Mary Poppins is a cheerful childhood icon. Pennywise is the stuff of nightmares. Yet, they actually have a lot more in common than you realize.
Reddit user HumanoidMold5 posted a theory that Mary Poppins and Pennywise are the same species.
When you first think about it, it sounds pretty wild. After all, isn’t Mary Poppins, of Disney’s Mary Poppins fame, a human nanny? And isn’t IT‘s Pennywise just a clown? Well, both characters are a whole lot more than that. HumanoidMold5 thinks that they’re both descended from a magical human-like species. And honestly… it makes sense. Here’s the theory broken down.
They both return to a group of children every 20-something years.
Mary Poppins returns every 25 years and Pennywise returns every 27.
HumanoidMold5 explains that this difference likely has to do with the fact that Mary Poppins feeds off of children’s happiness while Pennywise feeds off of children’s fear. They say:
Mary Poppins manages to maintain energy for 25 years despite interacting with less children than Pennywise requires for 27 years as she relies on children’s joy, unlike Pennywise who relies on their fear, and as proven in Monsters Inc children’s laughter is worth more than their fear.
They both return to the children they visited last time, who have now become adults.
In Mary Poppins Returns, she visits the Banks children as adults. IT Chapter Two has Pennywise revisiting the Losers’ Club as adults.
And in both stories, the grown children have forgotten their magical experiences.
They both lure a child name Georgie using a paper toy.
And then they both appear when they return the toy. For Mary Poppins it’s a paper kite and for Pennywise it’s a paper boat.
They both have the power to peek into children’s minds and use what’s there to build something.
HumanoidMold5 says: “Each has the same set of powers, in which they can take advantage of what lies in the children’s minds (Mary Poppins uses their imagination, Pennywise uses their fear).”
In both stories, the parents are totally oblivious to what’s going on with their kids.
They both love to sing and dance.
HumanoidMold5 explains:
Each has a love for singing and dancing, which should be obvious for Mary Poppins, but becomes clearer for Pennywise when you remember that he refers to himself as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, dances for Beverly in Chapter One, and sings for Richie in Chapter Two.
And finally, balloons are big for both Mary Poppins and Pennywise.
“At the end of Mary Poppins returns, the characters all grab balloons and float into the air, and balloons and floating are both highly associated with Pennywise.”
If you want to dig even more into the theory, you can check it out here.