For Michaela Barton of Flipscreened, "this film is so clearly gay that an analysis of its
homoerotic subtext would be like arguing the sky is blue".
[20] Robert Eggers has refused to concretely state whether the characters are gay or straight, stating: "Am I saying these characters are gay? No. I’m not saying they’re not either. Forget about complexities of human sexuality or their particular inclinations. I’m more about questions than answers in this movie".
[21]
Wake frequently compliments Winslow's physical appearance, calling him "pretty as a picture" and describing his eyes as “bright as a lady”. Barton interprets Howard's name change to his previous, deceased boss as indicative of a more intimate relationship: "Considering the act of Tommy taking his name, this behavior suggests a tender and affectionate attitude, almost like the tradition of taking your partner's name after marriage".
[20] When asked about the scene in which Winslow criticizes Wake's cooking, Wake's desperate need for validation of his lobster is a euphemism for his penis.
[21]
Sexual fantasy and masturbation are recurring themes in the film. Winslow frequently masturbates to the mermaid figurine throughout the film. He fantasizes of a mermaid washed up on the shore. When he sees her enlarged vagina (based off shark genitalia)
[22] he runs screaming. Barton interprets his reaction, stating that it "is fairly obvious – the mermaid was never Tommy’s siren. His true siren is revealed a little later."
[20]
For Dafoe, the homoeroticism in the film is blatant, but it is also used to explore what it means to be a man: "
Toxic masculinity! They’re pushing each other’s buttons out of fear and out of threat of who they are. And they’re both guilty. They have a sense of guilt, of wrong. There’s no moral judgment in this story. It’s just to watch these two guys struggling to find a way to survive themselves, really... It’s a simple story, but it’s got existential roots and identity things and things about masculinity and domination and submission. And for better and for worse. Then you see it flip-flop and it’s kind of cool."
[21] After beating Wake into submission, Howard assumes a dominant role, calling Wake dog and dragging him on a leash. Commenting on this scene, Pattinson stated that, "there’s definitely a take where we were literally trying to pull each other’s pants down. It literally almost looked like foreplay”.
[23]
Jude Dry of IndieWire critiqued the film's queer subtext for not going far enough. As Wake is being led on all fours by Howard's rope, the scene mimics
BDSM culture, but not sufficiently for Dry: "It feels like a missed opportunity at best — and a spineless maneuver at worst — to invoke themes of dominance and submission, borrowing from queer
fetish culture, without even so much as a genuine erotic exchange".
[23]
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great movie
