MovieChat Forums > A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) Discussion > Is Jesse Gay?

Is Jesse Gay?

posted 12 years ago by TonyC4444
54 replies | jump to latest

Think of it this way alright, besides the fact that he went into a gay bar all on his own, he is also the most effeminate (spell check?) guy of any of these movies. He was basically pushing Lisa away from him the entire movie, and some of the outfits he were just....well...gay (even for the eighties).

Then think of the unobvious, he LITERALLY has another man inside of him. "Something is trying to get inside my body."

Now the obvious argument is well he made out with Lisa in the Cabana and they were supposed to be like dating. I can't tell you how many people in this world have come out of the closet after being married for twenty years or had numerous girlfriends. So that argument doesn't exactly fly.

I know this movie has a lot of homosexual overtones, but this was something I had never considered before.

[–] Joan_Ferguson 12 years ago

The actor who plays him is gay lovie but Jessie wasnt meant to be gay. They said they didnt realize about the homosexual tones when they were making it hahaha. So innocent in the 80's.

[–] preppy-3 12 years ago

I saw a docu with Mark Patton and the other guy who played his best buddy in the film. Purportedly THEY saw the gay overtures and thought it was funny (especially since Patton is gay) but never talked about it to the cast or crew. And yeah--I think Jesse is gay. If I recall him and his "girlfriend" never even kissed! AND when he doesn't want to sleep alone who does he pick to sleep with? Not her!

[–] ellino_kanadezo 12 years ago

Jessie was straight....The actor who played him is gay in real life though. Jessie and her kinda did it in one scene and then the ugly grey tounge comes out of him

[–] TonyC4444 12 years ago

Lot's of guys make out with girls and are actually gay. Hell a guy I went to highschool with always had a girl on his arm, he's gay now.

Why would a straight man go into a gay bar by himself? Why was he constantly pushing Lisa away? Why would he pick Grady's house to go to when he was scared about the man inside of him?

It's not a big deal, doesn't hurt the movie, if anything it gives Jesse more depth, but I think he is obviousley gay.

[–] FlyingSaucersAreReal 8 years ago

Didn't you see the hints there? It's not exactly subtle. His girlfriend throws herself at him, and when they are making out the "monster" inside him, Freddie, starts to appear, and he stops. What does he do? Go running to his good looking best friend, Listen to the dialogue in that scene!

-I was born in a crossfire hurricane.

[–] sandrock41 12 years ago

I love how everyone has their own way of describing this movies gayness. I always use "undertones" and this thread had "overtures" and "overtones". Any others?

[–] donutpower 12 years ago

Think of it this way alright, besides the fact that he went into a gay bar all on his own, he is also the most effeminate (spell check?) guy of any of these movies. He was basically pushing Lisa away from him the entire movie, and some of the outfits he were just....well...gay (even for the eighties).

i never saw Jessie as gay or queer. i saw him as a very typical 80s teenager. i always thought he stood out because supposedly he was the new kid brand spankin new to his house on Elm Street i believe . yet hes giving Lisa rides to school.....never made much sense to me whether he is new to town or new to the house.

i think the fact that the actor is gay is what may have made the performance of the character seem so feminine. had they gotten a different actor then maybe it wouldnt have come off as a teenage boy with repressed homesexuality.

Then think of the unobvious, he LITERALLY has another man inside of him. "Something is trying to get inside my body."

haha. well theres a lot of lines that can be taken in that context because of how everything else is just so obvious.
as a kid i thought oh well Freddy needs his body in order to continue killing.

while in my late teens im there thinking...Freddy is the big gay daddy lol.

Now the obvious argument is well he made out with Lisa in the Cabana and they were supposed to be like dating. I can't tell you how many people in this world have come out of the closet after being married for twenty years or had numerous girlfriends. So that argument doesn't exactly fly.

he did make out with her but well the dude had a lot on his mind. and by that point he was changing and slowly losing his sanity.
i always interpreted it as he left to find Grady to talk about things because Lisa was just so into the whole Freddy and sleepwalking thing. so i could understand how he doesnt want to further discuss things with her especially after the fact that she is really into him.
sort of a 'guy talk' session.

