements often fade on repeat viewings, they are so engrossing during a first one. Being set in 1989 puts the setting during a period Gen Xers remember fondly and for which Millennials pine. Movie theater marquees are showing Batman and Lethal Weapon 2. A poster for A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 is a coming attraction. The kids ride Schwinns, use Kodak Carousels, don’t have cell phones, and wear denim cutoffs. The aesthetic is perfect. Producer Seth Grahame-Smith revealed in an interview with Birth.Movies.Death that he prepped nostalgia lists for all of the child actors, from music to movies to video games to fashion as a way to show them what summer ‘89 in New England was like for him. The work paid off, because the town of Derry is authentic in its nostalgia. It is impossible not to be drawn into this world.

And this world is scary, even without Pennywise. As with all idealized nostalgic perspective on days long gone, there is a darker undercurrent (as if we punish ourselves for embracing such idyllic memories). Perhaps the darkest element are the adults of Derry. Kids go missing and the “Missing Persons” posters are simply papered over as new children are added to the list. A leering pharmacist flirts with Bev. In the library, as Ben investigates Derry’s ugly history, the Librarian lingers in the fuzzy background, grinning maliciously. Not one adult exhibits empathy for these kids, including Bill’s dad or Stan’s rabbi father. Certainly not Bev’s father, who inhales his daughter’s hair like she’s fresh out of the oven, and obsesses over her virginity with a fervor that would make even President Trump uncomfortable (or envious, if we're being honest). In some ways, the more visceral nature of the film captures Derry’s innate badness more clearly than the hundreds of pages King devotes to the subject in his novel. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand pages.

Muschietti and his casting director also got the casting perfect. As with the films of JJ Abrams, criticize all you want, but it's impossible to trash the impeccable casting choices. Each of these kids perfectly embodies the characters they portray. Kudos especially go to Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Finn Wolfhard as Ben, Bev, Eddie, and Richie. Ben’s beautiful sensitivity, Bev’s intense devotion and passion, Eddie’s passive-aggressive resolve, and Richie’s unending stream of bullshit are as sharp and resonant here as they are on the page. Even Jaeden Lieberher, as Bill, and Chosen Jacobs, as Mike, look and feel right. Unfortunately, the script makes some poor choices with their characters that nearly derails the film. But more on that in a bit. Without a doubt, these kids are legit actors. No scene better proves this than the swimming scene in which everyone is stripped to their underwear and dives into the lake from the frighteningly high cliff. The scene could have been incredibly exploitative as the boys ogle Bev, but instead the quality of these performances makes their pubescent sexual discovery innocent and real. Consider this a great contrast with the perverse exchanges Bev has with the adult world. It is both ironic and terrifying that Bev is perceived more as an object by adults than by teenage boys.

While the film finds many of its most effective scares in the presentation of Derry, and the juxtaposition of innocent and corrupt images, the advertisements promise that we will be scared senseless by Pennywise the Dancing Clown. As portrayed by Bill Skarsgard, this Pennywise bears little resemblance to the seductive, menacing clown Tim Curry created for the 1990 ABC television miniseries. Skarsgard’s Pennywise is serpentine, alien, with dead eyes and a slithering voice. His costuming suggests his age, and the cracks in his makeup reveal a facade. This Pennywise is less playful and charismatic, and hungrier. He drools as he corners the kids in the Neibolt house. And his shapeshifting is frightening, especially when he presents himself to Eddie as a relentless leper. Skarsgard’s performance is wonderful and wholly his own. He will invite comparisons to the iconic Curry, but ultimately his Pennywise will stand alone.

IT’s success as a film can be broken down into these three elements: Derry, the kids, and the creepiness of Pennywise. But its failure can also be broken down into three parts, too.

1) The absence of a thematic soul

2) The abandonment of characterization

3) The confusion of style for substance

A LOSS OF SOUL

A great adaptation isn’t necessarily about doing the book, but about capturing the soul of the book (or finding a soul no one even knew existed, ala The Godfather or The Shining). A movie can look the part, but if it fails to reveal that essence of spirit, it will eventually crumble. In the case of IT, the movie is about as hollow as the space behind Pennywise’s eyes.

