Positive Reframing: Pennywise from IT

I have an unpopular opinion, Pennywise is the hero in It. First of all, I had a lot of issues with It Chapter One. I found the human interactions so disturbing I never wanted to watch the movie again. In fact it was the gruesome acts of cruelty inflicted on one another, and from caregivers to children, that warmed me to Pennywise. I longed for the “scary clown” scenes, just as a reprieve to the terrors lurking in each child’s real life. In my eyes, Pennywise was saving the children from their miserable, abusive lives. All of the main children that we follow are going through different challenges, whether their parent is abusive, absent, sexually inappropriate, being a victim of extreme bullying, the list goes on and on. Frankly, floating sounds a lot better than what each of these teens was dealing with. Another comparison I wanted to make was to Monsters Inc. In Monsters Inc the monsters don’t understand children, and they believe scares are the most powerful energy source. Eventually they learn laughter is stronger and change their tactics. As we learn in It Chapter Two, Pennywise is actually some light energy being from space. So he is unfamiliar with children. And maybe he also saw and felt fear as a powerful emotion. He realized that if he could create fear in children they were subject to his powers and then he could “save” them, take them from their disturbred realities. In Chapter Two we also see him interact with a young girl with a birthmark. She recounts being treated differently and bullied due to her appearance. And once again, Pennywise “saves” this girl from her experience. Alright, I get it, that’s a bit of a stretch. But perhaps Pennywise is misunderstood. Perhaps where he is from death is a transformation process that leads you to a new experience. Maybe everyone in the death lights was actually led to his home planet and lives in nirvana. Who knows! The point is, who are the real villains in IT? Is anyone really distracted from the blatant abuse by this silly clown? I don’t think so. 

These cognitive gymnastics I’m doing to paint Pennywise in a positive light is a skill known as positive reframing. In positive reframing we take a scenario and try to view it in a new light. You planned a picnic and on that day it’s raining. Your default response maybe “oh no everything is ruined.” A positive reframe could be “I’ve really been wanting to watch this new movie, I guess I can stay in and do that instead.” We take the negative situation and look for some positive light in it. I’m a pro at finding the silver lining for people. My mental leg work can do wonders. Give me any scenario, I dare you, and my creative mind will find a way to reframe it in a positive way. How would positive reframing improve your life? Could it take away your fear of scary movies as you focus on seeing the villain in a new light? Could your everyday negative attitude slowly switch to being more positive? We all have this ability, it just takes a little time and practice to get used to it. So what would you do, stay in an unhappy miserable life, or float?