I know this movie has a lot of homosexual overtones, but this was something I had never considered before.

this movie is filled with homoeroticism. the director and everyone else who worked on the film call it subtext , but its just so in your face.

from seeing Jessie in his briefs and him actually manuvering down there lol. to having Grady be so into Jessie and trying to bully him. the guy even pulls Jessie's pants down. to the gym teacher being attacked by balls to then being spread eagle in the shower.
all they needed to take it one step further was to have Jessie dress in drag.

[–] preppy-3 12 years ago

Excellent analysis of the movie. Thank you:) Also this is the only Nightmare film to have NO female nudity but flashes of male--but Patton and Rusler were hot back then so it's not a problem:)

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Lyco499 12 years ago

I love how from what some of the replies have said a guy can make out with girls but still be gay, does that mean a guy can make out with a guy and still be straight? ;)

I know, I'm gay myself. I hate this movie by the way, it's a smudge on the awesome Nightmare name (just like the remake, blegh) but even as a kid I remember noticing the homoerotic themes. There's the stuff with the coach in the shower, the obvious "man inside me" thing etc.

Oh and OP your thing your argument about closeted married men is a little off. I mean by arguing you can't deny someone is gay because they're married due to lots of bastards screwing up women's lives by marrying them when they're gay is just silly. With that kind of argument you could say nothing is certain.

As for it being gay even for the eighties as well, I actually disagree with you. The mid eighties to ninties were homoerotic to hell and back. I don't know if Americans would even have heard of them but look at boy bands such as Take That when they first started. They are the gayest group of men I have ever seen in my life and yet they're all straight. Seriously, codpieces were worn.

_
http://shameless.wikia.com/wiki/Shameless_Wiki - Come Help

[–] jmr348 11 years ago

Have to agree about late 80s and early 90s culture. Ever see Kiss in their no make-up days? Their dress and moves in those videos are way over the top and Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have slept with more women than we've probably even met.

[–] norman-dostal 11 years ago

Hardly a smudge! without this one, which was a big hit, there would be no others!! Just saw it again last night-its very creepy and well done-Freddy is still very frightening before he becam totally camp

[–] kepotaz 11 years ago

The whole Freddy thing was a metaphor for his homosexuality. It was the thing inside him that he couldn't control. He couldn't control his homosexual desires and because of his upbringing or something he felt that being gay was equal to being some freak serial killer. Teenagers tend to exaggerate things.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] boramaster 11 years ago

Fear is the operative word.

Let's walk this back a bit. What this version does, and bless its weird no heart, is to put a male into the traditional female role. So. Ok, not what I would call a great film, but one that works well on its own terms. I really expected this film to suck. It doesn't

[–] Duragizer 11 years ago

he went into a gay bar all on his own

The problem with using this as evidence to support Jesse as a homosexual is that we don't have access into his mind, so we can't know why he went to that bar. Did he know it was a gay bar? (I don't recall any overt indications that it was until Schneider showed up) Even if he did know it was, we can't know if he went there hoping to pick up a lover; he may have subconsciously went there hoping to find Schneider, seeking to direct Freedy's murderous impulses away from a loved one and onto a figure he disliked.

Life is like a box of chocolates. A cheap, thoughtless, perfunctory gift that nobody ever asks for.

[–] TonyC4444 9 years ago

Sorry I know you wrote this a LONG time ago but I completly forgot about this thread and just saw this.

Most boys, teenage boys sneaking out to go to a bar, would walk into a Gay bar see everything going on and walk right back out. They wouldn't hang out till they get caught by their gay coach. I don't know that he necessarily went there looking for a lover, but he may have been just curious enough to check it out. I certainly see that as a possibility.

