What do QAnon, the Woke, and the Red-pilled all have in common?
They offer the thrill of revelation without the burden of dealing with complexity.
They have different jargon and different priorities, but provide the same relief: Finally the world makes sense...and everything wrong is someone else's fault.
They're all selling the same emotional experience: A moment of awakening. That lightning bolt where everything suddenly makes sense. Whether it’s "the elites are eating babies" or "whiteness is a structural force," the rush is identical. You're not just learning, you're enlightened. The veil has been lifted.
They provide a villain who explains everything. No messy complexity, just a clear bad guy. The outgroup. The sick, immoral Them which is standing in the way of the righteous Us. Globalist elites. The Patriarchy. The Libs.
They provide a tribe that gets it. Once you're in, you're not just agreeing with ideas. You're part of a We, a totalizing in-group. Outsiders (They) are blind, brainwashed, or evil.
Why do so many people fall into this trap? Human brains love shortcuts. Thinking is hard. Wrestling with uncertainty is exhausting.
These ideologies hand you a pre-packaged reality where you don't have to weigh evidence, you just have to follow the script.
It feels good. The high from feeling that you see the truth is addictive. That's why people double down on their narrative even when facts contradict them. Admitting doubt means losing that sweet, sweet certainty fix. The prospect withdrawal is terrifying.
Blame is comforting. If everything wrong in the world is because of them, then you're not just a spectator, you're a warrior. Warriors don’t have to engage in messy, difficult, painful self-reflection. They just fight.
Jargon as a badge
Do your own research
Check your privilege
Take the red pill
The right phrase is the signal or shibboleth that you're in the club.
But no ideology or narrative explains everything.
The world is chaos, power is complicated, nobody is in charge, and most of us are just guessing and fumbling our way forward.
But that's a tough sell. Nobody wants to hear it.
Who wants to swallow the "maybe-I-need-to-keep-thinking-about-it" pill when they can have the "I-can-see-the-Matrix-glitching-and-there-is-no-spoon" fantasy?
We have to learn to hold our beliefs seriously, but lightly enough to keep re-examining them with the receipt of new information.
We have to stay curious.
We have to accept that not knowing is part of being human in a bizarre, complex, baffling world.
(Carrie, Stand By Me / The Body, Children of The Corn)
Carrie
Losers club:
I think they would all be very accepting of Carrie White, but Richie would tease her harmlessly. Beverly would definitely be able to bond with her the most (and I also like them having a few similar themes with womanhood and parental issues) but she would be considered a friend by all of them. Bill would be the first to catch on that she was a “little bit strange” and find out about her powers. I think Carrie would confide in him before she confided in her mother like in the original story.
I’m a bit crossed on what the losers club fate would be when the school caught on fire. They all canonically shine as well as Carrie, so there is a possibility of all their collective shine, as well as help from the turtle, would be able to get them out. Not only that, and there’s also a chance they’d be completely spared because they were kind to Carrie.
But then again, 1. their shine doesn’t include anything like telekinesis like Carrie (types of shine post coming soon maybe), and 2. They don’t have as much shine as she does. Regardless of shine, and on the “sparing” note, Carrie was kind of in a blind rage and was overwhelmed with embarrassment and anger, so there’s a chance she would completely forget about them being there and be more focused on killing all the awful people in the room.
Bowers Gang:
Obviously, they would all get in on the bullying and be mean to her, but I think Patrick would interact with Carrie the most. I think he would be “interested” in her, not like a crush, but in a weird demeaning way. Patrick would see Carrie as being beneath him, as he does with everyone, but he would at least realize she had something going on. He is rather quiet and keeps to himself, and usually seems to only interact with others if Henry does (besides sexually harassing girls on his own accord), for example, him taking and throwing Stans kippah because Stan was one of Henry’s targets (movie), and him mocking and spitting on Eddie because Henry was being mean to him and chasing him (book). Although he usually only interacts with others if Henry does, he would probably interact with her even if Henry didn’t.
I feel like Carrie would be a little excited that quiet boy who never talked to people was going out of his way to talk to her, and think he was a good guy that just hung out with the wrong crowd, but realize he had gross intentions and was rather observing her like a science experiment than trying to be friends with her. She would probably begin to realize that when he starts being his typical misogynistic self.
I know Vic is canonically the “least bad” of the group, as in the book he seems to have at least a little sense of how to treat people (I.e, him warning the losers club that Henry is probably going to hurt then crazy bad in the book), but he’s still a very awful and bigoted person and would definitely act that way toward her.
And yes they are all dying in that fire. Do I even need to say it
Stand By Me / The Body
Losers club:
DEFINITELY mixing friend groups. Bill and Gordie would bond over their mutual enjoyment of creative work and writing (as well as helping eachother grieve with the loss of a sibling), and Richie and Teddy would also get along really well but bicker a lot. Richie and Teddy have a similar sense of insult based humor, and would definitely dog on each other very often. Ben and Teddy would have a few moments where they get along very well, considering how witty Ben can be, but not be all that close.
Vern would probably be equally good friends with everyone in the losers club, considering he is very sweet, but have a difficult time developing a full relationship with any of them as he’s rather shy. He would definitely get picked on by Richie considering he already gets picked on by Teddy. As for Chris, I think he would get along with Beverly pretty well. They’d give eachother cigarettes if the other was low and would relate to one another with their familial issues.
I think if any of the losers were invited to come see the body, either Richie or Bill would be the most likely to come. Richie would because of how well he and Teddy bounce off each other, and Bill because he’s naturally very curious and wants to know things for sure, as well as being one of the bravest.
