i dont get it why he did that to nathan. hes been giving strange looks to nathan throughout the film... and the last two lines he said in the film (while doing that to nathan) i didnt really hear properly, it was so faint and the music was too loud...
please help
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I did not understand either. Maybe someone can answer? Was Burke gay? Did he Love Roy also? I don't understand where Roy and Randy were when the attack was taking place, all very confusing sorry if i sound a bit dumb lol. I did love the film though x
shareI think a lot of the answers lie in the title "Dream Boy." It implies that Nathan is a dreamer or someone who is not fully in reality. You can see that because there often seems to be a bubble of isolation around Nathan. He appears like he's in a dream. He certainly walks around a lot like he's in a dream. Maybe he tries to escape his unpleasant life in daydreams. Nathan is also the one who is not really frightened by ghost stories probably because he is more in touch with dreams or beyond-realities. He is the only one who sees and hears "ghosts" in the mansion. Maybe Burke's attack is just symbolic of how one's ghosts haunt one throughout life. Nathan was abused by his father and the ghost of this haunted him in the mansion and took the form of Burke's abusive attack. I don't think that the end is meant to be taken literally. Therefore questions like where were Roy and Randy are moot. I think the camping trip to a "place very far away where noone ever goes anymore" is just symbolism. I think we leave reality and enter some sort of symbolism of greater life -- like how the rest of Nathan's life may play out. I think it is very confusing too and it would have been helpful to get a little more roadsigns and clues to what is meant. I also think it's kind of counter productive to always end gay movies with these kind of tragedies. It's almost like we're setting everyone up for self-fulfilled prophecies: Gay love will always be doomed. Nevertheless, I thought the movie exceptional. Very beautiful and concise in its imagery and story telling. I also felt that Stephan Bender as Nathan probably was the key to the movie's success. How lucky to have found an actor who looks so sweet, innocent, and vulnerable and yet can pull off such profound and amazing acting! Personally I would have found a different positive ending more refreshing. The gay guy suffers as usual! But in any case, this movie is up there amongst my favs now.
sharethank you for taking the time to reply. I wondered if there was a "dream like" element to the story. I also feel that the film ended on such a sad note, it would of been much better with a happy ending...... xx
shareMy take on it was that Burke was not gay, but sort of jealous in how strong his friend Roy bonded with mousy Nathan, the new kid in town. The way Burke eyes Nathan throughout the movie - to me it's almost like he's thinking in a warped way, 'This guy's stealing my friend.' When he discovers Roy and Nathan in an intimate moment - I think he just loses it. It's almost like he was angry that Roy chose to have sexual encounters with Nathan instead of him. When Burke raped Nathan - he felt pure hatred for him but the way I viewed it, he seemed to enjoy himself sexually. Which afterwards, guilt and shame quickly set it, and he angrily whacked Nathan with the wooden piece from the chair. I don't think he meant to kill Nathan, just rough him up, make sure he would never tell anybody. I'm definitely not excusing Burke's behavior, but just my opinion on his actions.
shareawesome analysis
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For the most part I agree with the previous post: Burke's anger/jealousy, roughing up Nathan to prevent reprisals. But speaking as someone who HAS read the novel, Burke's sexuality is more ambiguous than that. The novel makes it clear that Burke is taking from Nathan what he'd really wanted from Roy himself. Having had a bit of experience in the ways in which "closet cases" express themselves, I'm inclined to agree.
On a related note: although I think this film adaptation is as good as could be given the source material, I wish that it could capture the book's ambiguity regarding whether Nathan actually died. Jim Grimsley pretty much leaves it to the reader to make that decision, but the movie is a little more cut and dried.
Oh, don't be silly Trish. It's just a severed head!
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i think you got it
shareDifferent reasons. It could have been a power thing. It could have been that he knew about them and wanted him, but didn't want to admit to himself that he like s boys. It could have been that he always wanted to have anal sex and this was his way of doing it knowing that no one would find out. My question was, whay did the "director" make it so vanilla?
shareHere are the lines during that scene:
Burke: "I saw you. Roy had your d*ck in his mouth and he was in front of you on his knees. Do you suck his c*ck?"
Nathan: "He wasn't doing that. It wasn't like that"
Burke: "Yes, he was"
- rape -
- back to dialogue -
Burke: "Do you like me doing it?"
- rape -
- back to dialogue -
Nathan: "You ain't goin' nowhere"
- rape -
Burke hits Nathan who starts bleeding.
- daylight -
Randy: "Jesus, he's dead, ain't he?"
Roy: "Go catch up with Burke."
Randy: "You think it happened like Burke said?
Roy: "I don't trust nothin' Burke said. Go on now". (cries)
I also think that Burke had mixed feelings: jealous of Nathan, desire for Roy and by extension Nathan. He was angered and disgusted by their homosexuality but I guess he repressed his own homosexual desire which turned him into a rapist and a murderer. It's also a way to portray Burke as a ghost, the first ghost that Nathan saw in the house being his father. As Nathan predicted that he may never leave this house, it was like the ghost of his father killed him for good or resurrected him (depending on how you think the film ends). I suppose that the people Nathan consider as bad or negative to him (his father, the ghost, Burke) turned into one person and abused him for the last time.
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The higher you fly, the faster you fall.
Burke didn't do anything. Remember Nathan hearing that voice and seeing his father while they are in the old mansion? Nathan was dreaming. He was switching memories of getting raped by his father with Burke doing it in this dream.
After the first school bus scene everything is a dream till we get to the last school bus scene. Here's how.
First school bus ride.....Nathan is wearing a short sleeve, yellow, button down collar shirt. He is sitting about half to two-thirds of the way back on the bus. Roy is wearing a blue, gray, white plaid *country* shirt typical of the early mid 1970's. Nathan moves up to the front seat when the two of them are the only ones left on the bus.
The second bus ride...again same shirts....At the point where Nathan got up and moved to the front for the first bus ride scene...is when Roy invites Nathan to move up front. Nathan is dreaming.
At the movie's end...the very last bus ride....they both have on those same shirts as the first two bus ride scenes. Nathan is sitting half way to two-thirds of the way back....they are the only two left on the bus....they make eye contact and Roy makes that smile.....movie ends.....just before Nathan would have moved up front in the first bus scene OR just before Roy invites Nathan to move up in the second scene which was in Nathan's dream.
That's my take on it....it is called *Dream Boy*, which forces me to think that someone does some dreaming within the storyline of the film.
Well I have not read the book but have seen the movie more than once and I always wonder what Roy was doing when Nathan was being abused.
shareIt's amazing how much analysis this story is getting- proof that we all care for the characters, which is wonderful. But, I'll add, that, as in all stories, there are mistakes. It's just one of billions. I'll also point out, as a story-teller, that where a story goes throughout and through the story-teller's last line, is ultimately up to you because it becomes your story. So, why burke did that, is up to you to decide, my love. Recommended reading: Fruit: A Novel About a Boy and His Nipples, you'll never laugh so hard.
shareIt's obvious that Burke himself was gay too, but like most of closeted gays who can't accept the truth about themselves, they keep their desires locked up behind a shield of violent homophobia. They are cowards who can not get over their true nature and so in order to fight it they become the most homophobic bullies of all. And they blame others for "making me feel this way, it's all your fault, you *beep* *beep* so I'm going to beat the crap out of you and *beep* kill you". It is very sad and it is unfair, but it happens. Burke fancied Roy, and the moment he saw how close Roy and Nathan were he guessed they were lovers. And he got mad with jealousy, and raped and killed Nathan to punish the pair.
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