Fans of Stephen King’s work know that he loves to connect the dots between his various novels. So it’s only natural to think some of those connections could exist in the movie universe as well.The Dark Towertried to do that this year, but that movie didn’t really live up to expectations, so whatever attempt was made sort of fell flat. However,ITis a massive success and now, fans are looking for ways to connect the movie to other King works. A new fan theory manages to connectITtoThe Shiningand, quite frankly, it’s pretty amazing.
The theory comes to us from The Film Theorists and, basically, it centers on those who have the ability to Shine, likeDanny TorrenceinThe Shining. Essentially, the theory presents quite a bit of evidence that suggests themembers of The Losers Clubhave this ability, which explains why Pennywise isn’t able to kill them as easily as his other victims. It also helps explain why a group of kids are able to defeat the evil clown when nobody else could.
“The Losers Club isn’t just a group of ordinary kids. All of these kids Shine.”
This may sound a bit crazy, but the evidence presented in the video is a little tough to argue with in some ways. And, as the video points out, “Stephen Kingputs Marvel and Pixar to shame with how interconnected his universe is.” One of the key links is Dick Hallorann, the chef fromThe Shining. He’s referenced in Stephen King’sITnovel. As fans ofThe Shiningwill note, Dick is the one that teaches Danny about his ability to Shine. So, if we connect those dots, that ability is available to certain people in the universe thatITtakes place in. There’s also evidence cited that explains, at least in the book, every member of The Losers Club has a telepathic link. The way that link is used inITbares a lot of similarities to the way the ability is portrayed inThe Shining.
One of the other major elements of this theory explains why The Losers Club would have the ability to Shine. Those who haveShineare typically victims of abuse. Danny Torrence was abused by his father and Dick Hallorann was a victim of abuse as well. Looking at The Losers Club, they all suffer from abuse of some kind. For example, Beverly is the victim of sexual abuse from her very creepy father. This would explain why they have the same ability as Danny inThe Shining.
The video also further posits thatPennywise from ITcould actually be the evil in The Overlook Hotel fromThe Shingas well, further connecting the two works. SinceITis basically just a manifestation of evil energy that can take any shape, what’s to say the same evil energy isn’t what haunts The Overlook Hotel? That would explain what Pennywise does with some of his 27 year periods between torturing the residents of Derry, Maine. The theory uses Henry Bowers seeing a ghost after he’s gone crazy and compares that to Jack Torrence going crazy after seeing ghosts in order to connect the dots.
This is a lot to process, but it’s surprisingly plausible. SinceIT: Chapter Twois already in the works, we may get more possible evidence to support this theory once that movie comes out. Even if not, it’s still a pretty fun theory to consider. Be sure to check out the full video detailing the connection betweenITandThe Shining, courtesy ofThe Film Theorists YouTubechannel, for yourself below.