I feel like if Eddie or Stan were offered to come along, he would immediately refuse and condemn doing something like that. Dead things carry diseases and leak fluids and are disgusting, so definitely not something up Eddies alley. Although the idea would make both of them curious, neither wouldn’t go. Not just because of cleanliness, but because both Eddie and Stan are pretty moral and noble. They would see doing something that as disrespectful to the kid who died, and see it as wrong.
Not only that, but Stan seems the least able to handle scary imagery, like how in a deleted scene from the 2017 movie, Stan runs away from the Neilbolt house without checking on Eddie (or really anything at all) out of fear, and in the miniseries he forces the history book shit and gets visibly incredibly upset in comparison to the other kids (I know this also happens in the book, but I forgot how he handles it).
Bowers gang:
All though they would also be picking on Gordies friend group, they wouldn’t get along with the bullies. I think Henry would strangely look up to Ace Merril and find him to be “peak masculinity”, considering how flawed his view of admirablity is. He’d think the aggressive and uncaring way Ace acts is cool and want to seek validation from him. Ace would find his ass annoying.
Henry would hate Teddy because of his mouth and would probably target him, kind of similar to his hatred for Richie. The main difference is that Richie has a hard time controlling what he says and makes insulting jokes, whereas Teddy would be insulting him for the fuck of it.
I don’t feel like any of them would want to find the body, besides Patrick. It makes sense considering his fascination and obsession with the death of animals/killing things, so the idea of seeing a real person dead would definitely be exciting/interesting.
Children of The Corn
Losers club:
I don’t feel like any of them would truly be able to fall for Isaac’s charm besides Eddie and (maybe) Stan. Eddie is easily overwhelmed sometimes and would probably be intimidated by how aggressive Isaac and Malachi can be. Even though a lot of eddies arc is learning to stand up for himself and who he is, he’s still a little boy dealing with a cult.
The losers are all canonically religious, besides Ben. Pretty much everyone knows that Stan is Jewish, but in the book Bill is a Christian Methodist, Mike is a Christian baptist, Richie is Catholic, and Eddie has Catholic grandparents but was raised Methodist.
Out of all of them, Richie surprisingly seems to be the most devoted to his religion. He goes to church every Sunday and reads the Bible so often and so attentively that he can remember specific things, and also follows the rules of his religion besides being incredibly crude. Consider how devoted he is to Catholicism, it would be difficult to recuit him.
In the 2017 movie, Stan has a lot of religious guilt, specifically because his father is a rabbi and he feels as if he is not “enough” and is bringing shame to his father. Surprisingly, in the book him and his family follow Judaism pretty loosely. They don’t keep even kosher and there are no mentions of his family going to synagogue or wearing and sort of religious garments (on the other hand, he wears a kippah in the movie). A lot of his religious guilt in the book is more so based off of how he was discriminated against for being Jewish even though he wasn’t sure what that meant to him. (I saw another post that made a point worded similarly that I cannot find but if that was you, you get it and I love you.)
I think it would be relatively easy for Isaac to get Stan on board with the corn stuff considering how Stan was having a hard time with who he was as a person and his religious identity, making him very easy to manipulate, take advantage of, and recruit into a cult.
I feel very strongly that out of all of the losers, Ben would definitely not get recruited. He is the only one who grew up in an anti organized religion household, as his mother Arlene refers to Christian’s as “christers” and probably makes other remarks in front of him. He obviously is rather attached to his mother, as she’s the only parental figure he has, so there’s a very high chance that believes in that as well. Even though being both against organized religion and being religious is possible (for example, Stephen King himself is), he’s the only one who does not have any mentioned beliefs or practices, meaning he’s an atheist. He would recognize how bad the children of the corn is and probably realize it was a cult first, possibly even helping Eddie and Stan out of it.
When it comes to Burt and Vickey, Bill would definitely find a lot of comfort in their presence. Even though all of the losers have parental issues (besides Mike who has a pretty good relationship with both his parents + Richie kind of), there’s a kind of coldness between Bill and his parents. After Georgie died, his parents became very emotionally unavailable and borderline ignore him. Beverly would definitely gravitate toward Burt more, as there’s a lot more hostility between her and her dad than between her and her mom. Ben and Eddie would also love Burt because they don’t have dads, and Stan would like them as people even though he has parental issues because he’s not really used to having an involved familial relationship with adults.
Also Richie would hate how anti music and games Malachi is because of how important rock and roll is to him.
Bowers gang:
Henry would definitely be susceptible to being taken advantage of and recruited. He’s a very mentally ill young boy and a lot of his issues stem from not being in control, so there’s a very high chance of him falling into a cycle of familiarity and joining a cult to serve Isaac, who’s similar to Butch in the sense that they both are very hostile, see others as below them, and get their way via intimidation.
I’m pretty torn on how Patrick would be. Not only does he have solipsism syndrome, but also implied that he’s also raised Catholic, as it’s stated his mother was catholic in the book. I feel like this delusion of him being the only real thing in the universe would be affected by his religious upbringing, making him think he was some sort of god. Since this is indeed a strong delusion, nothing Isaac or Malachi could do would make him believe in he who walks behind the rows. I feel like he would “join” just to experience what it’s like, as I feel like he has a very morbid curiosity (like how I mentioned above with Carrie and how he wants to learn about her in a strange demeaning way, like a bug under a microscope). If given the chance, he would try to go up the metaphorical ladder within the cult and try and make it more about worshipping him.
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I’m trying to get into making more in-depth posts, kind of like that one henpat post I made, as I genuinely really love IT and have a lot of thoughts on it. Please tell me what you think of all my headcanon and tell me if you want me to do any more crossovers + what crossovers you’d like me to do next. Also if you’ve gotten this far down thanks for reading all of this
Bringing back the idea that solar eclipses are the mutilated corpse of god reforming just enough to share a minuscule shard of divinity before it collapses once again
