People Would Notice

Welcome to The Podcast That Floats Down Here’s Daily Derry! The Daily Derry focuses on topics discussed in the most recent episode of the show, which this week was 016 – IT Derry – The Second Interlude.

I want to start by admitting that I haven’t read this book (I’m sorry!). I saw the 1990 mini-series when I was a pre-teen. When the 2017 movie came out, it looked a lot scarier than the mini-series and I really dislike being scared, so I didn’t see it. However, for some reason, I’ve always been interested in this story, and I ended up reading a lot about the new movie. Long story short, I’m pretty familiar with the book even though I’ve never read it, and today I want to talk about something Ben, Luke. and Melissa discuss in this episode: social amnesia.
There’s no denying that weird stuff has been happening in Derry, Maine for a very long time. In this episode of the show, the hosts discuss the idea that the entire town is collectively forgetting the previous events.

Ben explains, “In real life, people do that. You find excuses to ignore what’s going on.”

“This is such an extreme, though, and it’s so consistent. People would notice [the weird occurances],” Luke counters.

Is Luke right? Would people notice? Let’s start by thinking about what social amnesia is. The concept is attributed to Russell Jacoby, and I’m such a scholar that I went into his work and found a quote!

In brief, society has lost its memory, and with it, its mind. The inability to think back takes its toll [on] the inability to think.

We’ve definitely seen this idea in It so far. The people of Derry tend to think of any reason to explain away and then forget about the weird occurances. Two children are missing, and the law enforcement claim one of them has run away to her abusive father who she hasn’t seen in three years, and the other has simply run away. And then they move on. Strange happenings are forgotten, and as Jacoby would say when the people of Derry are unable to remember, they are unable to think.

“Something is wrong here,” Luke says in this episode about Derry. Is it perhaps because something is so wrong here that people have to forget? The town has decided to forget about the weird things that happen there and move on, but because they’ve forgotten, nothing will ever be fixed.

But there is one person who might be trying to remember. Mike is the only member of the Losers to stay in Derry, working as a librarian. Libraries exist to preserve memory. Mike’s life and career in Derry are an attempt to counter the social amnesia of the town. He knows that if and when It comes back, he will need to be ready.

We see this idea of social amnesia a lot in movies and television. I’ve been rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Sunnydale is such an insane place for anyone to live. Kids and teenagers die all the time, and there are always monsters and vampires roaming around town. But the people of Sunnydale still live there. They even try to explain the appearance of and destruction by the monsters, blaming drugs or accidents.

But we do get a glimpse that the town is in on it. In season two, episode three, the principal and the police chief reference their usual cover-up, hinting to the audience that they actually are aware of the weird circumstances and are choosing to ignore and forget them.

Could the people of Derry be doing the same thing? Maybe people do notice, but choosing to ignore and forget the horrors of their town lets them continue their lives without facing the facts. And don’t we all do that sometimes?