By the way, I am right behind you.

[–] mrdisorder 9 years ago

Was it specifically a gay bar or just a fetish bar?

But yeah, my friend showed me this last night and said it was the gayest of the Nightmare movies so I went into the movie with this in mind.

So let's list off the gay components of this.

1. The cleaning the room scene, obviously.

2. The gym teacher getting killed with his pants down in the shower. And as another user pointed out, he was attacked with BALLS.

3. The whole "man inside of Jesse" thing.

4. The most physically intimate scene between Jesse and his gf results in Jesse running away, spending the night at his shirtless friend's house (who appears to have leather sheets), and penetrating him in the middle of the night.

5. Every victim that is penetrated is male, except at the very end. However, at this point Freddy is outside of Jesse.

Good movie

---
You'll never get what you want if you don't know what it is.

[–] crankyerma1984 11 years ago

I love how so many people are in obvious denial about this film. This was just about the most (possibly unintentionally) homoerotic horror film of all time. If you have doubts about it, that's your own personal prejudices coloring your view. Watch the documentary "Never Sleep Again." Everyone interviewed about the film says that whether or not it was intentional, the end result is probably the gayest major release horror film in history.

[–] ClenRen 11 years ago

the writer Chaskin purposely made gay themes in the script. I never noticed the gay themes when I first saw it I was young and didn't know a lot of that stuff to notice.

[–] crankyerma1984 11 years ago

Really? I don't remember that from the doc. Interesting.

[–] robbytara 11 years ago

Has the President called him yet? If so, he is gay.

[–] michaeluk26 11 years ago

He is gay but he is struggling with "coming out of the closet" For anyone to miss the obvious here is mind boggling.

Haters gonna hate

[–] SydneyIz 11 years ago

I wonder will there ever be a year that no one asks this question. I think there are like five threads, like this one already.

[–] michaeluk26 11 years ago

Yep. In fairness though ALL of the IMDb boards have the same topic posted over and over. Sadly this underrated horror movie only has the "gay" angle working for it and is the main reason the movie is still talked about. I loved it simply because I like Freddy dark and evil and he was at his most evil here, his makeup was amazing as well. People say it broke the rules while ignoring that the first film broke its own rules more than once. They wanted to go in a different angle for the sequel and it was a lesson learned on what NOT to do with Freddy, like having him using a human avatar when he is God in the dream world.

Haters gonna hate

[–] trekkie313 11 years ago

No, but lots of horror fans and directors are for some reason.

[–] jlgreenlee 11 years ago

I think the movie is better than its reputation. And I agree with you, that even though it is criticized for breaking the rules, they were still coming up with the rules! Freddy did come out in the real world in part 1, arguably, so it wasn't a huge stretch. And they did a great job of keeping the same vibe from the first film. It's no masterpiece, but it's leagues ahead of Freddy's Dead.

[–] michaeluk26 11 years ago

I feel its better than its reputation too. I think the fact its sandwiched in between the masterpiece of the original and the Dream Warriors, which is the fan favorite, helps to diminish it a little bit.

Exactly about the rules. The end of the original left you questioning whether everything was just a dream, or was Freddy in the real world or was it a combination of both? Part 2 took the next logical step from that mess. I agree VERY MUCH that it kept the vibe of the first film and I argue that it was the ONLY sequel, aside from New Nightmare, that even had the same vibe of the original. Its was still dark and tense and scary. Part 3 brought the comedy of Freddy into the series, which I did not care for, but a lot of people like.

Great post!

Haters gonna hate

[–] TonyC4444 9 years ago

When I was younger I didn't care for this movie at all because it strayed so far from what Freddy was in the original. As I've gotten older though I've come to love it simply because it's the last time he dark and scary through out it. And it's actually a smart script overall. The whole him wanting to come into the real world is what I didn't and still don't like. Doesn't make any sense at all for his character.

By the way, I am right behind you.