Teenagers often find themselves pushed into heterosexist vehicles, regardless of whether they support gay inclusitivity or not. Jansen Panettiere is no exception.
The younger brother of female star Hayden Panettiere, Jansen was born in Palisades, New York in 1994, began securing guest roles on tv in 2002, at the age of eight. He also did voice work on cartoons and appeared with his sister in the thriller Tiger Cruise (2004).
His first star vehicle was the Nickelodeon movie The Last Day of Summer (2007), in which the 12-year old Luke (Jansen) relives the same day over and over, and uses it to win the girl of his dreams. Yawn.
At least he took his shirt off, in case any gay preteens in the audience weren't too upset by the heterosexism to look.
After the fundamentalist Secrets of Jonathan Sperry (2008), Jansen starred in The Perfect Game (2009), about a group of Mexican boys who become the first non-U.S. team to win the Little League World Series. It's an underdog-triumphing film, with nearly every Hispanic child actor in the business, including Moises Arias (Hannah Montana), Jake T. Austin (Wizards of Waverly Place), Ryan Ochoa, Gabriel Morales, and Carlos Padilla.
No girls around, and Jansen became best friends with the gay-friendly Jake T. Austin. They uploaded a youtube video called "The Closet Chronicles," which doesn't appear to be about the gay metaphor.
Next came 8, a 2012 movie version of the play about the fight to repeal Proposition 8, the amendment that banned gay marriage in California. Many actors, gay and allied, appeared, including Kevin Bacon, Matt Bomer, George Clooney, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Brat Pitt, Martin Sheen, and George Takei.
More after the break
With all the star power, there was still room for Jansen as Elliott Perry, the teenage son of two moms denied the right to marry (played by J
amie Lee Curtis and Christine Lahti).
amie Lee Curtis and Christine Lahti).
I haven't seen Jansen in The Forger (2012), which stars gay ally Josh Hutcherson as a young art forger and Hayden as his girlfriend. But the The Lost Medallion (2013), about two teenagers who use a magic medallion to go back in time, is another fundamentalist vehicle, with a careful scrubbing of gay subtexts.
Not much of gay interest in Jansen's later work. You have have seen him on a 2019 episode of The Walking Dead as Casper, a member of the Hilltop survivor community who sets out with three others for the fair at Alexandria, but is waylaid and killed, and his zombified head put on a pike to mark the boundary of Alpha's territory. He doesn't display any heteros*xual interest.
His last movie, released two years after his death, was Bert Bagalzby and the Garbage Genie, about a high school boy who wins the Girl of His Dreams. Can't they think of any other plotline?
Jansen died in 2023 of an undiagnosed heart condition.
Who's Dating Who links him with three girls. With so many fundamentalist and Girl of His Dreams movies, I figured that he was straight.
See also: Jake T. Austin's Gay Posse
Jansen has some gay characters in his youtube series, so he might well be gay.
ReplyDeleteI agree, The Last Day of Summer (2007) was real yawner! A waste of time.
ReplyDeleteThe Last Day of Summer from 2007 has to be one of the worse movies ever.
ReplyDeleteI have just learned of the tragic death of Jansen Panettiere, age 28 in New York City on Sunday Feb.19th. Do you know of any details Boomer?
ReplyDeleteSorry, that post is from 2013. I haven't checked up on Jansen Panettiere since. Sorry to hear about his death
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