Is Chucky a Queer Ally?

Warning: Spoilers ahead! Do not proceed if you are not caught up on episodes 1, 2, and 3 of Syfy’s Chucky tv series.

Don Mancini’s Chucky tv series has recently generated a considerable amount of social media buzz for having Chucky acknowledge his genderfluid spawn (Glen/Glenda from Seed of Chucky) in episode 2. The scene has even resulted in some viewers hailing Chucky as a LGBTQ+ ally.

While it’s undoubtedly awesome to see that even a psychotic serial killer draws the line at queerphobia, I think it’s a bit of a stretch to act as though Chucky is anything except chaos personified. To explain why, let’s review the scene:

Jake confronts Chucky about the death of Annie, his extended family’s maid. Although Chucky denies having been involved in Annie’s death, he switches gears when it becomes clear that Jake isn’t buying it.

“You know, I have a queer kid…”

Chucky – Chucky: Season 1, Episode 2 “Give Me Something Good to Eat”

Mentioning Glen/Glenda (Chucky’s genderfluid offspring in Seed of Chucky) was simply a way for the killer doll to endear himself to a troubled gay youth in order to manipulate him. It’s clear that Jake is not exactly on board with murder, and so Chucky resorts to using his own child’s gender identity in an effort to sway him. “I’m not a monster, Jake” he says, implying that he’s a good guy on the principle that he (presumably) is accepting of his genderfluid offspring. It’s an effective manipulation tactic when you consider that Jake is a recently orphaned teenager who dealt with physical abuse at the hands of his homophobic, alcoholic father. In this way, Chucky is defining Jake’s father as a monster while propping himself up as being better.

I’ll be the first to say that I didn’t feel particularly bad or sympathetic when Chucky murdered Jake’s dad. In fact, it seems that nobody, not even Jake, is particularly heartbroken by the death of his father, but that doesn’t mean Chucky is a saint. And he’s definitely not the ideal replacement father figure. I mean, he’s literally in the act of violating Jake’s privacy by reading his journal at the start of this scene. Additionally, he killed Jake’s cat! It’s kind of hard to call yourself someone’s “friend ’til the end” if you’re out here murdering their pets. Furthermore, viewers saw Chucky murder Annie, and to our knowledge thus far, Annie did nothing to “deserve” being killed. This makes Chucky’s next statement even more ridiculous.

“You and me, we only kill people who have it coming.”

Chucky – Chucky: Season 1, Episode 2 “Give Me Something Good to Eat”

Notice how, having softened Jake up a bit, he proceeds to refer to Jake as a killer although he hasn’t killed anyone. He has created a just cause for murder that he feels will appeal to Jake in hopes that he can convince him to take up the blade and get to stabbing. It’s bullshit because Chucky himself isn’t even committed to this cause. He’s just committed to killing people, motivations be damned. As morbid and harsh as it may sound, if Chucky had only killed Jake’s dad, it would be easier to believe that he was just a twisted vigilante on a crusade for vengeance. Instead, Chucky has been shown to kill indiscriminately, as even newcomers to the franchise can plainly see with the kill count the doll has racked up just three episodes into the series. He’s also known to enjoy toying with his “friends,” having them framed for murder and even institutionalized.

So is Chucky an ally?

I mean…He’s not a bigot (which is fantastic), but he’s still a manipulative, homicidal maniac. If anything, it kind of highlights how much of an opportunistic, fucked up bully Chucky is that he would evoke Glen/Glenda solely for the purpose of manipulating the kid who’s dad and pet cat he just murdered an episode prior. By episode three, it’s evident that the whole thing was nothing more than an obvious attempt to pull Jake to the dark side by making his murderous mayhem seem righteous and justifiable to a vulnerable, bullied kid. Allyship requires more than indifference or even passive tolerance, and I think it’s safe to say that the lying, murder, and blatant attempts at manipulating Jake into becoming a killer kind of cancel out any potential goodness.

None of this is to say that it isn’t kind of a big deal for the complexities of gender identity to be acknowledged in a mainstream television show based off of a major horror movie franchise, because it absolutely is. It’s also worth noting that it’s no coincidence that, in addition of Chucky referencing his own “queer kid”, the Chucky tv series features a number of gay characters. Don Mancini, openly gay director and the creator of Chucky himself, has plainly stated that he intentionally strives to create LGBTQ+ representation in his work. “I just have tried to go further with it with each movie and create a space of representation in this genre in a major studio product that really has a broad reach around the world,” he said in a recent interview with The Advocate.

Personally, I appreciate Mancini’s efforts, and I’m really enjoying the series so far. Of all the movie monsters out there, Chucky is my favorite, and the significance of Mancini making sure the audience knows that Chucky isn’t a homophobe or transphobe isn’t lost on me. My reluctance to sincerely prop Chucky (the character) up as a true ally is just a reminder that Chucky is also a liar, a murderer, and a manipulator with a sinister agenda. And maybe you can be considered an ally and still be all of those horrible things. Nobody’s perfect, right? At any rate, our favorite killer doll is still ultimately a bad guy, despite the “Good Guys” logo emblazoned across his cute little overalls.

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