MovieChat Forums > The Nature of Nicholas (2003) Discussion > My questions and i hope someone answers!...

My questions and i hope someone answers!?


I didn't like this movie one bit. It is so illogical and confusing.... No matter how people try to explain what Zombies in movie represent...i can understand if only Nicholas was able to "see" it but even Bobby new about "it" and you just get lost and are asking "ok is this reality or is Nicholas just imaging to see real Bobby talking about Zombie version of Bobby?" You see it so confusing and impossible to understand is it "real" or is just like some kind of dream in which Nicholas lives!?!?
Also whats the deal with his father? Why he appears, what does he wants from Nicholas? Why does he follow him in the end of the movie?
What Nicholas Zombie version represented and what happens to it in the end? Does Nicholas stop being gay? I really wish to understand this movie but i doubt that it is possible.

P.S-my e_mail is [email protected] so i would appreciate if you send me some kind of reminder once you read this. Since this is not a big movie, it will probably take months if not more for someone to answer this and i i will eventually forget about this topic, so please remind if you don't mind. Thanks

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I just watched it and was very confused too.
But if you take some time and try to think about it, well even though it could have been clearer and it was kind of messy, I think the metaphors sort of fall into place... it was just done in such a weird way.
Really the film could have been half as long, and a little more straightfoward, and might've been more successful... the messages seem to be lost to easily on the audience.
I'm still not sure if I liked this movie or not... I appreciate the metaphoric quality and attempt at being "artistic" in that way, but as a form of entertainment it's kind of lost...

You might understand it a bit better if you search it online and read a few of the reviews/articles on it.
Basically it works out something like this...

The "zombies" aren't zombies, they're just sort of decrepit versions of the boys' normal healthy selves... this gets easily very confusing if you're trying to follow it in terms of a "plot" but metaphorically they're supposed to be something like an alter-ego or the "gay" side or feelings of the boys.
Nicholas isn't necessarily gay, but he has curious feelings for sure, as many boys may feel at one point as children and have a "gay experience" or experiment, Nicholas is just far more apt to follow his feelings on this path than his friend Bobby, who we see might be curious too (there's a little of that "tension" with them in Nicky's fort) but ultimately desires the girls (plus it's the norm in society, of course!). I got the impression Nicky is mostly shy. He also might be gay except for his fear of showing that side of him (which he hides until near the end when he's caught with the zombie Bobby by his mother, and we see her disappointed and his "sickness" comes out and is visible). The metaphor is that homosexuality is a sickness and thus that alter-ego or side of those characters is portrayed as diseased. This probably has less to do with any commentary on whether being gay actually is "sick" than it does with how society views it, as something "wrong" with the person who experiences these gay feelings. The "gay" (zombie) version of both boys say, "don't look at me" or "don't look at me like that", especially when Nicholas says it to his mother after she sees he's been maybe acting gay (*gasp of shock*); the way she seems to look at him is different and Nicholas dislikes the way he's being seen now. I think those lines are very indicitave of the metaphor of how homosexuality is "seen" as something wrong.

The movie is about sexual identity. Quoting the films director/writer, Jeff Erbach:
"It's not really so much about being heterosexual or homosexual, those are polar opposites, but sometimes things exist in between. Sexual identity is sort of on a sliding scale and I don't think anyone is ever really 100 per cent either/or."
I think that quote is interesting because in the movie, once Nicholas kisses Bobby and we begin the very metaphoric and confusing turn, the characters do seem to go in very opposite directions. Bobby splits into his heterosexual self (somewhat more macho, seen with the bat a lot, and there's no more of those tender moments between Bobby and Nicholas like in the beginning when Bobby does up Nicky's hair) and his homosexual side, but then there's nothing left in between. It seems to come down to a harsh choice between what a boy should be, gay or straight, with no room for intermediate feelings; mostly I think due to the negativity surrounding the gay option (I mean, obviously that isn't the option to choose - to be sickly and unappealing and looked at strangely).

This isn't a conventional movie where the more bizarre parts can be easily explained as "imagination" or in Nicholas's mind. In this case there is less to do with a coherent plot in the conventional sense and what characters do and more to do with the emotional quality and moods, and who the characters are, largely acting metaphorically to create a different sort of plot.
Nicholas and Bobby are both dealing with their feelings and what happened. Bobby chooses to reject his gay feelings and wants to kill/get rid of that part of himself, but Nicky wants to hold on to it and keep that side of Bobby because that's the side he wants. Both are real parts of him and are also made real people (it's not exactly based in reality).

The father is a bit more complicated. He's controlling, even from beyond the grave. He represents something like the dominating masculine values - "like girls. Your gay side must go away" sort of stuff. He manipulates and controls and pushes Nicholas, including at the end where he follows him, ready to control him more - like girls! - if he ever slips up. He takes the gay side of him away and puts him away, saying something like "we all leave it behind" like leave those feelings or that part of us behind, rejecting altogether (in that very masculine way) any feelings we might have that aren't the right kind of feelings.
Nicky isn't really "not gay" anymore, just sort of forced to put away that side of him and keep it locked up.

It's a social commentary about what society thinks, I think mostly. There seems to be a lot of those themes in that vein. Something about the acceptability of expressing your feelings and what those youthful experiences can mean to people, and just how hard and confusing it can be... the fact this movie is somewhat confusing is just another reflection of the more metaphoric type of plot. Quite well done overall, a good artful film.

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Thx a lot for that explanation. It was 2 months since i posted that question and mean time i got a lot of information and explanations from folks about this movie. They were all more or like same as your, but yours was deepest and most detailed. Thx again bye

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Yes, thank you for explaining. This movie is definitely the wierdest one I have ever seen.

I think you are right about this straight/homo thing. I don't think I am gay just because I have some random wild thoughts about certain people, providing that just thinking about stuff like kissing makes me sick. Human brain is an interesting thing. It just gulps stuff inside without asking ourselves.

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ok, that made sense i guess... definitely one of the weirdest movies ive ever seen, but if you put it in that way... its brilliant.

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All of what gecko said seems to be pretty accurate. There is one thing left out though that I'm not sure many people catch. It seems to be hinted at that Nicholas was molested by his dad. This is first alluded to when he is in the closet with the girl and then all of a sudden...strange man in the closet with Nicky! haha If you're not paying close attention to the picture of the dad, then you may not catch that it's his dad and it's just a weird man in the closet so when the girl leaves it may look as though the man will do something to Nicky. However he's actually there to make sure Nicky does something with the girl, we find out later. But for a brief moment there is an allusion to molestation.

There are other scenes too that allude to it. But at the end is when it is most clear. Father takes the decaying Nicholas to the "Nicholas house" and there he sees a younger decaying self in the corner. The younger "zombie" is Nicholas's ashamed feelings of what his father did to him when he was younger. His father says "that's all in the past" and its time to move on. His father feels that Nicholas has gay feelings because of what he did to him as a child, so he's trying to "fix" him and make him like girls, since he regrets doing that to his son. By taking away Nicky's gay zombie to the house along with the young zombie it is to show that Nicky is being forced to hide those sides of him and he will now be "normal."

Again its a commentary how young boy's who start to have those feelings feel pressured to hide them because they are not normal. Of course it seems now the stigma is starting to lessen, but it will never fully be gone. Just like racism has supposedly lessened, but it will never fully be gone.

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