Was this movie influenced by German culture?
I'm thinking perhaps the reason the movie seems so subversive, and most people see a sort of sexual undertone to it, might be because it's based on a German film called 5,000 Vingers of Dr. T. I'm guessing it's the same name, because after 5,000 Vingers the rest of the title is in German, and I don't know much German. Here's a link to the site where I heard about the movie: http://hometown.aol.com/seivadj18/vingers.html
I am mostly familiar with the German culture from listening to Rammstein. Some of their songs are based on or refer to different children's poems/stories from Germany. There is a song off their album Rosenrot called Hilf Mir, which is based on a poem from the children's poetry book Struppenwelten. The title in English is Help Me. The poem is about a girl who plays with matches, and burns herself to death by lighting herself on fire accidentally. This poem is intended for children, can you even imagine such a dark story being told to children in America for example?
This is why I think there is such a dark tone to The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. As well as some of the "gay" tones to the film. I think alot of people may forget that America isn't the only country in the world, and a majority of other countries aren't nearly as homophobic as we have been. What you might see as gay, would be seen just as art by another culture.
As far as the S&M overtones some people might see in the film, there is a strong sense of how you should obey in German culture, and serious threat if you should be in trouble. Not at all to the extent of Hitler, but more like the "spare the rod spoil the child" phrase from the Bible. A friend of mine who is German, told me that German people really find an ability to work and do things well of huge importance. Kind of like what people think of Asian people, that they're really smart, because they're from a culture that really pushes academic/work acheivment.
So you have Bart who is disobeying, and Dr. T being the authoritarian who is looking to punish him and the other boys. If you want to see it as a Dr. T being a top, and Bart being a bottom as they say in S&M circles, fine..it's analogous to the relationship of being under authortarian control. However, it does not mean that it is what was intended to come across as in the film.