George Elmer "Georgie" Denbrough was born September 18, 1951 to Zach and Sharon Denbrough, and is the younger brother of Bill Denbrough. Georgie has a very positive relationship with his brother, considering him to be his best friend.
Encounter with Pennywise
On one October night in 1957,, Georgie makes a paper boat with his brother on a rainy day. Bill is too sick to accompany Georgie outside, so he helps him make the boat and sends him on his way. The boat ends up falling down a storm drain, much to Georgie's dismay. Georgie then encounters Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the storm drain, who offers him a balloon, and tells him about how "we all float down here" The Clown offers Georgie his boat back, but when Georgie attempts to reach out to it, Pennywise grabs Georgie's arm and bites it off, leaving Georgie to bleed to death in the rain as Pennywise chants "You'll float too".
Being used by Pennywise
Not long after his death, Georgie's ghost would be utilised by Pennywise to taunt Bill. Constantly using Georgie as a way of getting to Bill emotionally. This is best exemplified in the 2017 film adaptation. Georgie appears to Bill several times throughout the movie and the sequel.
Georgie was portrayed by Tony Dakota in the 1990 miniseries adaptation. This iteration remains faithful to the source material, however, Georgie is killed by Pennywise off-screen, due to being a television miniseries, graphic scenes such as the death of young Georgie wouldn't have been allowed to have been shown on television.
Film series
Georgie was portrayed by Jackson Robert Scott in the 2017 re-adaptation of King's novel as well as its 2019 sequel. This adaptation of the character features the onscreen demise of Georgie, as well as showing more of Pennywise using Georgie to affect Bill psychologically. Behind the scenes of the film, the young actor stated that he was not afraid of Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise, and in fact formed a bond with the actor. Scott's performance as Georgie was acclaimed by fans and critics.
Death and controversy
The violent nature of Georgie's death in It received a polarising response from some critics. While most felt that the graphic nature of Georgie's death was necessary to show the danger of Pennywise, some viewers felt that Pennywise ripping a poor innocent child's arm off and watching Georgie desperately attempt to crawl away was seen by some as being "downright disturbing" and "too graphic".
Short film
Georgie is the main character of a 2019 short film titled Georgie directed by Ryan Grulich with Tony Dakota reprising his role. This short film shows an undead adult Georgie resurrected via drawing. This is the only adaptation to show Georgie as an adult.
Analysis
Throughout the novel and films, Pennywise uses the "ghost of Georgie" to play on Bill's survivor's guilt. This is further explored in It Chapter Two, where Bill blames himself for Georgie's death, exemplified in a scene in which the adult Bill returns to the storm drain where Georgie was murdered. The scene progresses into a flashback where Pennywise's disembodied voice taunts Bill for not being present with Georgie when he died. The adult Bill struggles with posttraumatic stress disorder due to Georgie's death, and attempts to prevent Pennywise from killing another young boy, to no avail. Georgie has also been seen as an interpretation of the way children are lured by predators, notably seen in Georgie's encounter with Pennywise at the storm drain.
The character of Georgie has become an iconic figure in the horror genre. The character's distinctive yellow raincoat with the paper boat the "S.S. Georgie" have become staples of the horror franchise. Georgie's icon status is unique considering the character is not a horror film villain such as Pennywise, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers. The character has also been referenced many times in different forms of media. The character is mentioned numerous times by metalcore band Ice Nine Kills in their song "IT Is The End", which is based on the 2017 film adaptation of the novel. The song is from the albumThe Silver Scream, in which each song on the album is based on a different horror film. The scene where Georgie meets Pennywise in the 1990 miniseries has become an internet meme depicting Pennywise attempting to coerce Georgie to come down to the sewers with different things. Georgie was also referenced in King's novel 11/22/63.
