is reddie canon
Welcome back to should your favourite ships be canon if a coward was not writing them today we will be discussing the hot topic of Reddie. Let’s start by breaking it down.
I’m starting with Richie because he is objectively easier. That is a gay man right there and the script virtually comes out and says it. That arcade scene where he gets called the f slur, the “I know your secret” song directly after, the R+E, the fact he was one of the only losers (besides Ben) who was not in a long term relationship. I would be more interested to see how someone argues him as straight since he is so clearly gay. Now with that in mind, would he ever be out about it enough to be in a relationship with Eddie? That depends more on Eddie.
Boy oh boy is there a lot to unpack with Eddie. We can clearly establish he does not romantically love his wife, he literally married his mother because that’s the female support he’s used to. Im aware most of Eddie’s health stuff is related to his mother but we are looking for potential subtext here so. Now this might be a reach but I want you to bear with me here because I think it’s interesting anyways.
So IT takes place between 1984 and 1985. The first case of AIDS was reported in the US in 1981. As a disease known for the devastating impact it had on gay men, it was something that rightfully scared many people. This is also a time where homophobia is rampant and being gay is dangerous. Now If we want to look at Eddie’s health concerns from a subtextual level, we could draw a conclusion between his fear of getting sick and the disease that is killing so many people being something Eddie is terrified. of. And if we break it down more, being scared of getting AIDS could also easily be compared to being scared of being gay. So he’s constantly taking medication to try and protect himself, make sure he doesn’t get sick. He’s terrified of what would happen if he did and has lots of anxiety surrounding it. This is projected on to him by his mother and makes him extremely cautious of every area of his life. If we draw this comparison Eddie has some DEEPLY internalized homophobia. And when we see him stand up to his mother and realize the drugs are not going to protect him or change who he is, we can see him start to accept himself. Now if I was writing Eddie’s character and I was not a coward, I would establish that there is a clear parallel here because the timeline fits perfectly and works well for his story. If you were not a coward after Eddie stands up to his mother I would also make sure he grew closer with Richie and was more explicitly queer coded after that. He’s realizing that although his fears are understandable and valid they shouldn’t consume him and stop him from enjoying his life. There’s always that threat of getting sick, or facing violence because of your sexuality but you can’t constantly live in fear because of it. As Eddie let’s go of that health anxiety a bit, he should grow closer with Richie as he’s growing less aftraid of the idea he might be gay.
Now if we wanted to be really fun, we throw that all out the window once he leaves Derry. We see him again 27 years later and his anxiety is worse, im full swing and is only being increased by the people around him. Like his mother, his wife makes things worse and draws more attention to the idea and scares him more. And as he comes back to Derry and he starts to remember and he spends more time with Richie we watch him let go of some of that anxiety again. Similar to how Bills stutter leaves and then comes back, it’s the opposite with Eddie. He’s finally back around someone who makes him feel safe enough to drop some of that anxiety. As Eddie accepts himself more, his anxiety drops lower.
Going back to the first movie for a second here, think of the blood pact at the end. Normally something Eddie would absolutley refuse to do right? (I actually had to whip out research for this one folks) so AIDS can be transferred through infected blood. It’s why they tell you to be cautious sharing needles because they don’t know if it has an infected persons blood on it. Now at this point in the story it’s clear to the viewer Richie knows and somewhat accepts hes gay. We see him carve the R+E on the bridge, an admission of his feelings for Eddie. And I’m sure Eddie knows this too.
Now let’s talk about this specific shot because it’s everything to me
Richie and Eddie are holding hands, during a blood pact where your blood will mix together with someone else’s. It’s important to notice the emphasis on the cast here. It’s in the center of the shot and the V stands out in red, taking a negative thing and choosing to make it positive. Eddie knows Damn well what the risks are. But he chooses to hold Richies hand anyways, to risk that “infected blood” becoming part of him. He’s choosing to let go of that anxiety and choose his love for Richie instead. You could also argue the red used to make the V could be symbolic of this scene, using that love between two people to take all the negative shit people say and turn it into something beautiful. The emphasis on lover here as he holds Richies hand is so important. This is Eddie accepting himself, accepting the risks because he values the reward higher than the risk. He’s no longer going to let that fear control him.
Now do I know if any of this was done on purpose? No, of course not it’s Stephen King. But if I was not a coward, it absolutely would have been.
You thought we were done? Not yet folks we still have to examine if this would work. So because we really don’t see Eddie accept himself until the end of the first movie, we really have to guess at what happens next. We don’t see Eddie again until decades later when he’s lost most of his memories so we can’t take that Eddie into account. So we have to further break down their younger selves and keep in mind the time frame they would have had before leaving Derry.
So the kids are 11-12 within that first section. That’s really not even a point where anyone has a successful relationship ever. So you have about 6-7 years before they leave Derry. Now Eddie has just come to terms with his sexuality, it would probably still take him a while to be comfortable dating/being out to his friends. Richie will admit his feelings but he doesn’t necessarily accept them. I give them at least 3-4 more years of growth and self development before I would consider a relationship. But by that point? Yeah I’d say fair game. I think it’s very likely they dated on the down low within high school as soon as they were comfy with themselves and aware of the others sexuality. I think what you would be waiting on is for one of them to come out, before the other one admits their feelings. But given their growth and feelings already shown at 11-12 I think it’s incredibly likely that happened before they left. Obviously then they leave Derry and lose their memories and then Eddie dies so they really don’t have a chance to re explore that as adults.
If we want to make it extra angsty, Richie remembers all of it after Eddie dies. He remembers how they were in high school and he is finally aware of all he lost too late to have it back. He never got to say the things he wouldn’t as a child now that he remembers. Ouch.
In summary!
-Richie is a gay man and it’s clearly intentional and obvious
-I think Eddie’s fear of getting sick is a parallel to fear of getting aids which would represent a fear of being gay. As his health anxiety drops, he accepts himself more
-they likely need a few more years to grow more comfortable with themselves but given their chemistry and history it’s incredibly likely they dated before leaving Derry.
-By the time they regain their memories and confidence, Eddie is dead so they can never explore this as adults
Conclusion? Yes Reddie is canon. They’re both gay men who’s stories can very easily be seen as queercoded. Although they never got the chance to re explore as adults, something totally went on between them after that summer and between leaving Derry.
If you like this it’s in a series under #deathoftheauthorbirthofthemcmac and if you send in asks I’ll happily analyze any ship I’ve watched/read! I’ve got a list I’m working through but I’ll always take more :)