The soul of this story is the children's belief. Outside of a generic, “We gotta believe in each other!” idea to which much lip service is paid, these kids are bereft of belief in anything. This is an atheist interpretation of Stephen King's story, in which our Loser’s Club prefer brute force over imagination. In the film’s climax, Bill leads the charge against Pennywise by picking up a bat and swinging at the clown’s head. All the Losers join him. The result looks remarkable, as each strike causes the clown to transform into each child's fear, but it is a graceless, uninspired physical solution to a metaphysical problem. It also ruins Pennywise. How evil can he truly be when all it takes is an angry mob armed with sticks to bring him down?

Throughout King's novel, the Losers seek many ways to defeat the demon. They melt down the silver dollars. Eddie’s inhaler becomes a chemical weapon. Stan’s bird book is a shield, the names of the birds his mantra. And the kids buy into Native American rituals, like the Ritual of CHUD, to confront IT. Obviously, the shift in setting from the 1950s to 1980s meant losing some of these talismans. After all, the 50s Wolfman, when compared to the 80s Freddy Krueger, is a flaccid nightmare. But every monster has a weakness, even human ones. The Losers spend no time thinking on this.

Indeed, Muschetti strips them of their creativity completely. Gone is Ben’s architectural acumen, which nearly flooded the Barrens and provided an underground club house. Bill’s storytelling, which keeps the group focused, is generically spread amongst all of them. Even Bev's love for fashion and art is lost. It's shocking to me how Muschetti removed the core elements from each of these characters, leaving only their gimmicks -- Bill’s st-st-stutter, Ben’s girth, Bev’s cigarette smoking, Richie’s humor, Eddie's hypochondria, Stan’s Judaism, and Mike’s blackness. In the need to appeal to every demographic, these characters were stripped for parts.

It is a testament to the strength of the performances by this group of kids that the Losers have any flavor whatsoever. The script provides them no depth, only set pieces and surface sentiment, yet they are convincing for awhile in the dark. But like Pennywise’s many facades, eventually they slide off and there's nothing remaining.

The soul of King's story is belief, imagination, and the collective power of childlike purity. Andy Muschetti’s adaptation is more in love with Halloween maze scares than it is with pursuing these ideas. His vision of defeating our fears involves angry children with sticks, not wounded children with imagination. Audiences may like the cathartic release that comes with beating the shit out of the monster, but it does nothing to feed their souls.

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

I already alluded to the surface qualities that pass for characterization in IT, but it goes a bit deeper than this. Character interaction is essential to building great characters, and this is where IT fails epically.

To prove this, let’s take a closer look at Bill Denborough.

Bill is arguably the most important of our protagonists, especially in King's novel. The story begins with him making a paper boat for his brother and sealing it with wax so it will float in the gutter water outside. The death of Georgie becomes a source of guilt and shame for Bill. And since his parents pay little to no attention to him, Bill is made to face these overwhelming feelings alone. It is his determination and inner strength that propels him to lead the Losers in their quest to put an end to IT. But, this quest, while certainly obsessive, is rooted in shame and love. Bill loves each of his friends and often goes off alone because he fears their fate will be his fault, as he believes Georgie’s fate to be his fault. This is the source of Bill’s maturity, which sets him apart from everyone else in the club. Because of Bill’s maturity, the Losers follow him without much question. They are devoted to him as a leader and friend, and willingly choose to lay down their lives if need be.

This is far from the way Bill is presented in the film. He is a Captain Ahab, chasing his white clown into the sewers of Derry. He likes his friends, but often doesn't concern himself with their feelings. In fact, at one point Richie throws a punch at Bill and the two fight over their pursuit of the monster. This Bill is not a leader; he is a dictator. He lacks empathy, and mostly cares for himself. Even worse, his quest is no longer rooted in shame, but in pure vengeance. Bill doesn't express his self-loathing at what happened to Georgie. Instead, at the end of the film, when Pennywise presents Itself as Georgie, Bill just punches IT in the face.

