quenstion about the chicken head

Good question, and there are probably a number of answers.

1) To prove he is a "man"/shock them -- Perry was calling him a fag and the other guys taunting him as well.

2) Anger -- he was perhaps redirecting or venting his anger at them towards the bird.

3) The chicken's head in his mouth was maybe a symbol of Perry's **** in his mouth, and this was symbolically biting that off (which maybe he wished he had done earlier when he actually could have).

It's probably a combination of all the above. I kind of like #3 if only because I love symbolism in movies.



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The world moves for love. It kneels before it in awe.

i like all of you explanations
and that was the saddest part of the movie.

Poor chicken. I liked her. She was so faithful as a true friend of his...

Another possible explanation for Duncan biting his chicken's head off is to serve as a resolution to a major theme of the movie: Duncan is now able to grieve the death of his mother, as we see in the subsequent scene with his father. The chicken being one of his mother's favorites, its murder resembles Duncan's ability to move beyond his overwhelming and disorienting grief, which his father was able to do when he burned his wife's clothing.

He bites off the head of a chicken? I haven't seen this movie yet, but do you know if it is an extension of Fishbelly White then? The main character in that movie also bites of the head of his pet chicken.

I think the chicken head meant three things:

1. Duncan bit off the chicken head to prove he wasn't a *beep* This shows how sensitive men aren't considered to be "real men". He had to be tough to be accepted by the other roughneck farm kids. Also, farm men aren't supposed to be affectionate with animals. This is shown when his father picked up the chickens by their heads and Duncan got upset. Duncan's proving his manhood.

2. This chicken also represents his attachment to his mother. That, and her clothing. He bites the head off out of rage. He is attached to it and loves it, but when people get angry, they take things out on thier things they love. It's almost as if he's angry at him mother for leaving.

3. The most obvious thing this chicken represents is Perry. The kids tell him to show them how he sucks dick. The only dick he's ever sucked is Perry's. So biting the chicken's head off is like a "*beep* off" to Perry. Perry raped him and got him in trouble with his father. He completely emasculated him, and then blamed him for it. All he could ever do is say "I'm sorry" because he liked him and needed his affection. But when Perry sent him away and denied his kiss, he got angry. Biting the head off was his way of showing this.

Perry's face shows that he realized this too. He knows what the chicken represents, and knows how much Duncan loves it. The first time I saw this scene, I didn't really get it either. But the second time, I realized everything.

Everyone knew he was gay. Probably from Perry. I think the chicken was his impulsive, but highly effective way of standing up for himself. Showing the boys that if he could do that to something he loves, he could do it to them if they got any ideas about putting anything of theirs into his mouth.

If you watch it again, He actually does bite Perry, the first time he performs oral on him. It comes across as accidental the first watch, but I think it takes on deeper meaning after a second viewing.

This film is a great, sensitive study of a young "mother identified" boy attracted to a an alpha-male like Perry. Perry certainly liked showing off his masculinity to Perry and instinctively knew Duncan admired him in that way: look at the way Perry gets turned on when he sees Duncan witnessing him getting head; or when Duncan grabs his bicep. Also, for a fleet moment you sense Perry is melting into the tenderness of Duncan's kiss. Conventionally, it would make sense to tidily conclude that the biting off of the chicken's head was Duncan's way of recovering/disassociating from his mom's death. But it is interesting to consider that he does so immediately after the boys suggest that Mrs. Mudge taught Duncan how to give head, inadvertently perhaps, by demonstrating that putting the head in his mouth "calmed" the chicken/"man." The boys imply more than that: Mrs. Mudge coddled Duncan in the Freudian prescription for homosexuality (literally and figuratively, here) by suggesting that perhaps Mrs. Mudge had a "reputation" in the small farm town for providing this service? Perhaps anger at this suggestion caused him to momentarily act irrationally, if not insanely. Convention would suggest it would be better to be psychotic than homosexual, right? Nonetheless, even though the hugs with his sexless Dad at the film's end might neatly tie up the grief-cure theory (as well, perhaps, the sublimal longing of the invert for the love of his father), it still doesn't resolve Duncan's sexuality nor the violent possessiveness and protectiveness of Perry for Duncan. Perry may not be a "fag" but his feelings for Duncan intrigue him far more than looking down, as he says at one point, and finding a woman making his dick something she uses to masturbate with. Perhaps Perry was abused by his Dad in other ways than beatings and he was just acting out the twisted love he learned from him. The actors, particularly the Perry player, were exquisite and true. This film is destined to become a coming-of-age gay classic.