![]() It makes sense why they cut it, but man, it would've been nice to see one of the most memorable moments from the book shown on the big screen. The slow build-up of the bird scene in the book, (not to mention the necessary context of Mike having just seen "Rodan") likely would've taken up a lot of screentime in a movie that was already pretty long for a horror film. Overall, 2017's "IT" is a pretty fun movie that did an admirable job condensing its massive source material into a comprehensible 135-minute story. Mike's first encounter in the movie is so quick, and Mike is never forced to react to what's happening in the same way he did in the book, so the moment where he fights back (both a character-defining moment and great foreshadowing) never occurs. In fact, the combination of his knowledge and wisdom and his race make him align to the problematic trope of the Magical N**** in a way that's more than a little icky.The scene also serves as one of the first hints of what the kids would really need to do to scare It off: not give in to the fear It's trying to provoke. After all, it's not the bird getting its eye ruptured that makes it go away, but Mike's decision to fight back instead of trying to run. But still.Mike's character revolves around being black in a pretty reductive, token-esque way. Side note: It was written a while ago, its true. Mike becomes a watchman, keeping tabs on nefarious happenings and biding his time until it's time to phone the Losers and tell them to get their butts back to RacistMcHauntedsville-er, Derry. Part of this has to do with duty: it becomes clear that someone needs to stick around Derry in order to keep an eye on It. The rest of the Losers end up having lucrative and glamorous careers, but Mike is happy to putter about and dig up local history. Hometown Heroĭespite having a rough childhood, not least because bully Henry Bowers keeps tormenting him in increasingly sadistic ways, Mike stays around Derry. So we read Mike's encounter with Big Bird Gone Wrong as highlighting a few things at once: the fact of his blackness, the abuse he encounters as a result of it, and his fascination with local history. Mike's father survived, and recalls seeing a giant bird floating above the burning shack-the same bird, in fact, that Mike sees years later. It was the toast of the town…until a group of white supremacist terrorists burned it down, killing eighty people in the process. ![]() However, Mike's dad and his buddies made lemonade out of bigoted lemons and started a jazz club. The black soldiers weren't allowed to drink with white townsmen or fellow soldiers they had to do their partying in an old shack on the corner of the compound grounds. Mike's father was stationed in Derry back when he was a soldier…and back when vitriolic racism was the name of the game in Derry. Unknown quotes about insomnia Some of the nicest people I know have insomnia Anonymous My day starts backwards I wake up tired and go to bed wide awake. insomnia quote My eyelids are heavy, but my thoughts are heavier. This attack led to a very reasonable bird-phobia.īut the reason that we think resonates the most has to do with Mike's father. That moment when you wish you could just sleep. The second, given by It itself, is that Mike was attacked by a bird when he was an infant. One is that Mike has just seen the Japanese movie Rodan, about a bird-monster (or, more accurately, bird- kaiju) that terrorizes a small mining community on the island of Kyushu. We're given a few reasons for this throughout the book. Mike first sees It as a massive, sharp-beaked bird. And this knowledge helps the gang realize the true nature of It…and how to stop It. By showing the other Losers his father's scrapbook of historical local clippings, he proves that Pennywise is as much a part of Derry as harsh winters and mosquito-filled summers. He uses this history, and the resources he has access to, to shed light on what exactly It is. Mike Hanlon is a straight-A student, a kid who plays the trombone in marching band, and someone who inherited from his father a fascination with local history. Mike Hanlon is characterized most prominently by two things: the fact that he ultimately knows more about the dark history of Derry than anyone else, and the fact that he is literally the only black kid in the entire town of Derry.Īnd those two aspects of his character end up intersecting.
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