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AIBU?

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Original poster

To wonder why the orgy scene appears in neither version of 'it'?

87 replies

callmehannahbaker · 05/10/2017 16:32

Just that really. When I read the book it's an integral part. I know it would have to be shot in a very sensitive/abstract way but to avoid it completely seems odd.
I've read why the directors say but it doesn't sit right.

OP posts:
PoorYorick · 05/10/2017 17:27

Because Stephen King can't write female characters for shit. They are always defined by their relationship to men.

I haven't read much SK, but this does seem to be true of what I know.

eyebrowsonfleek · 05/10/2017 17:27

I think that the makers of It clearly analysed why Stranger Things was so popular and decided to avoid cheap tricks used by some movies like adding unnecessary sex. (The abusive Dad storyline is about fear and explaining Bev’s background and not sex)

TenForward82 · 05/10/2017 17:28

I adore King, but a lot of IT felt like page filler. Like the whole backstory on Stan's wife ... bit of a hard slog.

Fudgefase · 05/10/2017 17:29

It's not an integral scene. SK should never have included it. There were any number of ways the kids could have bonded. I can't imagine wanting to see a bunch of 12 year old shagging, even 'sensitively' shot.

jaseyraex · 05/10/2017 17:30

Mummyoflittledragon

Um, have you seen the Clockwork Orange movie? The break in scene, infamous singing in the rain scene, they rape the man's wife and force him to watch. That's definitely a whiff of rape.

Jackiebrambles · 05/10/2017 17:30

I love the book IT, and Stephen King, but I agree it's an un-important scene. And I'm very glad it didn't make it into the film(s).

I think when i first read it (I would have been around 15 myself) I found it a bit shocking but it didn't colour the book for me. It was about love - they all loved each other. Perhaps I'm naive, I don't know, but that's how I felt.

But times have changed and attitudes have changed, quite rightly. If he wrote the book now I'm sure he wouldn't have written that scene.

Fudgefase · 05/10/2017 17:30

As someone who was once 12, I wholeheartedly go with the 'blood brothers' scene. That would def have happened. The orgy - absolutely not.

PickleRickSanchez · 05/10/2017 17:31

And not a whiff of rape

There's a violent rape scene.
He's actually changing the words to "Singing in the rape" during the act, I believe.

ReanimatedSGB · 05/10/2017 17:31

I don't like the scene but my point is that SK didn't put it in just to add a bit of wank fantasy for creepy old men - or just to get people talking about how shocking it was.

(I write fiction myself, and sometimes you get an idea that seems a) to be a huge plot point and b) to be quite... out there and 'taboo' - and a lot of advice to writers makes a big deal out of: write the stuff that you feel is 'going too far' because that is what makes your work AUTHENTIC...)

Mummyoflittledragon · 05/10/2017 17:33

It was a while ago. Like 25 years. I was referring to rape in the scene with the young women, who were supposed to be children. I remember that bit being some kind of farce threesome. Not the whole film.

florentinasummertime · 05/10/2017 17:35

But then what was the point of endless references to Bev's sexuality SGB?

Genuine question Smile

M4Dad · 05/10/2017 17:35

For the record, I don't think it was an "orgy"

PoorYorick · 05/10/2017 17:36

Also, the book is far too long anyway. It felt like he was being paid by the word.

Slimthistime · 05/10/2017 17:41

I thought it wasn't needed in the book

however, I did find the book far too long so might have missed any references that make it essential?

Morestrawberriesplease · 05/10/2017 17:48

Hands up who wants to see 14 and 15 year old actors in an underage orgy scene? No-one...
Because it shows SK is incapable of writing a good female character?The women are always defined by the men/boys around them if at all. Because it's a weird creepy scene where one girl has sex with all the boys, even creepier written by an adult man? Oh and they're all about 14, good luck filming that one and making it not look as inappropriate as it sounds.And why would you put actors that age through filming something that uncomfortable, it could define their careers forever, THATs how much attention it would get. Loved the book but skipped that scene entirely. Stephen King has said since that he regrets writing it... There's lots that they had to cut from that massive book to get it short enough to film.

ZeppelinBend · 05/10/2017 17:48

I read an interview where he said it was symbolic of the transition of the bridge from childhood into adulthood,as was the glass corridor from the child and adult sections of the library.

Glad they left it out of the movies though.

ZeppelinBend · 05/10/2017 17:49

Excuse crap grammar,obviously not a writer here Grin

M4Dad · 05/10/2017 17:50

Almost all of SK's books are too long.

My favourite of his was "The Long Walk"

Does anyone remember a short story he wrote where Aliens have invaded earth and only people who smoke can see them? Wish I could remember what it was called.

noradurst · 05/10/2017 17:50

I think when i first read it (I would have been around 15 myself) I found it a bit shocking but it didn't colour the book for me. It was about love - they all loved each other. Perhaps I'm naive, I don't know, but that's how I felt.

Agree with this. Some scenes only work for me in the written word. You could call the It orgy gratuitous or unnecessary, and I found the "use" of Bev misogynistic, but I do think Stephen King is very good at writing children, and there didn't feel anything much inappropriate about the sex scene, aside from the fact that it was a sex scene.

However, seeing it on film is just...ick. It's not fair to expect any of the children to do it, at all, and I don't think there's a way it could have been filmed which would have been anything other than exploitative. They shouldn't endorse seeing the actress who played Bev as a sexual object, either.

Also thought it was actually grosser that Patrick offering Henry a blow job was the yucky representation of how horrible Patrick is, yet all the Losers Club having sex with Bev is...pure? Good? Yuck, anyway.

M4Dad · 05/10/2017 17:51

"The Ten O'Clock People"

ZeppelinBend · 05/10/2017 17:51

What that in nightmares and dreamscapes dad? Rings a bell

M4Dad · 05/10/2017 17:53

That's the book, Zepp!

category12 · 05/10/2017 17:53

Stephen King is prolific, I mean, prolific - I think he writes about 2K words a day - and like some writers do when they get astonishingly successful, he got away from his editors many times. His books become bricks given the chance. Good editors are key and I think IT should have lost all that 'vital' stuff. Of course King thinks it was necessary and true to character, but that's one of the hard part of writing, facing up to losing the bits you love that actually aren't good. He isn't good with female characters and that bit was just ...

MadMags · 05/10/2017 18:12

It's very jarring. His explanations could easily sound like excuses...

Pawpainting · 05/10/2017 18:24

I think a large part of the reason he thought that scene was a good idea was because he was out if his mind on cocaine at the time.

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