The shift in Bill is a subtle one, but has huge consequences for the story. By changing his leadership style, it makes the other Losers look more like followers of fear than a group of equals. In many ways, Bill is no different than the crazy bully Henry Bowers, whose friends follow him out of fear. Like Henry, Bill is on a mission to destroy, has little regard for the consequences of his actions, gets others involved who don't necessarily want to be, and doesn't listen to reason. Yet, we like Bill and hate Henry because Bill stutters and Henry likes carving his initials into the bellies of defenseless fat kids.

This is not to say Bill isn't the hero, but that Muschetti misfires with Bill by removing his core empathy and giving the character over completely to obsession. While the rest of the characters don't fare as badly as Bill does, each loses something, mainly through the cutting of interactions. On a basic level, we see this in the fact that Bev only interacts with Bill and Ben through most of the movie, yet is presented as the symbol of group unity. She can't even be bothered to share a smoke with Richie, or have a conversation with Stan and Mike.

Bill and Bev certainly present issues in characterization, but no character is more problematic than Mike Hanlon. There have already been several insightful thinkpieces about the treatment of Mike that there is little I can add, but the gist is this: Mike is presented as a token black character for no reason. Granted, most of these characters are tokens in their own way, so it stands to reason Mike would receive no better treatment. It was a struggle for me to watch one of my favorite characters in the novel reduced to a handsome black face that has to face the racist white bully. It was harder to watch Mike's love for history handed over to Ben. Mike deserved better.

All of these wonderful characters deserved better. This is what happens when style trumps substance.

THE NEW HORROR AESTHETIC

IT is the culmination of the trend in cheap seat horror to rely on the jump scare as the source of terror. No horror film of this variety has handled this trope better than Muschetti’s film. Arguably, Muschetti has perfected the jump scare. His film is a maze at Knott’s Scary Farm or Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights waiting to happen. The soundtrack is pitched to screamtastic levels. Put a camera on audiences and every 5-7 minutes, prepare to see people grabbing each other or jumping like William Castle had come back from the dead to put a tingler in their seat.

This reliance on the jump scare is aided by a color palette washed in sepia tones and deeper reds, which enable the clown to do his Jack-in-Box routine in darkness that can't elicit laughter. Muschetti and his postproduction team nailed the look of this film like mad scientists.

The beauty of this is that audiences love IT. This is a horror movie that feels like a horror film. Yet, IT remains safe, like those scary carnival mazes. When you're creeping your way through one, every darkened corner promises danger, but behind all that tension you know none of the masked employees can touch you without legal repercussion. Sadly, IT isn't allowed to touch you either. Promises of danger lurk around every shot, but it is all bark and no bite.

Take the Neibolt Street House sequence. There's a clever moment in which Bill and Richie, separated from Eddie, try to find him before Pennywise gets him and are presented with three doors to escape. The doors are labeled “Not Scary,” “Scary,” and “Very Scary.” Of course the boys take the first one, and are presented with a frightening image. You would imagine they would be forced to take the third door, but instead they double down on the “Not Scary” path and are rewarded for their cowardice. This is the ultimate in style over substance. The scene looks perfect, but says and does nothing.

Still, the aesthetic is convincing. This is how we want horror movies to look, even if they have nothing to say.

THE IMPLICATIONS OF IT

Since Warner Bros.’s sinks are exploding with dollar bills right now, IT will have a seismic impact on the popular culture landscape. Some things are inevitable: we will get a “Chapter Two” featuring the adults returning to Derry for a final showdown with IT. We can also expect more horror movies. Will we get more clown flicks? I'm sure there's plenty of those being prepared for VOD as I write this.

What I am more concerned about is the state of horror film. Over the last decade, we have seen a renaissance in indie horror. Get Out, It Follows, The Babadook, The Witch, The Invitation, Cheap Thrills, Starry Eyes, Goodnight Mommy, and Raw are a few of the most notable titles. This movement has brought a variety of styles and an emergence of new voices unlike anything we’ve seen since the 70s. Even a big budget haunted house franchise like The Conjuring reinforced the brilliance of James Wan and reminded us of the power in the traditional horror story amidst all the rebels.

IT feels like a sea change, though. The Conjuring made tons of money, but it didn't make this kind of money. And while The Conjuring felt traditional, IT is being presented as something new. People are talking about it like it's different. Joe Hill, King's son and respected novelist, called IT “one of the five best horror movies I've ever seen.” This movie is a hydrogen bomb on pop culture, especially as it arrived on the heels of the poorest performing summer box office in 20 years. This movie isn't just new, it's a savior.

