SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't seen It: Chapter Two, and you don't wanna be spoiled, then you might wanna skip this post.
Recently, my fiance and I watched the It sequel. I like horror movies and shows, especially if they have a well-developed story.* So, I thought I'd give It: Chapter Two a chance because I liked the first one well enough. I also have a soft spot for Steven King things because I grew up watching Steven King mini-series and movies with my dad.
After I finished the watching the sequel, there was one scene I kept thinking about, one with Mrs. Kersch (Joan Gregson) and Beverly (Jessica Chastain). Mrs. Kersch is actually Pennywise's daughter, and I wanted to know more about her and her father's history together. I will admit that I'm the type that always wants to know more about side characters and antagonists. I often find them more interesting than the protagonist(s), especially if the protagonist(s) are overly wholesome and one-note. I appreciate shows, movies, and novels that blur the lines between protagonists/antagonists, good/evil and that kind of thing because characters that are 100% good or evil with predictable motives are BORING. And, I know I'll sound like I'm bragging, but I'm pretty good at predicting exactly what will happen in a story, so I want to be surprised (but not surprised in a way that makes no logical sense).
However, with Mrs. Kersch, we don't really find out much about her at all, and same with Pennywise's history (in regards to when he was a performing clown). Mrs. Kersch is used as a common trope I've seen in horror shows and movies before where the aging female body is used to freak out the audience. As Beverly stares at a picture of Pennywise and his daughter, behind her we see a naked Mrs. Kersch awkwardly shuffling from one side of the kitchen entryway to the other. Eventually, Mrs. Kersch rushes out of the kitchen as a deformed, overly-tall, monstrous version of herself, and she attacks Beverly.
The motto of non-confrontational people everywhere.
It's no mistake, I believe, that this fight scene features two women, one elderly and the other young and beautiful. They are both "daddy's little girl," each with their own trauma related to their fathers. But, we don't learn much of anything of Mrs. Kersch's relationship with her father, so instead of this being a scene that could have had a deeper impact, it turns into one of fear and disgust of the aging female body. Mrs. Kersch's transformed body isn't just naked, but her face is twisted into a visage of demonic glee and her sagging breasts and skin sway as she attacks Beverly. If you don't understand why this matters, let me ask you this--why did she have to be naked? Pennywise is pretty much always completely dressed in his clown outfit, and he's pretty freaky.
Me, when I drink too much coffee, and I'm somehow both exhausted and jazzed up.
The reason is because it is easy to play upon society's revulsion and fear at the aging woman. It: Chapter Two exploits this through the fight between Mrs. Kersch and Beverly, the other younger, prettier, desired "daddy's girl." Women are expected to always look young, hide our wrinkles, and wear the right push-up bra to disguise sagging breasts. And while Beverly is younger than Mrs. Kersch, Beverely/Chastain are right at the cusp where Hollywood and society decides you are either old and frightening or young and sexy, and whether your body will be used to invoke desire or disgust.
It would be one thing if It: Chapter Two was trying to make a biting critique of the pressures women feel to hide their age, but that's not what the scene or the movie is about. Instead, the film uses Mrs. Kersch/Joan Gregson in a way that feels lazy and pointless, especially when the bodies of other frightening characters in the movie aren't used in this way. I get bored and irritated when filmmakers resort to this, like in the movie The Visit. (Spoilers for The Visit if you are worried about that, lol).
Sometimes, you just have an itch you can't quite scratch.
The Visit also capitalizes on the fear of aging through the characters of Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie) and Nana (Deanna Dunagan), but one scene in particular shows the huge difference between how that is portrayed through an aging male body versus a woman's. In the scene I'm referring to, Pop Pop is wearing a nice outfit with a suit jacket as he threatens to smear Tyler's face with a dirty diaper in the kitchen. Meanwhile, Tyler's sister, Becca is wrestling on a bed with Nana, who is wearing a thin, sleeveless, white nightgown. Before Nana and Mrs. Kersch become serious threats to the younger female leads, they both are dressed conservatively in sweaters and other stereotypical things that Hollywood thinks elderly women always wear. And then when it becomes clear that these characters are devious, they shed their clothes. In The Visit, there is a scene earlier in the movie where Becca and Tyler hear a noise, and when they go to investigate, they see Nana completely naked, scratching a wall. After Tyler sees this, he says he's "gone blind." Of course it makes sense that a grandson would not want to see his grandma naked, but it's like he's supposed to be speaking for the audience as well. Hollywood and society want elderly women to either be practically invisible and forgotten in their moth-eaten baggy sweaters, or completely buck-ass naked and Naruto-running in a dark house.
That's also an accurate description of me heading to the fridge for a snack in the middle of the night.
So, horror directors and producers: do better. If the scariest image you can conjure up is a naked older woman, then you need to consider the role your privilege has played in bringing you success through misogynist, ageist scenes. Please stop letting me down.
What other horror shows and movies have you seen where women's bodies are used in this way? How would you rewrite these scenes to make them scary but not exploitative? What horror shows and movies do you love and why? I'd love to hear your ideas!
*One of my more recent favorites is Haunting of Hill House. If you haven't seen it on Netflix, I highly recommend it! Haunting of Hill House has a fascinating story and intriguing characters, and I love the twists and turns the show takes.
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