Does Jimmy have an Oedipal complex in Boardwalk Empire?

Does Jimmy have an Oedipal complex in Boardwalk Empire? - Happy young multiracial female friends in casual clothes laughing while watching funny video on laptop sitting on wooden podium in park

Spoiler Alert if you haven't seen the end of Season Two.

So Jimmy and his mom have sex in a flashback scene. They were consenting adults but it was still incest. First question: who is breaking the law here? Was there such a law in the 20s? Also, do you think the writers were intentionally setting up an Oedipal complex because Jimmy later kills his father? Finally, what about Jimmy makes him "Jacobean" according to his professor?



Best Answer

It's his mother Gillian who initiates the intercourse; Jimmy tries to get out of bed but she stops him and says they're not doing anything wrong:

A train passes and he says goodnight and goes to kiss her forehead. She tilts her head upward and kisses her son open mouthed. She tells him that there is nothing wrong with any of it and repeats this phrase as he returns her passionate kisses. The noise of the train continues as the mother and son have sex.

WRT breaking any laws: I have no idea.

I don't think there's an Oedipus complex, since it seems to me Jimmy is merely indulging his mother; he himself has relationships with women. It is his mother who has a warped sense of love and sexuality; don't forget that when Jimmy was an infant, she kissed his genitals to show her affection. Also, the day after Jimmy and his mother have sex, he enlists with the army, claiming he's an orphan. (Though it is clear that Oedipus is one of the themes on the minds of the writers.)

The "Jacobean" comment refers back to an earlier scene:

The professor tells the class that it is part of the Jacobean style to depict Italy as corrupt and the women as whores while the men are panderers. He asks for a more specific interpretation of the scene and Jimmy offers one; his mother taught him things that are not of use and that he is hungry for the riches of those around him. The professor congratulates Jimmy and ends the tutorial

To me it sounds as a roundabout way of calling Jimmy's mother a whore. Also, the book they were discussing in class, The White Devil, is written by John Webster, "an English Jacobean dramatist".




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