Dennis Reynolds; An Erotic Life
As a Dennis kin and understander, I have really, really strong opinions about the iasip fandom’s portrayal of him. Which is done mostly well, but some headcanons/fanfictions make me so genuinely uncomfortable. (Also I’m about to yap for a while, so I apologize for that.)
One of the most off putting things about Dennis Reynolds is the way he approaches sex and sexual partners. In earlier seasons he’s often seen just wanting to bang as many women as possible and record it for his tapes and sex journal. He has this unhealthy relationship with sex that’s just so fascinating to me. So I want to explain two things in depth and offer my thoughts on them; what Dennis’ views on sex are and WHY he is the way he is.
Starting with the “problem” itself. Which is the fact that Dennis doesn’t seem to value sexual partners as anything more than a cheap bang. The way he views making people fall for him as a game– as a challenge. Dennis has no actual relationships for most of the show, and, in exception of Mandy (Which, let’s be honest, was more of a co-parenting thing and was only for Brian Jr.), Dennis never commits to anything romantic or sexual. However; there is Maureen Ponderosa. Maureen is interesting because she isn’t particularly anything special. She’s clingy, annoying, and all up in Dennis’ business. He marries her– which is short lived– because Maureen reminds Dennis of a time when he experienced romantic love. And strong romantic love; like the scene where he tells Mac something along the lines of “I feel like I’m fourteen, I’m having feelings again!” Which is often misinterpreted to mean “Oh, Dennis doesn’t feel things!” WHICH IS SO FALSE. Dennis has so many feelings, big feelings. But he has a hard time experiencing things that he can’t control; so he masks what he feels and takes on this cold persona of sorts. This “I’m having feelings again!” quote is meant to portray the fact that Dennis hasn’t felt joy like this going into a potential relationship since he was a kid. Because Maureen was his high-school sweetheart– but not his first time.
No, that was the school librarian.
This skewed vision of sex, I think, originally stemmed from Dennis’ experience with her. Internally he thought he enjoyed it; because he’s a man, he should get lucky for getting laid (especially from an older woman). And now he views this experience as something nice, sure, and a surge of power, rather than expressing love for someone. It’s an exchange of services. No matter if Dennis denies it, the librarian fucked him up. I also want to add the fact that both Dennis’ parents cheated on each other constantly and didn’t have a healthy relationship. One of the first sex experiences he even had was Frank fucking a prostitute. Some of this can be blamed on Frank, actually. But that’s not the focus here. So, after having sex with Maureen, Dennis can’t see anything else past that that he can gain from her.
Which brings me to Mac. I won’t analyze him here, that’s for another day (and I’m probably not the best for that). Dennis sees Mac as sort of a rock. And not in the cute romantic way, of course, but as someone to control. Mac is predictable, and Dennis likes predictable. Any time Mac is unpredictable, Dennis freaks out. Like in The Gang Tends Bar, for example. Dennis has no clue why someone would do that for him, or why Mac would look at him with those big doe eyes like that. Dennis can’t imagine a life without Mac across the room with his Ass Pounder 2000, without predictable Mac and his predictable ways. He keeps Mac in line, whether it be with weight-loss pills, anal beads, or an inflatable bed, Mac will stay right by Dennis’ side. And Dennis, being in the exact same environment for 30+ years: will never change.
