Each week Joe Lipsett will highlight a key scene or interaction in S02 of Don Mancini’s Chucky series to consider how the show is engaging with and contributing to queer horror.
With episode 2.05 “Doll on Doll,” “Chucky” transitions into the back half of its second season; from a queer perspective, this is a relatively slight episode. So in place of an obvious topic, let’s use this opportunity to look at an unusual case of queer equality.
To get the ball rolling, let’s check in on the contentious state of Jake (Zackary Arthur) and Devon (Björgvin Arnarson)’s relationship. In past editorials, I’ve already explored how groundbreaking the pre-teen romance is, principally thanks to its sweet, age-appropriate, grounded depiction.
While Jake and Devon expressed their romantic interest in one another relatively early in S01 and stayed pretty solid, S02 has been…rockier. First because of Jake’s foster situation and, more recently, thanks to a disagreement about how to handle the appearance of new Chuckys at the School of Incarnate Lord.
Things kinda/sorta come to a head in “Doll on Doll” when Devon protests Jake’s suggestion that Good Guy Chucky is actually reformed following his aversion therapy in S02E03. Devon is frustrated that Jake is overlooking their history with the doll, which is a fair claim considering Chucky has single-handedly killed everyone in their respective families. Jake’s turn towards forgiveness has also happened very quickly this season, so it’s a little easier to side with Devon here (It should be said, though: in Jake’s defence, Good Guy Chucky did save them from Hulk Chucky).
Still, the petty disagreements and sniping at each other this season has felt a little forced; at times, it has felt like the couple are fighting simply because the narrative demands it. This friction between the pair has admittedly produced some interesting results, most significantly here when Devon and Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind), two characters who rarely spend time alone together, go off solo to explore the woods.
So what’s queer about this? Nothing really…and that’s what makes it interesting. The tension in Jake and Devon’s relationship actually feels more reminiscent of an endless number of straight sitcoms and dramas when the writers introduce artificial conflict into a previously happy relationship. This is often done out of fear that audiences will lose interest in a couple once they get together and typically follows a season of “will they/won’t they” false starts. The prevailing belief appears to be that audiences can’t accept a happy couple; according to traditional storytelling techniques, couples are only interesting if there’s conflict in the relationship (no happiness please!).
Ironically, this somewhat frustrating narrative development between Jake and Devon can also be seen as a strange kind of queer equality. For too long queer representation was villainous, predatory or inflammatory. More recently the morality dial has swung to the other side, where queer representation has to be immaculate, perfect and without any kind flaws.
Consider the queer outrage over Netflix’s use of the LGBT tag on Netflix’s “Dahmer” which emerged because a gay serial killer isn’t “the representation we want.” That protest is uncomfortable not only because it seeks to erase the fact that Dahmer is inherently part of queer history, but also conflates representation with “good” or “positive.”
Obviously if the historical representation of a marginalized community is pervasively negative, damaging and/or stereotypical, it’s worth keeping an eye on. But we’re living in a day and age with no shortage of diverse and nuanced LGBTQIA texts to consume across screens both big and small, which means that there is absolutely room for imperfect and messed-up characters who don’t always do the right thing.
Which brings us back to “Chucky.” Rather than fret about embodying the perfect pre-teen queer romance, “Chucky” is content to let Jake and Devon be a bit messy and dramatic about their relationship. While Devon and Jake ‘s recent rocky patch may not be the happy fairytale we hoped for in the first season, their behavior is a) appropriate for kids their age, and b) adheres to the traditional (admittedly formulaic) approach that’s frequently used in straight couple storylines.
Considering how media literate “Chucky” is, audiences probably should have anticipated that the show’s writers would take the relationship in this direction.
Despite this, it still needs to be said: Get your shit together, boys! You’ve got much bigger problems to be concerned about!
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