Gummo

Gummo ends with an image of a destructive tornado ransacking Xenia, a small town in Ohio. The rest of the film leading up to this point shows the results of this Tornado and how it not only destroyed the small town itself, but the moral fabric of the people living within it. In all, the film conveys the idea that when a community of people is faced with such desolate and impoverished futures, societal and sexual boundaries are in result lowered or even completely removed from everyday living.

The bleakness of life within this town is communicated immediately through the impish looking "Bunny boy" at the beginning of the film. We are introduced to this character while he stands on a bridge that suspends over the expressway. The bridge itself is completely covered with chain link fencing that resembles a prison entrapping for the boy.

As the boy stands on the bride he watches the automobiles on the expressway drive by his town, with none stopping. Soon, the image of people being able to freely pass by his town while he is stuck there becomes too much and the Bunny Boy attempts to destroy the fencing that is keeping him in. He quickly grows weary of trying to escape, sits down on the curb and smokes a cigarette. This action foreshadows the theme for the rest of the film. The ten year old bunny boy, shortly after trying to escape from his desolate future, gives up easily and in reaction does something that would push most societal standards, he smokes a cigarette.

Throughout the film we are shown