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In the movie It (2017), the character Beverly was attacked at her house bathroom by Pennywise. During this, the entire bathroom was covered in blood splashing out from the washbasin.

Later, when her father comes to this scene, it seems that he can't see the blood in the bathroom which is practically everywhere. Later Beverly brings her friends and they all see the blood.

Why did the father not see the blood?

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    Isn't this the whole point in It? That the adults can't see what the kids can? I'm pretty sure that's a main plot point there?
    – Walt
    Sep 10, 2017 at 9:29
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    @Walt Sounds like you're onto a good answer there.
    – Napoleon Wilson
    Sep 10, 2017 at 10:39
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    Not sure why the downvotes - it's a valid question, and if you hadn't read the book or seen the mini-series, adults ignoring the plights of the children isn't very clearly mentioned in the 2017 film.
    – komodosp
    Sep 13, 2017 at 23:54
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    it is definitely not clear in the 2017 version, maybe it there in novel and 1990 miniseries.. for a person who has seen only this movie this is not a bad question.. i don't know why down votes...
    – srk_cb
    Sep 21, 2017 at 8:42

2 Answers 2

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Preamble

@KDeogharkar kind of summed up the whole underlying premise of It, but maybe I can elaborate a little further.

Essentially, It lives off of the fears of other's; children believe in monsters, and that they "exist" under the veil of darkness. This quote from the novel confirms this:

What does It really eat, for instance?[...] Certainly we have all been taught since earliest childhood that what the monster does when it catches you in the deep wood is eat you. That is perhaps the worst thing we can conceive. But it’s really faith that monsters live on, isn’t it? I am led irresistibly to this conclusion: food may be life, but the source of power is faith, not food. And who is more capable of a total act of faith than a child? It, Derry: The Fourth Interlude

As such, naturally, It's main source of food is the contemporary fears of children; It can simply implement the same formula each time to lure It's adolescent victims; take the shape of what the child fears most and when they're least prepared, and bon appetit! However, when it comes to adults, the formula isn't so simple; their thoughts and fears are more complex and It despises this gross rationality. However, this doesn't mean that It won't occasionally feed on adults, and, more often than not, It will manipulate them in order to provide him his younger victims. This quote summarises this nicely:

It had always fed well on children. Many adults could be used without knowing they had been used, and It had even fed on a few of the older ones over the years—adults had their own terrors, and their glands could be tapped, opened so that all the chemicals of fear flooded the body and salted the meat. But their fears were mostly too complex. The fears of children were simpler and usually more powerful. The fears of children could often be summoned up in a single face . . . and if bait were needed, why, what child did not love a clown? It, Under the City, 3

It manipulating the Derry adult populus was sort of touched on in the later scenes of the 2017 movie adaptation when, spoilers, Bev's dad goes mental on Beverly, and Mrs. K tries to prevent Eddie from leaving the house and helping Bev.

Explanation

Now, with this background in mind, you need to understand that much of Pennywise's influence over his victims is due to their faith in the plausibility of what they see. A child is much more likely to accept the materialisation of, say, a werewolf or a bathroom covered in blood rather than an adult. Does this mean that the blood wasn't actually there? Well, it depends on from whose perspective; the children didn't have such a hard time in believing what they saw seeing as they had already encountered It once before, therefore Pennywise's deception had full control over them, and, hence, the blood was real to them. As for Bev's father, however, this wasn't the case.

Instead (in the novel at least), Bev's father rationalises Bev's fright under the guise that a spider scared her instead. This quote shows this:

“Now explain yourself,” he [Bev's father] said, “and make it quick.”[...] “There was a spider. A big fat black spider. It . . . it crawled out of the drain and I . . . I guess it crawled back down.” “Oh!” He smiled a little at her now, as if pleased by this explanation. “Was that it? Damn! If you’d told me, Beverly, I never would have hit you. All girls are scared of spiders. Sam Hill! Why didn’t you speak up?” It, Cleaning Up, 2

Obviously, Pennywise could extend his "power" to make Bev's father see the blood too, but what's the point of that? Doing so would only add to Bev's alarm, and prove to augment her weariness; it's better for It to lull his victims into a false sense of security and take them when they're least prepared.

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According to book IT(1986) Children have more imagination than adults have and their problems are totally different as Adult have. After they become adult they just stop believing such kind of things.

And it is not totally true that adults can't see Pennywise because there are several incident in books where adult see Pennywise but adult don't find it as a threat because of the reason that Pennywise choose not to. Pennywise only attack children as they are easily manipulated and easily scared.

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    I'm not satisfied by this answer. I haven't seen the miniseries or read the book, my only background knowledge is the 2017 film. Is the blood in the bathroom actually real? Is Pennywise explicitly hiding the blood from Beverly's father, or does he not need to? If he does not explicitly need to hide the blood, could he exert his power such that Beverly's father could see the blood?
    – zach
    Sep 23, 2017 at 5:45

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