Reception A survey by the
University of South Wales indicated that movie clowns such as Pennywise or
the Joker contribute at least partially to some people's
coulrophobia. While the creature takes many forms, critics such as Currie note that Pennywise is the most memorable. Some scholars suggest that Pennywise's shapeshifting reflects deep psychological anxieties, thus subverting the clown's traditional role as a figure of fun. The character was suggested as a possible motive for two 2014 incidents of people dressing up as clowns in
Northampton, England and
Staten Island, New York, US.
The Atlantic said of the character: "The scariest thing about Pennywise, though, is how he preys on children's deepest fears, manifesting the monsters they're most petrified by." British scholar
Mikita Brottman has called the miniseries version of Pennywise "one of the most frightening of
evil clowns to appear on the small screen" and that it "reflects every social and familial horror known to contemporary America". Writer
James Smythe wrote that Curry's performance as Pennywise largely contributed to the character's enduring fame. Sophie Gilbert of
The Atlantic wrote that "the contrast between his comical yellow dungarees and his penchant for ripping off children's limbs is fairly stark." Kristy Strouse called Curry's portrayal as "zany" yet disturbing, also noting the quality of the character's makeup, costumes, and practical effects. Reviewer John J. O'Connor of the
New York Times also praised Curry's performance and described it as "lip-smacking".
Rolling Stone's David Fear praised Skarsgård's performance in 2019 as a "phobic masterpiece", adding that "onscreen, he feels like he's burrowing into your psyche". Fellow
Rolling Stone reviewer
Peter Travers describes Skarsgård's Pennywise as "all [the Losers'] fears rolled up into one creepy, dancing clown". Even Skarsgård and Stephen King themselves were scared by the character, with Skarsgård telling
Entertainment Weekly that he started seeing the character in his dreams after filming and King saying in a Reddit post that he would not revisit the
It story (and thus, Pennywise) because it was "too scary, even for me." He later reiterated this in an interview with
Bloody Disgusting. Audiences and critics reacted to the 2017 and 2019 film adaptations of
It with a mix of fear and fascination; reviewer Katie Kilkenny of
Pacific Standard felt that clowns "remain[ing] forever terrifying" was one of the key reasons for the 2017 film's success. Other reviewers offered more varied appraisals. Christopher Orr of
The Atlantic says that Skarsgård's Pennywise was less "overtly clownlike" than Curry's was, and thus less memorable. The
Chicago Sun-Times' Richard Roeper described Pennywise as "a little less frightening" in 2019 than in 2017, but also praised Skarsgård's performance as "disturbingly effective". Tom Russo of
The Boston Globe called the character "supremely creepy" in his review of
It Chapter Two. Gompf's examining of Pennywise's appeal found that a subset of viewers expressed an attraction or affinity toward Skarsgård's Pennywise. She saw this as the result of either the actor himself or a broader pop-culture trend of romanticizing charismatic anti-heroes such as
Loki or
Hannibal Lecter. Gompf also noted that fans were debating the appeal of Pennywise's new design amongst themselves; early promotional images of Skarsgård in costume divided fans over whether the character was too frightening or not frightening enough. She said that in particular, Pennywise's visual aesthetic, facial expressions, and posture helped create a sense of dread in viewers. Chris Evangelista for
/Film criticized
It: Welcome to Derry attempt to answer every mystery that is presented about the character, and believed that it was not necessary to reveal Pennywise's origin since "things like that should defy a reasonable explanation". He saw Pennywise more as a "shape-shifting creature" that "enhances the show" with a higher variety of scares. Chris Hayner of
Polygon said he was more interested in the lore of Derry and the influence of Pennywise on the town than in the films.
