The Biggest Changes 'It' Makes From Stephen King's Classic Novel

King's novel covers a variety of time periods, at one point even going back to 3.3 million years ago. But the two main time periods that take up the bulk of the book are 1958 and and 1984. Muschietti's film, in contrast, is set firmly in 1989. This enables It to fit in some pretty killer '80s-themed humor, including a running New Kids on the Block joke that gets funnier the longer it goes on. The time period change is the result of updating the story: King's novel has the Losers' Club as kids in the late 1950s and adults in the late 1980s, but Muschietti and company have shifted this timeline a bit to have the Losers be children in the '80s. Which brings us to the next key difference between book and film.

In both the novel and the film, there's a pattern to Pennywise's murderous cycle. Pennywise, aka It, usually sleeps for 27 years, then awakens for a period of feeding. Whenever It awakens, it kicks off its cycle with one particularly gruesome act. In both book and film, that act during the period when the Losers are children is the murder of Georgie Denbrough, brother of Bill Denbrough, the leader of the Losers Club. In many ways, the death of Georgie is very similar to the source material: during a rainy day, Georgie goes outside to sail a paper boat (made by Bill) through the flooded streets and gutters. The boat vanishes into a sewer grate, where it is "rescued" by Pennywise the Clown.Here, the film begins to veer off slightly from the book. While the sight of a clown hanging out in a sewer is no doubt creepy, in the book, Georgie isn't instantly creeped-out as much as he is surprised. The clown in King's book seems almost friendly at first, as evident from this passage: "The clown held a bunch of balloons, all colors, like gorgeous ripe fruit in one hand. In the other he held George's newspaper boat. 'Want your boat, Georgie?' The clown smiled. Georgie smiled back. He couldn't help it; it was the kind of smile you just had to answer." In the film, however, Pennywise, as played by Bill Skarsgård, is instantly creepy. Skarsgård's approach to the character is much different from both the book and how the same character was portrayed by Tim Curry in the miniseries. Skarsgård plays Pennywise as inherently inhuman, with an utterly bizarre voice that keeps fluctuating in pitch and tone, as if he has no control over how his voice sounds.Pennywise proceeds to murder Georgie, and the scene is brutal and scary, just like the novel. But then comes the biggest disimilarity: Pennywise yanks Georgie into the sewer with him, and Georgie effectively vanishes. This serves as a catalyst for the film's version of Bill, who still holds out hope that Georgie is alive somewhere, since his little brother's body was never found. In the book, however, Georgie's body is found, and Bill is firmly aware that his brother is dead.

It 2017 almost perfectly translates the Losers from page to screen. The roles are all cast perfectly, with Jack Dylan Grazer, as hypochondriac Eddie, and Sophia Lillis, as Bev, the lone girl in the club, as standouts in particular. Best of all, the Losers seem like actual friends in the film, not a bunch of actors playing parts. Their interaction comes across as genuine, and they also ring true to the book. However there are a few differences, some minor, some major.In the book, Mike is the de facto historian of the Losers Club. He uses his father's scrapbook to piece together a history of Derry and Pennywise's seemingly eternal presence in the town. In the 2017 film, however, Ben is the member of the club who does this.In the film, there's a moment where, after having confronted Pennywise and nearly been killed by him at the House on Neibolt Street, Richie (Finn Wolfhard) turns on Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) and demands the Losers stop trying to fight It. Nothing like this happens in the book, but adding it to the film isn't an entirely bad idea. What is a bad idea, however, is how Bill handles the moment. In the film, Bill gets so angry at Richie during this heated exchange that he actually punches Richie in the face. The Bill of the book would never do something like this – he's the leader of the club, and he does everything in his power to keep his friends safe while working had to remain cool-headed.The biggest mistake the film makes with the characterizations of the Losers, however, involves Bev. For pretty much the entire film, Bev as a character is represented perfectly – she's troubled but brave, and Lillis plays both angles exceptionally well. But for some bonehead reason, the 2017 It decides to suddenly turn her into a damsel-in-distress near the film's conclusion. This is a really, really bad move on the script's part, and should've been changed the minute someone brought it up. The Bev of the book is no helpless damsel in need of rescue, and neither is the Bev of the film for that matter – until the script suddenly decides she is, for no good reason.

King's novel turns Pennywise into the Monster of 1000 Faces – a shape-shifting creature that doesn't just appear as a clown, but also takes on the shape of things that can easily scare its child victims. The film explores this as well, although the shapes It takes there are much different from the book.

The book has It appear frequently as movie monsters, including the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Werewolf from I Was a Teenage Werewolf, the Mummy and the Frankenstein Monster. At one point in the novel, It even appears swimming in the canal in the form of the shark from Jaws. The film doesn't use this movie monster approach. "In the book, they're children in the '50s, so the incarnations of the monsters are mainly from movies, so it's Wolf Man, the Mummy, Frankenstein, Dracula," Muschetti said. "I had a different approach. I wanted to bring out deeper fears, based not only on movie monsters but on childhood traumas."Some of the manifestations of It in the 2017 film include a headless boy and a creepy painting come to life, but for the most part it's just good old Pennywise. Although some of the book manifestations do make it into the film, including a grotesque lepper that chases Eddie.

There's a lot of racism in King's book. There are also a lot of racist "jokes" which may have seemed fine when the book was published in 1986 but now come across as embarrassingly tone deaf. The brunt of the racism is aimed at Mike and his family, who are one of the only black families in Derry, and the majority of it comes from the bully Henry Bowers.

The 2017 movie removes this element completely. While Mike is still bullied by Henry Bowers and his gang, racism doesn't play an outward part in the bullying. And the film chooses to explore Mike's outcast nature not through the color of his skin, but rather by making him a homeschool kid.While the racist elements may have been difficult and unpleasant to transfer to film, the TV miniseries didn't shy away from them, and for the 2017 film to ignore them completely seems particularly puzzling, especially in a film that doesn't resist presenting other unpleasant moments.