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konstantya(Posted to my tumblr, but cross-posted here because it is the sort of meta discussion I’ve posted here before and also I want to have a reasonable chance of finding it again someday.)
Was Raven of This Gun For Hire a victim of rape in his reform school days?
It’s a question I’ve honestly asked myself in the course of my fic writing, because prison rape was and still is a thing, obviously, and if we’re to believe that Philip Raven the character physically resembles Alan Ladd the actor, then I have a hard time believing he wouldn’t have been the target of at least some sort of sexual harassment/assault. Ladd was, after all, boyishly handsome and famously small in stature. Most sources put his height at 5’6”, and while the film pulls off some cinematography tricks to make him appear a bit taller, the character is still by no means a large dude; I’d put Raven at 5’8”, tops. And again, if we assume the character followed the same growth trajectory as the actor, then he was probably similarly small as a boy. (And even if he wasn’t, there’s still the fact that he was only fourteen when he went in, and presumably would have been doing time with boys who were older and more physically developed. My research on early 20th century reform schools is sketchy at best, but the age of majority at the time was twenty-one, which leads me to believe he could/would have been interacting with dudes as old as twenty.)
So with all that in mind, we come back to the question at the top: Was Raven raped in reform school? The short answer is no, I don’t think he was—and this is not just wishful thinking on my part, but a genuine extrapolation of his character.
First and foremost, we have to remember the dude was in for murder, not the lesser crimes of theft or vandalism or what-have-you. So I think that alone would probably deter some would-be predators. But it isn’t going to deter them all, especially not when Raven physically comes off as an adorable little twink, ripe for the ravishing.
(And now’s as good a time as any to bring back the trivia that—according to IMDb—there was apparently a formal flashback sequence planned for the film at some point, where teenage!Raven would have been played by Dickie Jones, and his aunt would have been played by Hermine Sterler. Jones was perhaps best known for voicing Pinocchio in the 1940 Disney film, and conveniently would have been the perfect age—fourteen—at the time of This Gun For Hire’s filming. He also bore enough of a physical resemblance to LaddLadd with dyed/darkened hair, at least that I think it could have worked pretty well. I ultimately don’t think the flashback scene is necessary—Ladd’s monologue where he recounts his childhood abuse and trauma is effective enough on its own, I feel—but part of me still wishes we could see that flashback scene all the same. Here’s a previous post with pictures of Jones and Sterler for visual reference.)
But anyway, here’s the thing: Post-trauma Raven is significantly different from pre-trauma Raven. I don’t have a solid headcanon on what he was like as a boy, but I do think there’s a good chance he was a pretty quiet and sensitive kid—I see him as just trying to keep his head down and generally doing his best to avoid drawing his aunt’s attention/anger. But all that goes straight out the window the moment she breaks his wrist; the dude snaps, suffers a legitimate psychological break (culminating in the aforementioned murder), and is literally never the same again. So no matter how meek he may have been as a boy, by the time he lands in reform school, he’s already more prone to violence and lashing out (because, yanno, trauma), and I think this behavior would have inadvertently nipped any sexual assault in the bud, as it were. Which is to say: Did Raven outright kill someone in reform school? That I’m not sure of, but someone definitely got shanked, probably with the intent to kill, and probably for something as relatively mild as grabbing his ass. (And no doubt this would have earned him a beating from the prison staff, which would have pissed him off even more—not only is he still dealing with the trauma of his aunt’s abuse, but he’s now also dealing with unsympathetic authority figures and a justice system that has ultimately failed him.) But anyway, you imagine he draws blood like that a couple of times, and word quickly gets around that, “Shit, yeah, that Raven kid is cute and all, but he’s also fucking insane; it just isn’t worth it, man.”
