Welcome to Derry Could Have Unraveled a Longstanding It Enigma
The clown's influence on the children of Welcome to Derry shapes them long into adulthood, transforming them into the exact individuals who perpetuate the community's cycle of hatred alive. The creature finds easy targets on kids from fractured households — youngsters who frequently mature to replicate the identical behaviors as their parents. But, the Hanlon household stands apart as a rare example of a households that never splinters, which may explain why Mike, even after choosing to stay in Derry, persists as the sole member who never fully falls under Pennywise's sway.
The Hanlon Family's Unique Resilience
In episode 4 of Welcome to Derry, Leroy Hanlon at last grows increasingly conscious of the paranormal entities surrounding the neighborhood, particularly when the entity starts haunting his child, Will, during their fishing trip. The Hanlon clan comprises a small number of grown-ups who are aware that something is amiss with the municipality, especially the father, who was revealed to be receptive to psychic abilities when he was able to detect a fellow psychic's employment of it in the third episode. Later, he spots one of the clown's trademark inflated orbs outside his residence. The ability, coupled with his failure to experience terror, combined with the base of his family, may be why he's able to see the entity's manifestations. However, consider if that shining is hereditary, and a key factor Mike Hanlon is among the few individuals in the town who didn't lose themselves to the town's malevolence?
Will is part of the group of children at his school being terrorized by the clown. His classmates come from dysfunctional families, with caregivers who refuse to accept they're being haunted. The reason he is being haunted is because of the viciousness of the community, combined with his likely receptiveness to shine, which makes him susceptible. The Hanlons are ultimately strangers in the town during the early sixties, which lends itself towards the family feeling something is off about the locality from the beginning. Additionally, they possess a solid base that remains unbroken, in contrast to the residents who come from the area, with relationships that have decayed internally.
Backstory Connections
Drawing from the original book, we understand the juvenile Will Hanlon will find himself at the Black Spot, where Hallorann will save him from a blaze that the local KKK members of the community will ignite. In the 2017 film, we observe that he has a boy named Mike and that Will eventually perishes in a configration, with Leroy surviving his own son and taking his grandson in. The public account in the motion picture is that the parents were on drugs, but given our current view of Will in Welcome to Derry, that's hard to believe. Maybe the timid youth, once he became an adult, leaned into alcohol to free himself of the hauntings, or maybe the rotten town affected him initially, with the hate group eventually completing the task it started years ago. Be it via the terror of the entity or through the malice of the community, instigated by It, the creature in the end gets the final victory on Will.
The Father's Evolution
These occurrences would explain how Leroy transforms so radically from what we see in the first film and Welcome to Derry. In his older age, he appears resentful and much harsher with his parenting. Because he survived his own offspring, it's understandable to observe such a profound shift. Nonetheless, his statements hold greater significance now that we know he's witnessed the clown's activities and the effects they had on his child. In the initial sequence of the movie, we observe Mike pause to use a stunning device on a animal at Leroy's farm. Leroy reprimands him for delaying and offers an metaphor that results in a survival-of-the-fittest situation.
“There are two places you can be in this existence. You can be out here like us, or you can be trapped inside,” Leroy says as he points to the sheep. “You dawdle hemming and hawing, and another is going to decide for you. Except you won't know it until you feel that bolt in your head.”
Looking back, this could represent a piece of foreshadowing, a lesson he wishes he had told his own child. Perhaps he wishes he had acted differently in his youth, but for some reason, he couldn't resist the sickening allure of Derry.
