Byron Is One Of The Best Parts Of ‘Tammy and the T-Rex’ [The Lone Queer]
Joshua Anderson
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Said it before, and will definitely end up saying it, again. Queer rep in the horror films of the 90s is few and far between. Advancements in allyship were being made in the real world in small increments, but in the world of horror cinema, it was pretty quiet. That’s why upon my first viewing of Tammy and the T-Rex from 1994, I was surprised to see a queer black man, Theo Forsett’s Byron, be the best friend of the titular Tammy (Denise Richards). Byron is everything. He’s out in a small community. He has no shame in who he is. He’s an exceptional best friend to Tammy. Who else would go along with their bestie’s crush turning into an animatronic T-Rex, and help her fight to keep him alive?
If you haven’t seen the wonder that is Tammy and the T-Rex, then here’s the story. Tammy has it for Michael (Paul Walker), but her ex, Billy (George Pilgrim), is a controlling and danger-seeking individual who doesn’t want to let Tammy go. Billy manufactures a plan to get rid of Michael via dangerous wildcats. Michael meets a lion which puts him into a coma. Meanwhile, mad scientist, Dr. Wachenstein (Terry Kiser), is looking for a brain to put into his animatronic T-Rex so that he can have a smart T-Rex. Dr. Wachenstein finds a comatose Michael, does the brain transplant, and Michael becomes the T-Rex. T-Rex Michael goes on a rampage to get rid of Billy’s group of trouble-making friends while continuing to pursue his love for Tammy.
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Byron plays into this absurd yet wonderful story as the queer best friend. That’s the queer placement for any queer character in horror at this time, and as previous Lone Queers have shown, this is the case most times. Surprisingly, for the time that this film was done, we escape any horrid terms referring to his queerness. Not one mention of a derogative term referring to queerness is said in its entirety. It is cut off by other characters, or characters not wanting to show their ignorance in full.
None of his high school classmates even blink an eye at the fact that he’s queer. When Byron meets Michael, Michael is utterly sweet to him. Sure, this could refer to the fact that we’re supposed to love Michael like Tammy will eventually love Michael. Even the baddies of the movie never refer to Byron’s queerness or use it against him. The same can’t be said about the older citizens of this small town. Sort of reflects real life, even today, doesn’t it?
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Those older citizens come in the form of two cops. Coworkers of Byron’s dad, Sheriff Black (J. Jay Saunders), these two cops’ plight is to bring Byron down. Within the first few moments of the two of them sharing a scene with Byron, one of the cops states, “If you drop anything, don’t bend over.” Forget the fact that they should be out looking for a murderous animatronic T-Rex and a missing Tammy. Nah. They have their eyes set on Byron. Granted, Sheriff Black has made it their task to bring Byron in so that he doesn’t interrupt the search for T-Rex Michael and Tammy, but their vindictiveness against him is obviously due to his queerness. They were also pretty misogynist pricks with underlying racism. Tammy and the T-Rex said “fuck the cops” back in the 90s.
Other than those two nasties, Byron is basically celebrated for who he is while celebrating himself. I loved this about Byron even though he is relegated as the queer best friend who is basically asexual. There is no mention of sex, love, or romantic relationships when it comes to his character. The only thing close to this is when Michael and Billy engage in a schoolyard fight over Tammy, and the two literally grab each other’s balls and hold on tight, Byron’s response is, “Ooo! Good move!” Byron knows what’s up when it comes to queer-coded situations.
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His bag of tricks does consist of the standard queer best friend. When Tammy is down and out about her relationship with Michael, he is there to offer cliché sayings about love. “Don’t give up. True love never fails, honey,” is his best-delivered love cliché. That and many other moments, he is there for Tammy. He never fails to bring her up, jump in harm’s way, jump in right beside her to fight, or to cover for her when it was needed. Without Byron, Tammy would have never been able to successfully avoid the cops, Billy, and Dr. Wachenstein.
When Tammy explains that Michael’s brain is in the T-Rex, it doesn’t even take a second for Byron to believe her. When Tammy decides that she wants to find a new body to put Michael’s brain in, Byron goes with T-Rex Michael and her to the morgue to find a new body that Michael approves. Byron does have his standards, though. Upon finding one possible body for Michael, he and Tammy look down “there.” Whilst we don’t know the, ahem, size of the possible replacement, we do learn that Byron thinks it’s a perfect, ahem, size while Tammy is aghast at the, ahem, size. While the moment is a little crude and morbid, I love the showing that Byron and Tammy have obviously had conversations like this. It’s a necessity for a queer person and their straight best friend to be that open.
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There’s just something unique about Byron. He’s the lone queer in a film about an animatronic T-Rex with the brain of a straight person’s love, and he fights alongside that straight person to succeed in that straight person’s goal. He’s the lone queer in a film whose sole task is to appease the goal of the straight person which is one part of my sole reason for this article. The other, and most important part, is to show the relevance of these lone queers in films, and how, without them, the other characters are lost and, sometimes, without merit.
So big, big love to Byron. To his cliché sayings about love, to his quippy quips, to his being one of the best friends, and most of all, to his unabashed queerness.
Categorized:Editorials The Lone Queer