(That said, I honestly don’t see adult!Raven as having an inherent problem with homosexuals—no more than he has a problem with people in general, that is—so long as they, yanno, keep their hands to themselves. He is, for better or for worse, a pretty live-and-let-live guy, after all.Unless he has a contract on you, in which case, tough luck buddy; take it up with his employer, pfft. But in my post-canon AU fics, I headcanon Millie’s partner Joseph as gay, and I do see him and Raven eventually having a polite—if not exactly warm—acquaintance. I’ve even entertained the idea that one day, they actually share a nice little conversation/camaraderie of sorts over their non-heteronormative sexualities—as Joseph, as previously stated, is gay, and I characterize Raven as being somewhere on the asexual spectrum.)
Anyway, thank you for coming to my fandom TED talk. <3
Was Raven of This Gun For Hire a victim of rape in his reform school days?
It’s a question I’ve honestly asked myself in the course of my fic writing, because prison rape was and still is a thing, obviously, and if we’re to believe that Philip Raven the character physically resembles Alan Ladd the actor, then I have a hard time believing he wouldn’t have been the target of at least some sort of sexual harassment/assault. Ladd was, after all, boyishly handsome and famously small in stature. Most sources put his height at 5’6”, and while the film pulls off some cinematography tricks to make him appear a bit taller, the character is still by no means a large dude; I’d put Raven at 5’8”, tops. And again, if we assume the character followed the same growth trajectory as the actor, then he was probably similarly small as a boy. (And even if he wasn’t, there’s still the fact that he was only fourteen when he went in, and presumably would have been doing time with boys who were older and more physically developed. My research on early 20th century reform schools is sketchy at best, but the age of majority at the time was twenty-one, which leads me to believe he could/would have been interacting with dudes as old as twenty.)
So with all that in mind, we come back to the question at the top: Was Raven raped in reform school? The short answer is no, I don’t think he was—and this is not just wishful thinking on my part, but a genuine extrapolation of his character.
First and foremost, we have to remember the dude was in for murder, not the lesser crimes of theft or vandalism or what-have-you. So I think that alone would probably deter some would-be predators. But it isn’t going to deter them all, especially not when Raven physically comes off as an adorable little twink, ripe for the ravishing.
(And now’s as good a time as any to bring back the trivia that—according to IMDb—there was apparently a formal flashback sequence planned for the film at some point, where teenage!Raven would have been played by Dickie Jones, and his aunt would have been played by Hermine Sterler. Jones was perhaps best known for voicing Pinocchio in the 1940 Disney film, and conveniently would have been the perfect age—fourteen—at the time of This Gun For Hire’s filming. He also bore enough of a physical resemblance to Ladd
But anyway, here’s the thing: Post-trauma Raven is significantly different from pre-trauma Raven. I don’t have a solid headcanon on what he was like as a boy, but I do think there’s a good chance he was a pretty quiet and sensitive kid—I see him as just trying to keep his head down and generally doing his best to avoid drawing his aunt’s attention/anger. But all that goes straight out the window the moment she breaks his wrist; the dude snaps, suffers a legitimate psychological break (culminating in the aforementioned murder), and is literally never the same again. So no matter how meek he may have been as a boy, by the time he lands in reform school, he’s already more prone to violence and lashing out (because, yanno, trauma), and I think this behavior would have inadvertently nipped any sexual assault in the bud, as it were. Which is to say: Did Raven outright kill someone in reform school? That I’m not sure of, but someone definitely got shanked, probably with the intent to kill, and probably for something as relatively mild as grabbing his ass. (And no doubt this would have earned him a beating from the prison staff, which would have pissed him off even more—not only is he still dealing with the trauma of his aunt’s abuse, but he’s now also dealing with unsympathetic authority figures and a justice system that has ultimately failed him.) But anyway, you imagine he draws blood like that a couple of times, and word quickly gets around that, “Shit, yeah, that Raven kid is cute and all, but he’s also fucking insane; it just isn’t worth it, man.”
(That said, I honestly don’t see adult!Raven as having an inherent problem with homosexuals—no more than he has a problem with people in general, that is—so long as they, yanno, keep their hands to themselves. He is, for better or for worse, a pretty live-and-let-live guy, after all.
Anyway, thank you for coming to my fandom TED talk. <3
