*SPOILERS AHEAD*
I recently saw the new hit horror film “It.” For me, the scariest part did not involve a clown. Beverly Marsh (portrayed by Sophia Lillis), the lone female member of the “Losers Club,” was the character that was incredibly intriguing. She’s a young girl on the brink of womanhood who is relentlessly bullied and slut-shamed by her classmates, as a result of false rumors. Her home life, which was plagued by a sexually abusive father who chilled me to bone every time he came on screen, way more than Pennywise the clown ever did.
Becoming a woman is hard enough when you have countless peers making you the butt of every dirty joke, nonetheless having a predatory father. Within every interaction Beverly has with her father in the film, women’s fears of sexual abuse are brought to the forefront. Her powerlessness and vulnerability is displayed when she chops her hair off. This part of the film is especially sad because she is blaming herself for being abused. A pit that too many women, young and old, seem to fall into. They are told too many times by their abuser that the cause of the pain their enduring is their fault; that their sexuality, allure, and physicality is the reason for the abuse that is forced upon them. It hones on the issue that victim blaming isn’t just communication from bystander to victim, but victim to victim as well.
Once Beverly enters The Losers Club, she quickly becomes the heart and soul of the group of misfits. When the group seems to be falling apart, she is the one who tries to band them together, pointing out how the clown is trying to divide them. Her strength and bravery comes from the demons she’s had to live with inside her own home. She wants to be a part of something; she wants to have friends. Any excuse for her to get as far away from her home, she will take.
One of the downsides of her portrayal is the use of her sexuality to provide for the male gaze. One scene, for example, as she is sun-bathing in a bikini, all of the boys are gawking at her. It’s confusing that this scene would have been included in her narrative. Her use as a sex symbol is a disappointing factor to her character, and detracts from her character as a feminist figure. She was also a victim of the “damsel in distress” trope. This was evident in the last scene when Ben saves Beverly out of a catatonic state with a “true love kiss,” Sleeping Beauty style.
Despite the old played out female tropes that play into Beverly’s character, there is no doubt that Bev is totally badass. When her father starts questioning her about hanging out with the Losers and asking if she’s still “his girl” she realizes, right then and there, that she will not go down without a fight. She responds to him with an anger infused “No!” and continues to fight and resist her father’s predatory traits that she’s had to endure for far too long, ending up killing him in the bathroom with a metal dinner plate.
Out of all of the losers’ fears that play as a motif throughout the film, there is no doubt that Beverly has it the worst, which makes her character so much more inspiring than the rest. She is facing demons outside and inside her home. Nevertheless, she faces both demons and takes them down. Beverly’s resilience is a theme that captured me and hopefully many other women who relate to her fears of abuse and growing into a woman. You see her in her darkest and lightest moments. She is flawed yet strong. She is broken, but determined. Which, as a woman, is always refreshing to see in a film industry that is typically patriarchal industry.