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It: Chapter Two
Movie

It: Chapter Two

2019 • Drama, Fantasy, Horror

Woke Score
7
out of 10

Plot

Defeated by members of the Losers' Club, the evil clown Pennywise returns 27 years later to terrorize the town of Derry, Maine, once again. Now adults, the childhood friends have long since gone their separate ways. But when people start disappearing, Mike Hanlon calls the others home for one final stand. Damaged by scars from the past, the united Losers must conquer their deepest fears to destroy the shape-shifting Pennywise -- now more powerful than ever.

Overall Series Review

It: Chapter Two is a long horror film that concludes the story of the Losers’ Club, bringing the friends back to their hometown of Derry, Maine, 27 years after their initial battle with Pennywise. The film explicitly ties the cosmic evil of the entity to the inherent, systemic human evil within the small American town itself. The story opens with a graphic, non-supernatural hate crime against a gay couple, which immediately grounds the fantasy horror in real-world social commentary. This social focus continues throughout, as a major character's repressed homosexuality is revealed as the source of his deepest fear, driving his personal journey. Another member of the group, the only non-white character, is sidelined and primarily serves as a narrative device whose backstory involves a heavily criticized, stereotypical co-option of Native American spiritualism as the solution to the main conflict. The only female member's adult life is largely defined by escaping an abusive marriage and being objectified by the male protagonists, presenting traditional female roles negatively. The film is less about a universal battle against pure evil and more about defeating bigotry, shame, and the corrupting nature of a traditional, seemingly innocent Western town.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics7/10

The narrative relies on the immutable characteristics of the non-white character, Mike Hanlon, whose sole purpose is to be the historian who stayed behind and learned a stereotypical Native American 'Ritual of Chüd' to defeat the monster. This trope-laden plot element is criticized as tokenizing, using a non-Western cultural background as a magical plot device rather than giving the character a merit-based, universal arc. The film opens by explicitly centering real-world, identity-based violence—a homophobic hate crime—to establish the main conflict’s stakes, connecting Pennywise’s horror to human systemic oppression.

Oikophobia8/10

The town of Derry, Maine, is framed as a place of deeply rooted, small-town corruption and bigotry, which Pennywise merely feeds upon. The director and writer emphasize that the human violence, specifically the hate crime at the beginning, demonstrates 'how f-cked up humans are' in this seemingly innocent American community. The narrative suggests the local Western culture is fundamentally a breeding ground for hate, fear, and violence, linking the town’s 'DNA' to the monster’s evil.

Feminism6/10

Beverly Marsh, the sole female member, is immediately introduced escaping a toxic, abusive marriage in her adult life, framing her attempt at a traditional partnership as a prison that inhibits her growth. Her character's established supernatural power from the first film is mostly dropped. Her adult role is largely reduced to being a victim whose trauma and love triangle serve to motivate and provide emotional weight for the male characters. The commentary notes female characters are sometimes used as objects of ridicule or are presented only as scary, elderly figures.

LGBTQ+9/10

The opening sequence is a brutal, graphic gay-bashing and murder, which serves as a shocking, intense, and central narrative device to call the Losers back to action, placing overt anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry at the foundation of the town's evil. Furthermore, a core member of the Losers' Club, Richie Tozier, has his entire adult character arc centered on his repressed and closeted homosexuality and the unrequited love for his male friend, which Pennywise weaponizes against him. The film centers sexual identity as the deepest psychological fear for a major protagonist.

Anti-Theism7/10

The climactic method for defeating the cosmic evil is a mystical Native American 'Ritual of Chüd,' which is appropriated into the plot by Mike Hanlon. The final victory is achieved through this exoticized non-Western spiritualism and the humanistic power of friendship, entirely bypassing any reference to or presence of traditional Western religious faith. This substitution creates a spiritual vacuum where only an alternative, stereotypical ritual is deemed powerful enough to fight a demonic entity.