So while we can expect more Stephen King remakes and adaptations, we can also expect less money for horror indies. Studios will want more movies to look and feel like IT, and in this narrowing marketplace, that has the potential to choke out the little guy. This is the true horror.

I hope I am wrong. Horror films are cheap to make. That is their appeal for young filmmakers looking to make a mark. Hopefully this doesn't change.

The Stephen King fan in me celebrates the love IT is receiving around the world. The cinephile in me is afraid of what this means for horror cinema going forward.

[troxk]

okay so eddie’s d**** in it: chapter 2, yeah? literally, what is the purpose of it. as far as i can tell, it was wholly unnecessary from a narrative perspective and that makes me angry!! i haven’t read the book yet, so not sure if it’s the same deal, but eddie dying felt like it had little to no thematic significance in that movie. what does eddie’s death tell us about childhood trauma or the nature of memory or the power of trust and sacrifice to overcome evil, or any other of the story’s themes? it does Nothing for any of those crucial aspects because in the movie, eddie’s death isn’t a sacrifice, isn’t a reflection of the desperation that’s built up over 27 years and so much pain, as could’ve perhaps justified his death. a good thematic use of death is stan’s death (even though i hate it) because it represents not only the horrifying reappearance of childhood trauma in adulthood, but also later demonstrates the strength of sacrifice. eddie’s death in the movie is tragic and moving, but it’s fundamentally nothing more than a mistake because he didn’t mean to die. he SHOULDN’T have died because even beyond not furthering the story’s themes, it actually COUNTERACTS a lot of the thematic development that had already occurred. the whole idea that if you believe in your actions, trust your and your friends’ abilities despite fear is something i’d say andy muschietti developed quite well throughout the runtime, and eddie throwing the fence piece felt like the logical culmination of one of the movie’s key themes. 

and then they decided to undermine eddie’s belief and bravery, his entire character arc over both movies, this complex theme at the heart of the story. for no reason at all.

because death can obviously be an incredibly useful tool in fiction to drive the plot or assist the characterisation of other characters. don’t get me wrong, it absolutely should not be used for this purpose at the expense of thematic exploration. but even giving the movie this pass, death as a plot/character motivator is NOT something we should be seeing so late in the story and ESPECIALLY not in the middle of a fast-paced action climax that is essentially the final scene of the movie. i’d go so far as to say it can’t be used in this way. death can be a useful motivator, but that late in the story, there’s nowhere to drive the plot or characters. eddie’s death is sad but ultimately has no significant effect on the outcome of the losers’ fight with pennywise - had he not died they DEFINITELY would have ended up using the ‘make him feel small’ tactic, and perhaps even sooner since it was EDDIE WHO FIGURED IT OUT IN THE FIRST PLACE. additionally, his dying can’t develop his character, his decision to believe he could kill pennywise did (a huge moment of character development for him that the movie immediately shits on). and his dying doesn’t develop any of the other characters because it’s way too late in the story for that! there’s no time to properly examine the impact of his death on the others (not that this stopped mr andy from trying, giving us that mischaracterised, half-assed quarry scene with everyone laughing - juxtaposed nicely with a heartbroken richie. not a good closing sentiment for your series, andy! that’s not how good storytelling works! you’re meant to actually give your characters satisfying, and at the very least, plausible, endings). so yeah, no use as a characterisation device either.

again, i’ll mention i haven’t read the book and i understand that the movies want to be faithful to mr king’s literary genius blah blah but people take artistic liberties, evidenced frequently in the modern adaptations. so @mr andy: stop being lazy, if you can change one part, you can change another, especially when the other part is as nonsensical and pointless as your movie accidentally framed it.

so tl:dr eddie’s death in it:chapter 2 had no necessity as a thematic, plot or characterisation device, actively made all these narrative aspects WORSE and MORE CONFUSING and just to top it all off: the head clown himself decided it was a good idea to have a literal - in all senses of the word - ‘bury your gays’ ending. i’m :) tired :)