Analysis Several scholars have interpreted Pennywise as a cultural metaphor for real-world anxieties of the time the story takes place. Scholar Whitney S. May writes that Pennywise's return in the films reflects a broader resurgence of the "evil clown" figure in popular culture. Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns similarly sees the character as an embodiment of the 1980s
moral panics, resurfacing once every generation to scare adults and children. Independent scholar Erin Giannini writes in an essay that Pennywise embodies the fear of
stranger danger, a fear that spans generations and is not tied to a specific era. Academic Margaret J. Yankovich also interprets Pennywise as a representation of personal or historical trauma that must be confronted. Writer Keith Currie describes Pennywise's shapeshifting into iconic horror villains such as
Count Dracula as "a dark love-letter to the genre" and considers Pennywise as one of King's most memorable creations. Literary scholars have observed that
It uses Pennywise to represent the collective evil of Derry. Stephen King scholar
Tony Magistrale says that the novel shows how Derry "institutionalize[s] child abuse" so much that "Pennywise's actions merely reflect the town's general indifference towards its children." In this sense, the clown is a mirror to the town's worst impulses. Critic
Adrian Daub of the
Los Angeles Review of Books notes that King does not distinguish between the supernatural horrors committed by Pennywise and the everyday evils displayed by the town's residents, such as racism. These mundane cruelties are not simply caused by Pennywise, but are a replica of his nature; the novel frequently draws direct comparisons between Derry and the creature.
Polygon writer Chris Hayner wrote that the evils shown in the people of Derry are also present in
It: Welcome to Derry, writing "the terror here isn't directly related to the actions of Pennywise, though he remains plenty terrifying". He praised the fact that Pennywise terrorized Derry and controlled the townspeople indirectly rather than directly.
University of Technology Sydney associate professor Penny Crofts writes that the Derry townspeople are somewhat complicit in Pennywise's crimes through their inaction and inability to stop the creature. She cites the homophobic murder of Adrian Mellon at the start of the book as an example. Crofts compares the case of Pennywise to real-life convicted sex offender
Larry Nassar, writing that both Pennywise and Nassar were shielded by the people around them while they committed crimes "with seeming impunity". Yankovich also interprets Pennywise as both the origin and embodiment of the recurring evil seen in Derry, symbolizing a primordial source of fear and death. This, she argues, is reinforced by the Losers' vision in the smoke-hole ceremony, where they witness the character crash-landing in Derry. According to
Falakata College assistant professor Diganta Roy, Pennywise and Derry act as mirrors of the hatred and psychotic rage of the Derry townspeople. Yankovich observes that Pennywise naturally takes the form of a child's worst fear; for example, Pennywise appears to Eddie (a
germaphobe) in the form of a leper, a physical manifestation of contamination and disease, or in other words,
abjection. Hannah Lina Schneeberger and Maria Wiegel from the
University of Cologne argue that although Stephen King never cited
John Wayne Gacy as an influence for Pennywise, that the two of them reflect the 1980s American ethos. They point to the interconnectedness of Pennywise, Gacy, and the white middle-class suburb of Derry as a representation of broader American society. Derry is a homogeneous place that represses things which its townspeople see as undesirable using racism and bigotry; hence, according to them, Pennywise reflects the anxieties faced by his victims. Both Pennywise and Gacy's clown personas present the illusion of a friendly, everyday clown while concealing something far more sinister. Schneeberger and Wiegel argue that Pennywise embodies not just Derry, but each of its neighborhoods and sub-communities. On a related note, Giannini believes that Pennywise embodies the fear of
stranger danger. Pagnoni Berns concludes in his essay that Pennywise feeds from the fears of the people of Derry much like moral panics do throughout history. Scholars have also explored deeper themes behind Pennywise's defeat. Roy also contends that Pennywise's defeat carries dual meaning; it portrays the Losers as child heroes that challenge the very social norms aimed to protect them, and it marks a turning point in the Losers' transition into adulthood. In this view, Pennywise is a coping mechanism to help the Losers find a sense of belonging. In
It Chapter Two, the Losers confront the creature not with physical weapons but by standing up to Pennywise and mocking him, reducing him from a monstrous figure to a withered shell; Pennywise draws strength from fear and imagination, and is therefore weak against those who have overcome their fears. == See also ==