Analysis of horror character

Throughout history clowns have always been a large part of culture. Every child will have a memory of seeing at least one clown in a circus or in a toyshop. However, despite being seen as icons of amusement, clowns have also been seen as characters to be feared.  

Stephen King wrote a novel in 1986 called IT, in this novel an evil clown called Pennywise the Dancing Clown goes around killing and eating young children. He appears to each of his young victims as a clown, knowing that they would come willingly enough as most children do not see clowns as something to be afraid of.  However, when he finds a group of children trying to defeat him Pennywise changes into different forms, depending on what their fears are. He also takes advantage of their innocence especially with George his first victim. He seems to use reverse psychology when dealing with some of his victims. He also knows how to tempt a young child “Awww... You want it don't you Georgie? Hmm... Of course you do... and there's cotton candy, and rides, and all sorts of surprises down here... and balloons too... All colors”.

The novel was adapted into ‘Stephen King’s IT’ by Tommy Lee Wallace in 1990; Pennywise was played by Tim Curry.

Pennywise is able to change his form depending on the fears of the children fighting him, for example; he is seen in the form of a werewolf when he appears to one of the children. At the end however he appears in his true form which is a giant spider. This means that once again he is feeding off fear as many people (both adults and children) are petrified of spiders.

Pennywise is a very sadistic character which is one of the reasons that he is seen as being one of the most terrifying horror characters that has ever been invented. He adds comments that are amusing with an undercurrent of hostility and insanity “ Excuse me, sir. Do you have Prince Albert in a can? You DO? Well, you better let the poor guy out! A-ha! A-ha! A-ha!” and “Ohh yes... They Float Georgie... They Float... and when your down here, with me... YOU FLOAT TOO!”

It has been said that John Wayne Gacy (a serial killer who abused and killed teenage boys) has a very similar costume (he was nicknamed Killer Clown due to his fundraising and creepy clown outfits at children’s parties) to the one that Pennywise wore.  It suggests that Stephen King took inspiration from Gacy for his character, this would explain the similarities.

Overall I would say that Pennywise is a very clever character as he is a manifestation of fear which is a subject that Stephen King specialises in. Another reason Pennywise is one of the scariest characters out there is because there are clowns everywhere; advertising McDonalds, circuses, toyshops. This means that Pennywise will never be forgotten.