A Quiet Place: Day Onewould have been a completely different movie had they not deleted a crucial moment between Eric (Joseph Quinn) and Samira (Lupita N’Yongo) in whichhe reveals that he is gay and was contemplating suicide before the creatures arrived.A Quiet Place: Day Oneismore than a prequel; it’s a character-driven alien invasion horror movie that is about appreciating life and fighting for survival, andthe deleted scene would have provided more depth to the themes of the story. Additionally, Eric’s revelation would be a milestone in therepresentation of queer characters in the horror genreas the movie’s survivor and leading man. The scene also creates a duality when it comes to what it means to be in a “quiet place,” where silence is the difference between life and death. Removing the scene was a huge mistake and a missed opportunity that would have provided the movie with a new level of meaning and representation.
A Quiet Place: Day One
Experience the day the world went quiet.
Joseph Quinn’s Eric Is Revealed to Be Gay in a Deleted Scene
In the scene, which is a little over two minutes long, Samira asks Eric why he was so dressed up in the subway, and if he was possibly on his way to a job interview when disaster struck. He then, inabeautifully acted and emotionally poignant response,reveals that he grew up in a small town where he didn’t feel like he was accepted, especially by his father, who had a certain expectation of masculinity for his sons and moved toNew York Cityto be in a more welcoming place. Despite moving somewhere he could comfortably be himself, he felt extremely lonely in the vastness of the city. Tired of being alone, he reveals that he thought “it would be easier to not live anywhere,” and that in the moments before the creatures arrived,he was contemplating ending his life.
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Quinn’s impressive performance in those 120ish seconds not only brings the audience closer to his character but also proves thathe has the chopsto shine alongside the immensely talented, Oscar-winning Lupita Nyong’o, who is a powerhouse in any role she takes on.Keeping the scene could have provided a more dynamic and interesting duality between the two characters, with Eric having the ability to pick death over life and Samira having no choice due to her terminal illness. Viewing the scene through an intersectional lens, the pair couldrelate to one another on a deeper levelas they are both outsiders and potential victims of identity-based prejudice and violence; Eric as a gay man and Samira as a Black woman.The scene brings the two closer together and adds an extra layer of nuance to thischaracter-drivenhorrorthat, in context, elevates Quinn and Nyong’o’s performances.
‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ Missed an Opportunity to Bring Some Much-Needed Representation to the Horror Genre
The horror genre has been historicallyguilty of playing into homophobia and demonizing queer-coded charactersby presenting them as deviant or villainous. For example, Buffalo Bill inThe Silence of the Lambs,the ending ofSleepaway Camp, the overt homoeroticism of Billy and Stu inScream, and not to mention the reclamation of “queer icons” The Babadook and Pennywise. Havinga gay man be the heroof the story would not only be considered a subversion, it would bea milestone in the representation of queer characters in horror. In the movie, Eric is not defined by any stereotypical depiction of what a queer person should look or behave like, which is evident in the fact that his sexuality never really comes into question in the final cut.
The concept of “otherness” has always been at the core of horror, representing the subconscious fears of mainstream society and the ruling class, which is whyqueer charactersare typically violently punished through death and villains are often queer-coded. Aliens, monsters, zombies, and humanoids are all products of the fear of the unknown or of any deviation from what is considered normal or acceptable in mainstream society. In the case ofA Quiet Place: Day One, within the context of Eric’s queerness, the aliens may represent those fears in reverse:the creatures are blind to the world around them and come after those who make too much noise, much like those who are unwilling to see humanity in people who are different from them. Keeping the scene in the movie, which doesn’t provide much information aboutwhere the aliens come from or how they got there, would have beenan opportunity to subvert the classic tropes of the alien invasion narrativewhile providingpositive queer representationin a genre that, until recently, has been hostile toward any kind of “otherness.”
‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ Takes On a Whole New Meaning With This Deleted Scene
If the scene were kept in the movie,A Quiet Place: Day Onecould have taken on a new metaphorical meaning, asthe silence of repressiontypically means survival for queer people in a hostile world, where living out loud is an act of bravery and fearlessness. Eric’ssurvival in the endwould have been even more triumphant and meaningful, especially sincesuicide is one of the leading causes of death for gay men (and LGBTQ people in general). He could have just let the creatures kill him as a suicidal act, but he chose life instead.
Within the context of his suicidal intention, Eric’s will to survive in the end isa radical act of self-acceptanceand his friendship with Samira reminds him that he is not alone and allows him to see that life is a gift that it is too short to not live truthfully. There is also the fact that Samiramakes the ultimate sacrificein order to save Eric andFrodo the cat, choosing to die on her own terms. In a way,Eric and Samira were already living in their own “quiet places” even before the events of the movie, suffering in silence while struggling with the concept of mortality and the meaning of life.
In the end, whatever the reason,removing this crucial and incredibly performed scene fromA Quiet Place: Day Onewas a missed opportunity for the movie to have a deeper allegorical meaningand perhaps provide a bit of social commentary underneaththe chaos of the typical alien invasion story. If the scene were kept in the movie, a lot of what happens would have taken on new meaning and more people could have seen themselves represented in Eric and related to his triumph in the end. While the movie works as it is, it could have been so much more.
A Quiet Place: Day Oneis available to rent or buy on Amazon.
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