Martha Thomas forced her nephew to assume the identity of her now deceased niece. But is Angela really trans? After a freak boating accident, Dr. On its surface, one could interpret the film as mocking the trans experience. The most contentious issue in Sleepaway Camp frames a presumably trans body as a monstrous one. Which is good for him, I guess, but the only thing worse than making a “wrong” choice is making an apathetic one. He just wanted to make a silly, messed up little horror film. Everyone knows the ‘shocking’ end “WTF she has a PENIS?!?! I could forgive all the twisted and perverted murders but this is just one step too far!” Sleepaway Camp was written and directed by cis heterosexual man who has denied any intent on trying to make any kind of social statement. Since its release, the film has been vehemently derided, discussed, and even reclaimed by some within queer horror circles. But there are several baffling choices that make me question how Logan approached this film.įirst and foremost, if you’re setting out to make a queer-positive slasher film at a summer camp, the most obvious thing one could do is learn from the lessons of the notoriously problematic 1983 film, Sleepaway Camp. I’m genuinely happy that some can see things differently. I am not going to pretend that my interpretation of this film is a definitive one. While the film has a 1.7 score on Letterboxd, 3.3 on IMDB, and 29% on Rotten Tomatoes, the biggest sting has got to be knowing how his film has been almost universally rejected by the queer community. I am giving director John Logan the benefit of the doubt that this is not how he wanted his directorial debut to be received. How did a horror film about the queer experience written and directed by a gay man go so wrong on almost every level to the point that They/Them completely fails as a narrative and insults its audience by totally misreading the moment, dismissing very real and ongoing threats while reinforcing both homophobic and transphobic tropes and beliefs? Clever title, great concept, brilliant casting. “I was rooting for you!” as Tyra Banks would say.
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