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.
The time has come to finally tackle queerness in the Church. When it was revealed that Chucky S02 would take place at a Catholic school and Jake (Zackary Arthur), Devon (Björgvin Arnarson) and Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind) would likely face the wrath of priests and nuns, I anticipated this topic would come up at some point.
Before the season debuted, Don Mancini was interviewed about the new location and addressed how Catholicism would play into season two. Per i09:
“One of the struggles that young gay people often have is tension with their faith,” Mancini said. “As a kid who was raised Catholic, I certainly had authority figures waving their fingers at me, telling me that I was bad and going to hell.”
Considering how central Devon and Jake’s relationship was to the first season, it seemed obvious that their queerness would be a source of conflict in this new environment. And then there was the question of whether the show would dare to tackle the elephant in the room: accusations of pedophilia and sexual abuse within the church.
The show (wisely) never addressed that controversial territory, though there have been more than a few telling moments of secret queerness littered throughout the season. Most specifically, Trace and I did wonder about the sexual orientation of Devon Sawa’s Father Bryce in our Chucky Queers coverage on Horror Queers. There’s a very telling moment in episode 2.03 “Hail, Mary!” when the priest observes Jake and Devon kissing in a stairwell and not only does Father Bryce not interrupt them, he doesn’t address it or punish them. At the time Trace and I wondered if this meant that he was struggling with and/or suppressing his own sexuality, which isn’t condoned by the Church.
For reference, all Catholic priests take vows of celibacy at their ordination, meaning that they will remain abstinent and unmarried throughout their lives. Technically, however, gay men aren’t meant to be ordained at all (the Church clarified its position in both 2005 and 2008 when it listed “uncertain sexual identity” and “deeply rooted or deep-seated homosexual tendencies” as conditions for exclusion).
A 2019 New York Times editorial by Elizabeth Dias entitled “It Is Not a Closet. It Is a Cage.’ Gay Catholic Priests Speak Out” includes an incredible statistic about the prevalence of gay men living a secret life of shame: “Fewer than about 10 priests in the United States have dared to come out publicly. But gay men probably make up at least 30 to 40 percent of the American Catholic clergy, according to dozens of estimates from gay priests themselves and researchers. Some priests say the number is closer to 75 percent.” There are more moderate estimates included in Rev. Donald B. Cozzens’ 2020 book The Changing Face of Priesthood (referenced in this America Magazine piece), but the figures could still be as high as 50-58%.
With these statistics in mind, it’s completely reasonable to believe that the “different” qualities that Father Bryce mentions in the black and white confessional sequence is that he’s gay.
Father Bryce never actually says the words “I’m gay,” but the truth is that he doesn’t have to.* To queer audiences used to reading the subtext in the room, the following dialogue is as clear as day: “I always judge people so harshly. I think that’s because of how hard I treat myself. The Church has always been a refuge for people like me. They’ve never fully accepted us either. I’ve always known that I was different” (emphasis added).
Some folks could argue that his sexual orientation hardly matters since Bryce has already been dramatically exploded in slow motion (and from multiple perspectives) by this point. Regardless, the representation of a young, queer Priest who observes but doesn’t punish Jake and Devon for something he himself isn’t allowed to be is a fascinating and even tragic character arc.
Leave it to Mancini and co. to give Father Bryce a humanizing, tear-jerking semi-coming out scene immediately after spectacularly blowing the poor man up in the most over the top, bombastic death of the season. RIP Father Bryce.
*But also, let’s be real: only a gay priest would have a ripped body like that, no?
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