Is Jesse Gay?
-
melco92 — 12 years ago(October 02, 2013 07:08 AM)
This movie is full of homoerotic symbolism. Maybe the filmmakers didn't mean to make it that way, but that's what they got.
First let's look at that gay bar scene. We can even take this as a dream sequence. Thus, he's dreaming of being in a gay bar. Simple enough. Now let's examine the locker room scene. Jesse and the coach have just come from a gay bar, where perhaps they did some gay stuff. This is represented by Freddy, acting as Jesse's gay alter-ego, appearing for the first time outside of the dream wold. Jesse, prompted by his shame and disgust about what's just happened, kills his coach, who he has just had his first homosexual experience with.
Then there's Lisa. She's very supportive and understanding. She tries to help Jesse understand his sexuality, even letting him use her to see if a woman does anything for him (this is the make out scene in the poolhouse). Turns out he can't stand to touch her, so he runs away.
In the end, Freddy (again, Jesse's gay salf) appears to have completely taken over (after some kind of "incident" with Grady) but Lisa attempts to turn him from this lifestyle, so she kisses him. And it works. But in the final scene Jesse realizes that he'll never really be attracted to women. This is evidenced by Lisa's girl friend, when a claw comes out of her chest. Not exactly a turn on.
One other thing is Jesse's appearance in all the dream sequences. He doesn't looks the same as he does in the "real life" parts of the movie. He looks like he's wearing some kind of dark eyeliner, similar to metro/gay men.
Reportin' live for Black TV: White folks are dead, we gettin' the f*@# outta here! -
norman-dostal — 12 years ago(October 24, 2013 03:34 PM)
the movie is VERY gay, but the bar isn't really a gay bar. Earlier in the movie, Grady calls it a gay S&M bar, but when we see it-more than half of the patrons are women. No gay bar has more than 5% girls in it.
-
jefgg — 12 years ago(November 01, 2013 07:05 PM)
Film commentators often remark on the film's perceived homoerotic theme. The argument is that a subtext exists about Jesse's alleged repressed homosexuality (never clarified in the movie), with the major examples pointed to being the encounter he has with his gym teacher in a homosexual S&M leather bar, and his fleeing to a male friend's house after an aborted attempt of making out at his girlfriend's pool party.
In a February 2010 interview with Attitude magazine, Robert Englund commented on this when asked whether he was aware about the camp, gay appeal of the series. He replied: " the second Nightmare on Elm Street is obviously intended as a bisexual themed film. It was early '80s, pre-AIDS paranoia. Jesse's wrestling with whether to come out or not and his own sexual desires was manifested by Freddy. His friend is the object of his affection. That's all there in that film. We did it subtly but the casting of Mark Patton was intentional too, because Mark was out and had done Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean."
In an article written by Brent Hartinger for After Elton, it is stated that a "frequent debate in gay pop culture circles is this: Just how 'gay' was 1985's A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (the first Elm Street sequel)? The imagery in the movie makes it seem unmistakably gay but the filmmakers have all along denied that that was their intention." During his interview segment for the documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, screenwriter David Chaskin admitted that the homosexual themes were intentionally written into the script. The rest of the cast and crew stated that they were unaware of any such themes at the time they made the film, but that a series of creative decisions on the part of director Jack Sholder unintentionally brought Chaskin's themes to the forefront. In his interview, Sholder stated, "I simply didn't have the self-awareness to realize that any of this might be interpreted as gay", while "now-out actor" Mark Patton stated, "I don't think that [the character] Jesse was originally written as a gay character. I think it's something that happened along the line by serendipity." -
!!!deleted!!! (22250229) — 12 years ago(January 25, 2014 09:52 PM)
I was watching this earlier tonight and a few homosexual things jumped out at me that are rarely talked about (or are not noticed)
The outside of Jesse's door has a sign that says "No Out of Town Chicks" and that's fine and all, except the "Out of Town" part is in such small lettering it just looks like "NO CHICKS"
In the kitchen, on the chalkboard, a message reads "Zach called." Who's Zach? I don't think Zach is for Jesse's mom and Zach is definitely not for Jesse's little sister. I guess it's possible Zach is for the father, but I dunno. Thinking Jesse would have rather had this Zach guy in the cabana than Lisa
Also, some of the dance songs in the movie, like the one Jesse dances to in his room or the song "Whisper to a Scream" by Bobby O, are very popular within the gay community. Bobby O even worked with Divine. -
AdrianLePier — 11 years ago(December 17, 2014 05:52 AM)
Much of it was indeed the nuances that the actor unknowingly brought to the character during his performances. If Christian Slater or Brad Pitt had landed the role instead of Patton, I doubt much of this 'gay' discussion/theory/legend would exist to anywhere near the same degree.
THE TALK ASYLUMComing in November!
-
TonyC4444 — 10 years ago(June 09, 2015 05:59 AM)
The writer of the script admits that he put homosexual overtones in the movie.
We know that the actor is gay.
And then the writer explains that some of the decisions the director made took his overtones and made them more obvious, probably unknowingly.
It is what it is, and what it is is homosexual.
By the way, I am right behind you. -
tuffy_13 — 10 years ago(June 08, 2015 11:46 PM)
Why does anybody ask this? It was and is in your face gay. They threw under tones out the window on this one. HIV just started and people were freaked. The only other movie to attack sexual politics during this decade was Hellraiser.
-
RealBlast3 — 10 years ago(June 21, 2015 12:02 AM)
Just wanted to add that there is a "board game" in Jesse's bedroom "closet" called "PROBE". I grew up in the '80s and I don't recall any board games by that name.
For those that need it spelled out, "Probe" is obviously in reference to gay sex, as in "Anal Probe". There's even lubricant sold by the name of "Probe"