Each week, Joe Lipsett will highlight a key scene or interaction in Season 2 of Don Mancini’s “Chucky” series to consider how the show is engaging with and contributing to queer horror.
Welcome back to another year of Chucky coverage through a queer lens. Last year, I spent eight weeks exploring the various visual and narrative approaches that Don Mancini, the series’ out gay creator, used to explore, interact and even challenge or subvert queer issues.
The pilot episode, “Death By Misadventure” focused primarily on the unsafe family situation of protagonist Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur). His alcoholic father Luke (Devon Sawa) was unsupportive of not just Jake’s artistic interests, but also his sexuality. This came to a head in the very first episode when Jake came out to his father and Luke physically assaulted him. The season two opener “Halloween 2” feels like an explicit call back to the series premiere, although its depiction of parental homophobia is less extreme.
Following the cold-open, which wraps up S01’s cliffhanger involving Andy (Alex Vincent) being held at gunpoint by Tiffany (voiced by Jennifer Tilly) in a truck full of 72 Chucky dolls, a large part of “Halloween 2” is dedicated to reintroducing Jake, Devon and Lexy. In the wake of the rash of murders in the back half of S1, including Devon (Björgvin Arnarson)’s mother and both Jake’s uncle and aunt, the two boys are now wards of the foster care system. Jake has been placed with a foster family two hours away and the pre-credits sequence finds the two teens actively debating whether to display their affection in front of Jake’s new family, to who he is afraid to disclose his queer status.
Mancini and co. spent a substantial amount of time in season one generating audience investment in Devon and Jake’s romantic relationship. As a result, it’s immensely satisfying when Jake abruptly jumps out of the car so that he and Devon can share a swoon-worthy kiss in the middle of the street (this is also a nice callback to their 360-degree circle kiss in the hospital last season).
When the action jumps forward six months to Halloween, however, it’s clear what Jake’s impulsive decision has cost him. He’s desperate to make the foster situation work, in large part because he’s formed a bond with his younger brother Gary, who is also a foster child. Despite wanting to be with Devon for Halloween, Jake can’t run the risk of upsetting his parents, thereby confirming that his sexual orientation is not just a source of conflict within the household, but that Jake has, more or less, been forced back into the closet.
Devon’s situation isn’t as extreme, though there are clear racial issues at play: he insinuates that the single foster mother who adopted him did so as a symbolic show of progressiveness to her friends. She has since jetted off to France; in fact, the character never actually appears onscreen.
“Halloween 2” makes it clear that both Jake and Devon are dealing with (at best) absent and neglectful and (at worst) unsupportive or even discriminatory foster parents. Sadly, these fictional situations reflect the real-life experience of many LGBTQIA+ youths in the foster care system. There are numerous reports and studies from the last decade – from Imprint News to Youth.Gov to The Trevor Project – that outline the increased statistical likelihood of queer youth in the child welfare system being mistreated, harassed, bullied, or even abused because of their sexual orientation.
Studies have found that LGBTQIA youth are disproportionately overrepresented (~30%) in the child welfare system. That number may be even higher, however, since individuals may choose not to disclose their sexual orientation because to do so risks harassment and abuse.
And the risks are high: the Trevor Project reports that LGBTQ youth in foster care were three times more likely to report a suicide attempt in the past year and 40% reported they were kicked out, abandoned, or ran away due to treatment based on their queer identity (Youth.Gov suggested the latter number could be as high as 78%). The Imprint, meanwhile, elaborates that LGBTQ foster youth are more likely to be shuffled from one temporary home to the next; more likely to struggle to find supportive adults; more likely to be sent to group homes; and more likely to be hospitalized for emotional distress. 42% of the LGBTQ+ foster youth ages 12 to 21 reported: “that they could never be themselves in the place they are currently living.”
This is the situation that Jake is contending with in “Halloween 2.” It’s a small component of the episode, which exists primarily to establish the circumstances that result in Jake, Devon, and Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind) being shipped off to the School of the Incarnate Lord, but it is a significant component, nonetheless. Jake’s time in the foster care system is reflective of the real-world experiences of LGBTQIA youth, and tables an argument for why better education and more training are needed for child welfare professionals and foster families. It’s also an argument for LGBTQ-affirming schools and fewer restrictions for queer families looking to adopt (both have statistically proven better at supporting queer youth and reducing the likelihood of suicide).
Parents, parental figures and figures of authority have rarely been helpful in the ‘Chucky’ universe, so it’s unlikely that the School of Incarnate Lord will improve Jake, Devon and Lexy’s situation. At least they’re back together again; they will undoubtedly need to rely on each other to survive the new season.
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