It Vs It.docx

Nola Galligan

IT vs. IT

9/20/2017

Is the new “IT” movie better than the original? “IT” is a horror novel released in 1986, written by author Stephen King. Twenty-seven years after the original miniseries was released, “IT” came back as a feature movie with fans and critics for the most part agreeing that the new IT knocked the old one out of the park. The movie tells the story of a small town where every 27 years, children go missing. We are introduced to a group of children who decide to fight back and make the discovery of what is happening to these missing children and how to stop it. The remake is better in many ways, some reasons including the story and the production of the film. The first reason the new “IT” is better than the previous formats is the story and the pace. The story keeps things simple and focuses on the kids battles with the clown. The movie remained focused on the time when the main characters are children rather than switching childhood between adulthood like in the 1990 miniseries. Staying focused on one-time period kept the audience interested in the story and not distracted by what point in the main characters lives we were in. While the miniseries follows the lives of the kids all the way through adulthood, this made the story very dull and messy. While staying focused on the conflict, additional factors such as dialogue and props in the film created a realistic setting and sold the audience on the fact that the story took place in 1988. Also through building relationships between the main characters, the audience became emotionally invested in the characters and the conflict they were facing. Unlike the 1990 miniseries which did not build that emotional connection between us (the audience) and them (the characters). The second reason the new “IT” is better than the previous formats is the production and how it was produced better in the 2017 film than the 1990 miniseries. The actors played more convincing characters which sold the audience more on the illusion that these were real kids. The actor who played “Pennywise” is 6 feet 4 inches so in many scenes where he seems gigantic, he

Nola Galligan

IT vs. IT

9/20/2017

is gigantic. Some of the realism also came from the people working on the film. For example, for the first month of shooting the film the child actors were not allowed to see “Pennywise” so when they eventually saw him the director was able to capture a genuine, scared reaction. Another aspect of the production that helped create a better version of the film was the effects and how they went about performing them. In the 1990 miniseries they relied heavily on what are called “Practical Effects” which are special effects that physically occurred in front of the camera but gave the illusion of something interesting happening. Many times, these types of effects fail to capture the realism originally intended and come out as cheesy rather than real. On the other hand, the new 2017 film relied more heavily on “Visual Effects” which are, in most cases, completely generated in a program on the computer. This allows effects to be progressively worked on and improved on which leads to a more realistic output. The remake is better in many ways, some reasons including the story and the production of the film. From visual vs. practical effects to the actors chosen for the parts, the 2017 format of “IT” is the best format of the story since the original novel’s release in 1986. Though the original 1990 miniseries holds a significant place in the history of the story, the newest incarnation of “IT” properly does the original novel justice and gives the fans of the narrative what they wanted but didn’t get in previous formats. With the trailer becoming one of the most watched trailers in film history within the first 24 hours, fans and critics all agree that “IT” is a smash and will be remembered as definitive classic.